Unfortunately, many businesses don’t consider the cost of maintaining a website. The cost of maintaining your website over a 12-month period needs to be added to your budget so that your website, and ultimately your business, has the chance to achieve its goals.

For some businesses the maintenance costs are not high, for others they can far exceed the development cost. The cost of maintaining a website will vary due to many factors. They could include:

• The size and complexity of your website
• How often you make changes
• The need to add new products or pages
• How often you want the website’s content or inventory indexed
• Your online marketing costs

A good web designer will provide rates before doing any work. These rates may vary depending on the type of work you need to have done. The cost of maintaining a website is so very individual that it is difficult to quote a price. Website firms charge by the hour for updates and there is typically a one-hour minimum charge involved.

Maintaining a website in-house allows your business to update the website frequently, quickly, and cheaply. There are several commercial content management systems (CMSs) available or you can have a bespoke system developed for you.

I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say about business website hosting. Please leave a comment…