What is website maintenance and how much do you have to pay for this service?

Website maintenance service is essential to have your website always ready.

No one doubts the need to keep the company’s production machinery or computer equipment always in perfect condition, a website is another fundamental asset for online businesses, small businesses, and therefore, it is essential to carry out the relevant web maintenance tasks periodically.

In this article, therefore, I will tell you what this service consists of, that is, what tasks you must carry out for the correct performance of your site, what advantages it offers to delegate this service and what budget you should allocate to it.

Shall we start?

Why is a website maintenance service so important?

Imagine for a moment that you are walking down the street and you enter a store where the clothes are not properly placed, that is, everything is disorganized and there are even leaks or blackouts.

Surely the trust you had placed in the brand will disappear and with it your desire to buy in that establishment.

If you also have other stores on that same street that offer what you are looking for, it will be even easier for you to change your option.

If we move this example to the online environment, you can already get an idea of ​​how important it is that e-commerce is always operational, that it is easy to navigate, and that its products are always updated, organized, and well presented.

The maintenance of a website could be equated with the “visual merchandising” of online stores.

There are multiple studies that corroborate that marketing techniques at the point of sale, that is, the placement of items, the decoration of the establishment, the study of colors, etc., affect the purchase decision.

Therefore, web maintenance processes are essential for our eCommerce to be well received and motivate the purchase.

Only through maintenance tasks such as the control of the elements or products, the structure, usability, etc. We can determine the degree of satisfaction of users when browsing our site.

Therefore, these actions allow us to detect any errors that are undermining our business performance.

In addition to having an impact on sales, lacking this service can lead to the following problems:

• Loss of web positioning. If you use a large part of your resources and time to achieve a good positioning and you have managed to reach the top positions for important or competitive terms in your sector, but you do not have an adequate web maintenance service, you may lose what you have for so long. worked up. For example, neglecting your website can lead to a decrease in loading speed, which will result in loss of web traffic
• Display and navigation problems on mobile devices .
• Usability errors that can greatly reduce sales.
• Outdated and unattractive image and web design that does not capture the attention of users.
• Increased vulnerability to computer attacks.

What is the maintenance of a web page?

There can always be variations between what one company offers compared to another, however, the most common actions of a web maintenance service if we want the performance of the page to be adequate, are the following:

> Guarantee the security of the web

That is, eliminate the vulnerabilities that the site may have.

They are extremely delicate processes so they must be carried out by a specialist if we do not want to incur unnecessary risk.

– Computer attacks are an example of a problem that we can expose ourselves to if we do not have the necessary security.

One of the best known is the DoS attack, this occurs when an attacker overloads a server based on requests.

This has a limit so that when a user sends a new request, that is, he writes a specific URL in his browser, in order to view specific information or content, he cannot access it.

> Loading speed optimization

Loading speed is another factor that largely determines the positioning of a website.

This affects, in addition to web traffic, other important indicators collected by Analytics such as the bounce rate (users who leave the site having viewed a single page), the length of stay, or the pages visited by an average user per session.

-This last metric is essential to know the performance of an ecommerce.

If this is not correct, it will take longer to load the pages causing users to exit.

These indicators provide us with invaluable information about user behavior on our website and will corroborate the fact that a web maintenance service is necessary.

Therefore, it is essential to make a series of periodic adjustments both on the web and on the server.

• Review of functionalities of the entire website.
• Making backup copies: In the event that any problem or incident arises on the web, it is advisable to have backup copies of the site. Even better if these backup copies are hosted outside of our website’s server.
• Updating and maintenance of plugins and web themes .
• Add web functionalities.
• Review of incompatibilities.
• Monitoring the website to know its status, that is, to know at all times if it is operational.
• Creation of the web sitemap.
• Updating of products, services, texts or contents. Making aesthetic changes, adding new sections or pages to the site, creating buttons, sections, panels, implementing new payment methods, etc.
• Programming of forms or subscriptions and their adaptation, for example, to the new data protection policy (GDPR) that came into effect on May 25.
• Review and repair of broken links.
• Changes in the architecture of the web.

All these actions are essential for the correct performance of the site.

When any type of incident arises, having a developer who is capable of solving it is of vital importance for our business since not solving the problem in time can have a negative impact on our image as a brand and on the trust of our customers.

Advantages of having a website maintenance service

I have previously mentioned the main risks of not having a website maintenance service,
now let’s see the advantages that are the following:

1. Time-saving

A developer is very familiar with these types of tasks, so in addition to carrying them out perfectly, it will be faster and more efficient than anyone else.

-The speed with which any incident on our website is resolved is vital for the company.

All the time that these types of tasks require, you can spend analyzing the sector, finding opportunities, implementing new strategies, etc.

2. Saving money

A priori, we can come to think that paying every month for a service will not save.

However, the moment an incident arises on your website and you need an urgent punctual web maintenance service,
it will surely make you change your mind.

3. Professionalism

A website maintenance service offers you the security that you would not get otherwise.

When an online business depends on a web page, having a quality maintenance service that can solve any inconvenience that arises, generates great peace of mind.

4. Attractive Web

Making design improvements and having new functionalities, that is, carrying out continuous updates in the design of our website, will keep the attention of our users and the site will not be outdated over time.

This point is of vital importance since it may depend on whether or not users return to buy on our page.

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How much does it cost to maintain a website?

The average price is usually around 149 or 300 dollars per month, although it will always depend on the plan you need or the company you choose.

The price is highly dependent on the following variables:

1. The type of content manager

The CMS that a website uses (WordPress, Drupal, Magento, PrestaShop, BootStrap, etc.)
can vary the budget of a monthly web maintenance service.

It depends largely on the simplicity or difficulty of use or the knowledge that the developer has of it.

The aforementioned CMS are better known and, therefore, require less help from a developer than
custom-programmed websites, which will lower the cost of the service.

2. The complexity of the site

The price of maintaining a web page is also highly dependent on the complexity of the site.

A personal website will not require the same maintenance as an eCommerce with millions of products.

3. The developer experience

This is another factor that can determine the cost of maintaining a website.

4. The maintenance hours that the business needs

There are pages that, due to their size or complexity, require greater involvement and, therefore, a greater number of maintenance hours.

5. The need for personalized attention

The price, of course, will also depend on whether you need more personalized or constant attention.

Taking these variables into account, we can get a little closer to the price of website maintenance that any company will budget for us. This service can be contracted by the hour or on a monthly basis.

As we have already said, the average website maintenance cost India is usually around 149  dollars per month,
although it will always depend on the plan you need or the company you choose. In the online environment, the image of our website is essential if we want to generate trust among users.