Learn how much a website cost per year depending on the type of website you want to put up.

Website expenses do not end upon the site's establishment. Whether you are still on the planning stage, has a newly-published website, or is already owning one for a certain period of time, you will still need to spend money on maintenance and other expenses to ensure the continuous presence of your website. The question is, how much does it really cost to run a website annually? Well, it actually depends as the total cost may vary individually. A website owner who plans to run and maintain their website by their own will most likely spend less than an owner who plans to pay someone to do the job for them. Moreover, costs will vary depending on the chosen domain, hosting, web maintenance, and other services of the owner.   In this article, we will tackle the usual things you need to pay for annually and how much it normally costs.

Whether you are building and maintaining your website by yourself or not, domain is one of the fixed expenses that you have to pay for. Annual costs may vary depending on whether your website is a .es, .com, .info, .net, etc. On average, domain registration and annual renewal may cost you as little as $10 or as much as $70 but it can also be free if included in your web hosting service subscription.

Just like your domain name, web hosting service expenses is also fixed. A hosting service is basically a computer server connected to the internet 24/7 where your website is hosted.  It may already be included in your subscription plan if you are using a website builder but a separate hosting plan will be necessary for a self-hosted website. Additionally, costs may vary depending on whether your website is static or dynamic.

Investing on a reliable content management system is a good decision whether you are creating your own content by yourself or hiring someone to do so. A CMS is basically a software that helps you create, manage, and modify the content and over-all look of your website. Some common examples would be WordPress and Joomla. Owning a basic or eCommerce website may cost you less for CMS expenses but you may need to spend more for enterprise websites which may require you to build a custom CMS.

Unless you are the one who will manually and personally maintain and administer your website, you will need to pay someone else to do the job for you. Static websites require less maintenance but dynamic ones will need someone to regularly update and secure the site from hazards and unwanted attacks. The cost of hiring a technician or freelancer to maintain and manage your website varies relatively so it is hard to give an actual figure but it will most likely depend on the type of your website and your budget.

This is probably applicable for those who own an eCommerce website. An SSL certificate is necessary as it provides security for payment transactions where sensitive information is collected and processed. It can come along with your hosting subscription but if not, you may spend an average of $10-$300 annually for the certificate. Additional eCommerce features on the other hand will improve the over-all look and user experience of your website. They include custom themes, extensions, and integrations that may cost as much as thousands of dollars depending on your website needs.

Last but definitely not the least, your website expenses may include a portion for online marketing. It may just be a portion but it can be the biggest one depending on your marketing strategy of choice. Investing on this will help your website be visible and accessible to your target audience. It may include SEO, backlinking, Google Ads campaigns, or even the simple act of outsourcing content. There is no limit as to how many of these you opt to implement so there is also no limit as to how much you can spend.

At this point, you might already be overwhelmed with the figures at hand. Building a website is already costly but maintaining it is another level of being costly. However, any website owner should remember that a website is an investment and whether you are using it for business or other purposes, it will only serve its purpose effectively if it has all the necessary elements available. You can always adjust to your budget, be strategic and resourceful as possible, but the bottom line here is you will really spend money so make sure that every choice is worth the penny.