How much does maintaining a WordPress website cost?

WordPress holds 43% of the market share when it comes to the total websites on the internet today. It is hands down the most widely used technology or CMS for developing websites. Its competitors have come and stayed but have never impacted the popularity of WordPress amongst the developers.

However, similar to any other technology, WordPress websites do require timely maintenance in order to function better. WordPress as a CMS is dependent on various third party plugins, themes, and integration which makes it a crucial affair to keep maintaining the website.

Why does a WordPress website require maintenance?

Before addressing the cost, let’s address the ‘why?’. One might wonder what are the reasons for maintaining a WordPress website? Let’s look into some of the reasons why:

1.?Because it enjoys a huge market share, it becomes an easy target for the hackers. Regular security checks make it safer from malware and malicious attacks.

2.?As the content on the website and the traffic grows, it may slow down the website. Hence, it's essential to keep the plugins, server side setup updated.

3.?The themes, plugins, and third party integrations are updated regularly. A WordPress website should ensure that all the plugins are updated.

4.?From the SEO perspective, it’s essential to keep the broken links, 404 pages, and other issues checked for a better performance.

5.?Content management is the core aspect of a WordPress website which requires continuous maintenance.

6.?Regular backups are essential to protect your data in case of a website crash, hacking attempt, or server failure.

There are many such reasons why maintaining a WordPress website becomes essential.

Let’s look into what activities are included in maintaining a WordPress website.

1.?Updates in the WordPress core setup.

2.?Updates of the third party services, themes, and plugins.

3.?Regular backups of the WordPress websites.

4.?Screening the website from time to time for security.

5.?SSL certificate renewal.

6.?Performance and page speed optimization.

7.?Monitoring SEO aspects. Things such as H-tags, Meta-tags, Title tags, image optimization, and other.

8.?Regular content updates to stay relevant and with the trend.

9.?Ensuring that the website is available all the time.

Each of the activities involve a detailed explanation of the processes and things included. Explore more about the activities of WordPress website maintenance .

Before we jump on to the main question, let’s look into the factors that affect the cost of maintenance of a WordPress website.

1.?Size and complexity of the website: An informative website is easy to maintain compared to an Ecommerce website.

2.?Number of plugins: A website with more plugins requires more maintenance efforts compared to a one with none or few.

3.?Hosting plan: Unmanaged hosting plans invite more maintenance work compared to a managed hosting plan.

4.?Custom code: A website with custom code requires more maintenance and attention compared to a straightforward website without custom code.

5.?Ongoing support: Ecommerce, property listing, and other websites require ongoing maintenance and support compared to an informative website.

How much does a WordPress website maintenance cost?

Let’s now come to the main question. In a broader sense, the WordPress website maintenance can cost anywhere from 150 USD to 2000 USD per month depending on the various factors we learnt in the blog above. Based on the type of the website, the costs of maintenance of a WordPress website can be bifurcated as below.

1.?Blog website: 50 USD - 150 USD per month.

2.?Informative multi-page website: 100 USD to 250 USD per month.

3.?Feature based multi-page website: 350 USD to 500 USD per month.

4.?Ecommerce website: 500 USD to 1000 USD per month.

5.?Social media and UGC platforms: 750 USD to 1500 USD per month.

Maintenance of a WordPress website is an important aspect when you are planning to develop a website . Always discuss this with your website developer about this prior to engagement.

Though it may sound an extra add-on in your plan of developing a website, there are certain tricks which you can follow to ensure that the maintenance of WordPress website cost is low.

1.?Used managed hosting as it takes care of most of the aspects of keeping a WordPress website up and running. Automatic updates, security, backups, and others are taken care of automatically.

2.?Try to limit the plugin usage on your website.

3.?Try out the tools for automating backups.

4.?If your website uses a theme, make sure it’s lightweight.

5.?Try to do simple tasks such as content update, image update yourself without any assistance.

6.?Ensure that your website has less custom code. The lesser the custom code, the less you will need an expert to maintain it.

Conclusion

Maintaining a WordPress website is not a choice but, necessity. It is like purchasing a bike. If you purchase a bike, you need to ensure that it’s getting services from time to time. The oils are getting changed, the gears are getting checked periodically. If you already have a website and are looking for a quality maintenance of WordPress website, connect with us .