Breaking down the annual costs for a website

When you decide to invest in website design and development for your business, it’s important to also consider the annual costs that come with running and maintaining the website.

Our guide to those annual costs will give you a better idea of what exactly you are paying for and how it contributes to your website working effectively.

Domain Name

The domain name is the address of your website that is used to find you online. When choosing your domain name it’s important to remember that it is essentially the face of your company, online, so make it unique to your brand and memorable. Once your domain name is bought or registered, it is yours but needs to be renewed annually in order to keep it.

Hosting

Once you have registered your domain, you will need someone to host your website. A website is made up of multiple files including images, content and text. All these files need to live somewhere so website hosting gives you a place to store all of these files or the contents of your website.

We have several options for hosting your website, depending on the number of domains required, file space needed and bandwidth required. Bandwidth is the amount of data or information that can be sent over an internet connection at one time.

Feel free to contact us for advice on which hosting is best suited to your website to avoid spending too much or risk the website going offline if the rented hosting is not sufficient enough.

Back Up

Taking a regular back up of a website ensures that there is a copy of your data saved elsewhere, in case of unexpected loss or damage. It is an essential cost to avoiding losing all the files that your website is made up of. By having a backup in place your files can be easily restored with minimum disruption to your business – should something untoward happen.

SSL Certificate

An SSL Certificate is a security tool that encrypts the information being sent through a website, such as forms or personal details. This makes it more secure for your customers to add sensitive information, including credit or debit card details. Diligent consumers want to know that their personal information is safe when they visit a website. By having an SSL in place, visitors to your website will see a padlock and be assured their details are secure. For more info on SSL Certificates and why they are needed on your website, have a look at our blog here.

Website Support

Looking after a website can be time-consuming but maintaining and updating regularly are both  crucial to ensure your website is performing as effectively as possible. 

Our website support packages cover email and telephone support, graphic design time, content creation, technical updates and digital marketing advice. Keeping our team of experts at your fingertips throughout the year frees up your time and allows you to focus on other aspects of the business.

We have 3 levels of Website Support – Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 offer 6, 12 and 18 hours, respectively, subject to a fair usage policy that can benefit your online presence in the long run by ensuring your website is fresh and up to date. This will increase traffic and make your site easier to find on Google searches.

Feel free to contact us today for more information an any of the above or for advice on what best suits your needs.