For most businesses the website is at the forefront of the marketing strategy. It is often the first place your potential customers visit before contacting you. The amount of resources you should dedicate to your website depends on the size and type of your business. Below is the breakdown of all the “cost” associated with a typical small business WordPress website.
Cost associate with owning a website
- Hosting – For small websites with under 100 daily visitors you will be perfectly happy with a basic hosting plan costing under $10 a month. Be sure that your plan comes with free SSL, 24/7 assistance and free SSL.
- Themes and Plugins – depending on the complexity of your site, you might be required to purchase additional plugins for ecommerce, ticket sales, emails, entry forms etc. Paying for high quality, reliable plugins will save your time in the long run. A small business should not be spending more than $300 a year on plugins. In most cases this number should be under $100.
- Maintenance – a WordPress website should be monitored, updated and regularly reviewed. It is worth your money to have a marketing and web development professional review and update your website at least once a quarter. These services cost usually under $100 and include content, security and integrity checks as well as Search Engine Optimization.
- Professional images – Having high quality images of your business and your team is crucial in gaining the confidence of your potential customers. You should have your pictures updated at least once every 5 years. If you are not an amateur photographer, set aside about $300 for an 1h photo shoot.
- Content writing – Having relevant content on your website will draw more organic traffic and showcase your expertise to future clients. This content can come in the form of a blog, social media post, webpage or a video. You are the expert in the field, so setting aside time every month to create new content will go a long way. If you cannot afford the luxury of time, hire a professional content writer.
- Advertising – setting up paid advertising campaigns with search engines or social media can be a very effective way to attract more customers to your business. Most of these campaigns have a set budget that you would have control of.
Maintaining a high quality website can easily cost over $50 a month. The most effective way to make the most of your resources is to set up time every month to post new content, grow your following, solicit reviews, and create new connections.
How would you know that you are not spending enough time and resources on your website?
- You website looks outdated (you are not bragging about it to your friends)
- You website is broken or has been hacked (has errors, broken links, malicious content etc)
- Your website has outdated information
- Your website traffic is stagnant
How would you know that you are spending too much on your website?
An established business should be spending about 5%-10% of their gross revenue on marketing. Your website should be a part of your marketing budget. If you are not in a growth phase and you are spending over 5% of your gross income on your website, you are spending too much. You should also check if you are spending money on plugins and services you do not need, paying for advertisements that are not bringing any clients, or paying professional fees for work you have the skill and time to do yourself.
At the end of the day, the most important resource to invest in your website is your time and attention.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko