With an increasing number of business owners getting online, there is a warning from experts that more maintenance will be required to keep up the pace. It is true that getting your first website up and running is relatively inexpensive. However, what many fail to realise is that maintaining a website is also an ongoing cost that can be substantial. With that, Mapletree Media is here to give you the 101 on how much it costs to maintain a website in Singapore.

Business owners are fretting over their ignorance of how much a website costs to run. Therefore, many business owners fail to understand the amount of work involved in maintaining a website. Thus, this can potentially hurt their businesses. To remedy this situation, professional help must be enlisted.

 

Domain

Domain names are like real estate. It’s easier for you to get your hands on a premium address in a hot location than anywhere else. Premium domains are carefully selected in such a way that they are easy to remember, easy to type in and spell-check friendly. That being said, domain names that sound easy are probably tied to a hefty price tag.

Domain fees are paid once a year (a fee that’s paid to the company that registers your domain), and you’ll need to pay renewal fees each year after registration. Here are estimated prices for the extension you choose.

  • .com = $20/year
  • .net = $20/year
  • .com.sg = $60/year
  • .sg = $60/year

You may have noticed that .sg is a little on the pricier side. This is because if you’re targeting a local audience, you have to pay the price as it is high in demand but low in supply. Despite that, it is an investment worth doing.

 

Hosting

Web hosting services allow you to upload and store your website files onto a website provider’s servers so your website content will be available to people on the internet. Your information is protected by a firewall within the hosting provider’s infrastructure, reducing the risk of hacking. Many web hosting services offer email addresses and domain name registration as part of your hosting plan.

Here are some popular Web Hosting Providers in Singapore:

  • Hostinger
  • SiteGround
  • Exabytes SG
  • A2 Hosting
  • Vodien

The first thing to think about when you are approaching web hosting is how much disk space you want. This can vary from less than 1 GB to as much as a terabyte. In most cases though, less than 100GB is more than enough for an average website that gets some 10,000 unique visitors a day.

There are two types of hosting. One is shared hosting and the other, dedicated hosting. With shared hosting, your site shares a server with many sites and that means it is slower. Dedicated hosting is much faster, as it has its own server and the price depends on the RAM you need, so more will cost you more.

If we had to be definitive, choosing a shared hosting will range from $10 to $50 a month. Where on the other hand, dedicated hosting could bring around a cost of $2000+ a month. In the end, weigh the pros and cons carefully.

 

Building Your Site

Now comes the actual part of building the website. Put down those programming books because long gone are times of relying on coding as means to create a website.

In recent years, the rise of using Content Management System (CMS) platforms like WordPress, Weebly and Wix has become the solution. These popular platforms have made it easy for anyone with little or no coding knowledge to create their own professional website!

CMS like WordPress are free and have no recurring monthly fees which is why it is the most popular option. The majority of hosting providers support WordPress and can easily be installed with no additional fees.

However, CMS like Wix and Weebly are free but you must pay for more advanced features that will give you the full “I have a website” experience. They start at $5 to $20 a month depending on which package you choose.

 

Plugins

WordPress provides you with the ability to easily add content to your own website, and even allow you to earn income from it. Though WordPress itself is free, some plugins and themes are not. In addition, most plugins are free until you want additional features which they will then charge you for. As an example, one of the most popular plugins on-site is Yoast which is free until you want to use their premium features which will one-time-only charge you $89.

 

Maintenance

For a website maintenance service, know what are the most frequent things that need to be updated. Content management is one of the most important parts of a web development service. Additionally, it means that frequent changes or updates will need to be made to your web page content by you or your employees whenever new products are launched or any relevant data needs to be updated about your business.

You can either do it yourself or you can hire a web design service like us, Mapletree Media. We will give you a fuss-free experience and deliver amazing results that are excellent and high in quality. There are many aspects of web maintenance that most web design services will do that can result in a price tag of $500 a month.

 

FAQ About Cost of Maintaining a Website

Should I do my own website maintenance or hire a developer?

Whether you hire a professional or do your own website upkeep, each method offers advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the overall cost of website maintenance is determined by your requirements as well as the amount of time, money, and effort you are ready to invest.

Hiring a professional might cost anything from $2500 to $10000 each month. Professional website maintenance services manage the site’s more complicated and technical components, saving website owners time and effort. Regular software upgrades, site security monitoring, and performance optimization are all services provided by website maintenance companies.

Hiring a professional is a great alternative for company owners who want to devote their time and attention to more important duties, such as marketing tactics and content production. The disadvantage of employing professional website maintenance services is that you will pay more for their experience and high-quality work, which will result in a higher website maintenance cost.

A DIY strategy results in lower website maintenance expenditures; we’re talking about $150 on average. It’s a great alternative for novices looking to save money or for people who enjoy being hands-on with technical upkeep. Learning how to maintain your own website may be done in a very short period of time thanks to the abundance of free materials accessible nowadays.

Self-maintaining a website serves two purposes: it allows you to learn new skills and maintain control over the site’s setups. One disadvantage of maintaining a website yourself is that learning new skills and putting them into practice takes time. Managing all of the technical parts of the site may often be difficult.

What are the consequences of a badly maintained website?

Your material will become outdated without frequent updates and adequate maintenance, and if you genuinely fall behind, your domain name may expire, meaning you will no longer have a website to maintain! When your domain name expires, links break, photos disappear, the material gets outdated, and your rankings plummet. If you don’t have someone looking after your website, problems like an expired domain name and outdated material might develop.

How often should I maintain my website?

There are no hard and fast rules for how often website maintenance should be performed. However, regular website maintenance is recommended to guarantee that everything runs well. Routine maintenance ensures that all software is up to date, eliminates mistakes and latencies, and identifies security flaws. Ongoing maintenance also allows you to detect problems or difficulties early on, reducing the impact on your website’s performance.

Purchasing professional website maintenance services on a quarterly or annual basis is another option to explore. They’ll aid with backups, firewalls, core upgrades, and troubleshooting, among other things.

How much does it cost to maintain a website on a yearly basis?

Annual website maintenance costs range from $500 to $81,000. It depends on the size of the site, the resources available from the hosting provider, and the website maintenance service is chosen. While certain services, such as tech support and website updates, may be paid on a monthly basis, others, such as website upkeep, need a yearly subscription. As your site’s traffic and scope grow, expect to pay more.

 

Conclusion on Costs to Maintain a Website

The cost of maintaining a website in Singapore can vary, as do the fees you’ll have to pay to ultimately boost your business and profits. Spending more money in the short run may actually make less sense in the long run.

What’s important is that you plan ahead and stick to your budget. Here’s to you starting your online journey.