Yes. Even when built on a do-it-yourself (DIY) platform like WIX, there will be a monthly or annual fee associated. In order for a website to exist online, it needs to be hosted on a server and at the bare minimum, there would be a hosting fee attached. Different types of monthly fees to run a website are as follows:
- Discount Hosting. The most cost effective and least reliable type of hosting is discount hosting. A user would expect to pay somewhere between $20-$50/month for this service (for a standard website). It likely will not offer any type of management or reliable backups so these types of services will be the responsibility of the user.
- Managed Hosting. This type of hosting is where the servers are managed by an organization that will make sure the website is up-to-date, backed up and secure. In other words, the user does not have to worry about the technical aspects of web hosting. A user would expect to pay $100-$200/month for this service.
- Full Website Management & Support. This type of hosting includes management of the website as well as hosting, security, backups and website maintenance. In other words, the company managing the website takes care of everything (including changes/additions to the site). A user would expect to pay $500 – $5000/month for this service. The wide range in fees is based on complexity of the website. For instance, an E-Commerce site is more costly to properly maintain than a standard marketing website.
- Retainer-Based Support. This type of maintenance requires the user to commit to a monthly retainer. Often set up as a number of hours (included in the retainer), the website hosting and maintenance is included in this package. Often, there are other services (such as marketing & media buying) that are part of this retainer. A user would expect to pay $2500-$10,000/month for this type of support (and can go higher if media is included in the retainer).