If there’s one thing I’ve learned in more than a decade of supporting business and nonprofit websites, it’s this: cheap is expensive.
For a website with a job to do, maintenance is worth it. Here’s our pricing: steady care starts at $299 per month, and an urgent repair for a non-client starts at a $600 minimum, before counting the downtime, the lost inquiries, or the rebuild that deferred care can eventually make necessary. Not every website needs a plan. If yours is a personal project without revenue or inquiries riding on it, regular backups may be all the protection it needs.
Over the years, I’ve talked with business owners, nonprofit leaders, and marketing teams who thought they were saving money by putting maintenance on the back burner. Some handed it to an already busy employee. Others put off updates, backups, and security checks because nothing seemed urgent.
This page walks through what each of those choices really costs, including when keeping the work in-house is the right call.
Office: (844) 972-6224 Contact Us
The full-time website manager fallacy
Hiring a full-time website manager can feel like a power move. You get control, speed, and maybe even the illusion of security. But here’s what you’re really signing up for: salary, health insurance, payroll taxes, benefits, vacation time, and, possibly, a ping-pong table if you’re trying to impress them.
And for most companies? That’s overkill.
Whenever I see an employment ad for a full-time website manager, I wonder, why? The costs are steep and unnecessary for the majority of small businesses. You’re essentially pouring money into a role that could be fulfilled more efficiently by a website maintenance agency. One that already has the systems, knowledge, and infrastructure in place.
Offloading website maintenance to the marketing team
Handing off web maintenance services to your internal team seems like a budget-friendly fix until you realize what’s being sacrificed. Every minute your marketing manager spends updating plugins, fixing a broken form, or troubleshooting other website issues is a minute they’re not running lead-generation campaigns or writing content that brings in sales.
I’ve seen this happen again and again: the marketing engine slows to a crawl because someone is stuck trying to solve a website crisis they weren’t hired to handle. Marketing suffers. Sales dip. Everyone wonders why traffic is down. And all to save a few bucks? It’s not worth it.
The “sitting duck” approach
This one’s the most painful to watch. Some companies don’t have a plan at all. Their approach is: “Let’s see what happens and deal with it if it breaks.”
I call this the sitting duck option.
This is how you end up with:
- A hacked website
- A sudden outage
- Lost customer data
- Broken forms during your busiest sales season
Sure, it saves money upfront. But when your site crashes or gets hacked or vanishes from Google search results, you’re paying a premium to fix it fast. Urgent support will cost you; ask anyone who’s needed us to swoop in for a same-day emergency.
My agency offers emergency website repair services, and they’re not cheap: urgent work for non-clients starts at a $600 minimum. Because when your website is hacked or down, we drop everything to fix it.
But here’s the thing: you don’t have to end up in crisis mode.
Website maintenance services (think backups, security monitoring, plugin and theme updates) start at $299 per month, cost far less than an emergency fix, and, unlike the emergency, can be budgeted for.
Save money by avoiding big problems
A website maintenance plan might feel like a monthly cost you could cut, but website problems don’t fix themselves.
If your website goes down during a product launch or your donation form breaks during the end-of-year giving season, how much revenue do you lose in a single day?
Outsourcing website maintenance = buying back your time
For many small businesses, website maintenance is one of those tasks that costs more when it is handled reactively.
When small businesses or nonprofits outsource website maintenance to professionals, here’s what they get:
- Peace of mind
- Fewer fires to put out
- More time for revenue-producing work
- Proactive support that prevents problems before they happen
One of our clients put it best:
“Thanks, Emily Journey & Associates for taking a very important task off my plate!”
Shellee Fisher, Shellee Fisher Photography
Website maintenance is not a luxury
When you hire a professional website maintenance agency, you’re not paying for someone to wait for your next edit request. You’re paying for proactive prevention, protection, and performance.
That means critical activities like:
- Regular theme and plugin updates
- Security monitoring and backups
- Speed optimization so users don’t bounce
- SEO guidance and UX improvements
- Eyes on your site so you’re not blindsided
These services reduce your risk and make your website work harder for your business.
Good website managers help you make money
A good website manager doesn’t just prevent losses; they drive growth. They identify ways to improve your site’s speed, security, and visibility. That means more clicks, better search rankings, and more form submissions.
At my agency, we go beyond standard maintenance. With expertise in UX design, SEO, and conversion strategy, our website managers are always looking for ways to make your site better. So you can do better. Read what clients say on our client reviews page.
When in-house website maintenance makes sense
Now, let’s talk about when it does make sense to manage your website in-house.
If you run an e-commerce business, you know: updates to product listings, payment integrations, and shipping platforms are daily tasks. That kind of website activity can’t be outsourced completely. You need someone on the inside who understands the flow of operations and can act fast. We have e-commerce clients who handle the day-to-day updates and use us for specialized support, such as SEO, security updates, and UX refinements.
Or maybe you have a team with the time, skills, and interest to maintain your website. In that case, do it. But do it well. Investing in up-front training leads to fewer headaches later. Think more efficient updates, stronger security, greater flexibility, and a site that looks polished and professional. If you take the in-house route, our website maintenance schedule is the checklist to run it against.
Professional website maintenance is a growth strategy
You will pay for your website one way or another. The question is whether you want to:
- Incur the full cost of adding an employee,
- Risk taking your marketing team’s eye off the prize,
- Panic-spend during a crisis,
- Or pay gradually with a sustainable plan.
Professional website maintenance can feel like an expense. But it’s protection, starting at $299 a month instead of $600 at a time.
Website Maintenance: Frequently Asked Questions
Are website maintenance services really worth the cost for small businesses?
Yes, for most small businesses, they are. The cost of professional website maintenance is usually far less than hiring a full-time employee, losing revenue during downtime, or paying for emergency fixes when something breaks. Preventive care is almost always cheaper than crisis repair.
Isn’t it cheaper to manage a website in-house?
Sometimes. But only if your team already has the time, skills, and systems in place. For many companies, website maintenance quietly pulls marketing and sales teams away from revenue-generating work. When that happens, the “savings” disappear fast.
What happens if I don’t have a website maintenance plan at all?
Then you’re relying on luck. Without a plan, issues are handled reactively, usually at the worst possible time. Emergency website repairs cost more, take longer, and create unnecessary stress. A plan gives you predictability and protection.
Can website maintenance services help increase revenue?
A good website manager does more than just keep things running. They identify performance improvements, provide SEO guidance, and recommend user experience tweaks that help your site convert better and show up more often in search results.
How much do website maintenance services cost?
Inclusions are detailed on our website maintenance packages page, and our plans and pricing, starting at $299 per month, are on the monthly website maintenance plans page.
When does it make sense to manage a website internally instead of outsourcing?
Managing your website in-house can make sense if you have a team member with the time, technical skills, and authority to handle updates, security, and troubleshooting consistently, not just when something breaks.
This is common for e-commerce businesses or teams that make daily changes. Even then, many in-house teams still rely on outside experts for training, audits, or specialized support. The key isn’t who manages the site; it’s whether it’s being maintained proactively and well.
Still not sure it’s worth it? Let’s talk about your needs and your in-house capabilities to see if professional website maintenance is right for your organization.
Office: (844) 972-6224 Contact Us
