How do you justify charging a monthly fee for providing a website?

12 years ago

I think in some cases the charge includes a site rental as well (rather than the client paying many £££ up-front for it).

I find some people don't understand the difference between a domain registrar and hosting, so an analogy or two helps here.

I charge minimal amounts for hosting as I can't see any way to justify higher prices on that, so I'll be interested to see these answers too.

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Fernando Veloso

12 years ago

It's all in the way you "sell" your services. That's why some restaurants sell fish and salad for 20$ and other restaurants sell the exact same dish for 200$.

Positioning.

Edit: Some of our customers came to us after a terrible experience with their "I pay 50$ per year" hosting... Now they pay 150$-300$ per year and don't question it. Hosting is something so valuable to make business online... I just don't understand why someone would want a trashy hosting for the cost of a breakfast - just to lose time and money?

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Kingfish85

12 years ago

I think in some cases, these customers are getting taken advantage of when it comes to some of these "Wordpress Installers" charging $20+/mo for hosting because the customer doesn't know any better. Most of these small websites for local mom & pop businesses require no maintenance on a monthly basis.

EDIT: $50/year is just below the average cost of hosting a small, basic website. The problem is, they end up getting hosted at companies like GoDaddy/HG/BlueHost etc that are way overloaded and eventually cause problems.

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jessiepadgal

12 years ago

I don't currently offer any clients website services, but I have in the past. (I write copy and content, but often coordinate other services for clients that would like them.)

I have offered recurring monthly fees because I would
*tweak the copy
*prepare analysis of their stats
*interlink their content
*answer comments
*etc.

So I am hoping that people charging monthly fees for things beyond hosting are offering services on a monthly basis...but it doesn't sound like that is the case. I may have misunderstood, but I always like to hope people aren't being taken advantage of...

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massiveray

12 years ago

I charge £50 a month hosting and maintenance, for this they get their own cpanel, up to 2 edits in the month and any updates to plugins etc if I'm using Wordpress on their site. As well as monthly reports. Generally they get the usage of my premium themes and plugins etc too.

And if you think that people don't hassle you for the tiniest little updates every single month then you are very mistaken.

The biggest reason that they feel this cost is justified is that it basically means that they never have to do anything to their site, if they need a change they call me and POOF it's done.

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jacquic

12 years ago

Originally Posted by massiveray

I charge £50 a month hosting and maintenance, for this they get their own cpanel, up to 2 edits in the month and any updates to plugins etc if I'm using Wordpress on their site. As well as monthly reports. Generally they get the usage of my premium themes and plugins etc too.

And if you think that people don't hassle you for the tiniest little updates every single month then you are very mistaken.

The biggest reason that they feel this cost is justified is that it basically means that they never have to do anything to their site, if they need a change they call me and POOF it's done.

Very reasonable fee for what you're offering.

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sitefurnace

12 years ago

It's all in the way you "sell" your services. That's why some restaurants sell fish and salad for 20$ and other restaurants sell the exact same dish for 200$.

Positioning.

So how do you position your website product to justify $200 per month?

If I spent $200 on a meal I would be happy to do so if it were in a stunning location with amazing service and ambience etc. But hosting is hosting it cost peanuts yet people are charging a fortune. How can you sell it as anything different?

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Craig McPherson 12 years ago

Originally Posted by sitefurnace

If I spent $200 on a meal I would be happy to do so

After working in pubs and clubs for years I know that the cost of that meal to the pub/restaurant is about $7

They charge $200 for the same reason I charge $197min for a site, value for money.
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Craig McPherson

12 years ago

I charge a minimum $197 per month as rental for the site.
They are purely lead gen sites.

I have had 3 clients email me telling me to take it down because they got so much work from it.
One client hired 3 staff to handle the extra work.
Another client ( an aquaintance) has profited over $14,000 in 3 months from using the site, so paying 3 x $197, by my arithmatic, makes it worth it.

You can charge any figure so long as you provide value to the client.

Also, it is not a case of building the site, renting it out and forgetting about it.
With every site I am:

Adding content
Making videos
Posting to classified ad sites
Social bookmarking
Press releases
Article marketing
Facebook pages
Google places

I reckon that $197/month is selling myself short to be honest

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sitefurnace

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Craig McPherson

I charge a minimum $197 per month as rental for the site.
They are purely lead gen sites.

I have had 3 clients email me telling me to take it down because they got so much work from it.
One client hired 3 staff to handle the extra work.
Another client ( an aquaintance) has profited over $14,000 in 3 months from using the site, so paying 3 x $197, by my arithmatic, makes it worth it.

You can charge any figure so long as you provide value to the client.

Also, it is not a case of building the site, renting it out and forgetting about it.
With every site I am:

Adding content
Making videos
Posting to classified ad sites
Social bookmarking
Press releases
Article marketing
Facebook pages
Google places

I reckon that $197/month is selling myself short to be honest

Thanks Craig - I think you are selling yourself short there my friend! I am talking about basic website hosting/maintenance fees rather than any kind of SEO or leadgen services. You can justify the cost of these kind of services coz you are actually doing something.

I don't do anything really to my clients sites. I certainly don't get many requests for changes at all. Alll my sites are on wordpress so even if they did want to change something I give them a login so they can edit the content.

I think I've just got to double/triple my monthly fee and not even worry about it - it will certainy get me to my goal much faster.

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payoman

12 years ago

I think it's a matter of providing a 'little' something for the charges.

Tell them you will 'put up new pictures free of charge' (within reason, you aren't going to upload their entire photo album) or 'free support and technical assistance'.

The beauty of this is you will probably not be bothered for these services, your business owners are too busy in their business to worry about hassling you every week for 1 new photo or how to log into Cpanel.

I couldn't see business owners getting TOO tight over $30-$50 a month. If they are, you just need to find some kind of easy to produce value to tack on to their site.

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Sardent

12 years ago

The first problem is - your mindset.
You think you're not providing anything.
If the website goes down, who do they call? You.
If they want a change made, even if you charge for changes, who do they call? You.
If they have a question who do they call? You.
If they think they want more services, who do they call? You.

It's them putting your company, time, services, and expertise on retainer.

True fact #1 - People want a hand to hold, and a voice to tell them everything will be ok. Well, you can charge for that.

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MaxwellB

12 years ago

Originally Posted by sitefurnace

I have seen so many posts on here where individuals are charging a fair old whack on a monthly basis for providing a website.

The last one I saw today said they charge $50 per month and they are overwhelmed! What is that $50 for?

I am charging £10/month for hosting for my websites here in the UK and even that seems to raise a few eyebrows.

People just don't want to pay it - they cant see what that money is for and they question it. At the end of the day my reseller account costs next to nothing and I don't have to do anything on a monthly basis so why should I charge this fee?

I would love to charge more on a monthly basis - In fact I would take a higher monthly fee over a one-off payment anytime but just cant seem to justify it.

How do you justify these kind of fees to your clients - How do you charge $50 per month!! Maybe there is just a big difference in mentality between our two countries?

I think your misunderstanding what people are talking about.

I saw the post about $50 per month, and I'm sure your referring to the bower formula etc.

These monthly charges your reading about are not for hosting, they are for the website. The guy who charges 50 bucks per month doesn't charge anythig upfront for the website. So instead of charging $800 bucks or $1500 bucks or whatever for a website and 10 bucks per month for hosting he is just charging $50 per month and no up front fee.

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iAmNameLess

12 years ago

I have a site that is renting out for $3,000/month. The amount of leads the site generates, and profit coming in directly from the site brings the company about 6-8X that amount.

The reason you can't charge much, is because you aren't offering value. That is all there is to it.

$10/mo for hosting? Some will scoff at that, because there is cheaper hosting.

$50/mo gets you hosting, weekly website backups, weekly database back ups, security analysis(check your logs), submission to the search engines every month.

Don't you think they would pay that amount, knowing they're protected from cyber bullies and criminals? Knowing that they'd have someone they can rely on for things they don't understand? Worth the $50/mo right?

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Kingfish85

12 years ago

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

I have a site that is renting out for $3,000/month. The amount of leads the site generates, and profit coming in directly from the site brings the company about 6-8X that amount.

The reason you can't charge much, is because you aren't offering value. That is all there is to it.

$10/mo for hosting? Some will scoff at that, because there is cheaper hosting.

$50/mo gets you hosting, weekly website backups, weekly database back ups, security analysis(check your logs), submission to the search engines every month.

Don't you think they would pay that amount, knowing they're protected from cyber bullies and criminals? Knowing that they'd have someone they can rely on for things they don't understand? Worth the $50/mo right?

I understand all of this, and you're doing it right...but only "weekly" backups? Why not nightly incremental backups?

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iAmNameLess 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kingfish85

I understand all of this, and you're doing it right...but only "weekly" backups? Why not nightly incremental backups?

Because I'm not changing files, code, or adding content nightly. That would be a bit pointless, would it not? Why would I back something up nightly when the last weekly back up is the same exact thing?

Create value, not lies. I don't sell things that won't benefit my clients. If they come to me asking if I can do something, but it doesn't benefit them like they think it will, I tell them. I'm not going to move up and charge them $500/mo for something they don't need... I'd rather find something they need and charge $1,000/mo.
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RentItNow

12 years ago

Usually it's a hard sell on an immediate basis but once they see the value you are adding it's an easier sale. It's usually the immediate reaction that is negative because most business owners have been conditions to steer away from recurring payments. At least in my city I am speaking about.

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Bruce NewMedia

12 years ago

Originally Posted by sitefurnace

I am charging £10/month for hosting for my websites here in the UK and even that seems to raise a few eyebrows.

People just don't want to pay it - they cant see what that money is for and they question it.

That's your problem and the answer lies in that comment, too.

Even $10 or 10 pounds is too much if they can't see the value.

Your price is not the problem, your problem is the VALUE PROPOSITION.

I get $49 to $69 per month for what you are only describing as "hosting"...
but I also emphasize maintenance, changes, security updates, and periodically adding some content.

For leased sites, it's a minimum of $299...but that includes an already-seo ranked property. Selling is mostly about BIG value propositions.
_____
Bruce

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OnlineBusinessAffiliates

12 years ago

It's sad, but there are still a lot of small business owners out there getting ripped off. I met one guy who ran an auto body shop. He had a crappy website and was paying $100 USD a month for "web services." Really, all that meant was hosting. The site hadn't been updated in years, and the company he was paying provided no SEO or anything.

Personally, I can't bring myself to charge any big fees for putting up a site. I don't mind trading my professional services for my client's, but that's about it.

Now, bringing them business through SEO services or my own little method is another story, but I believe in win-win situations. That's the only way you're going to keep the small business owner as a customer for the long run (for the most part).

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NickSway

12 years ago

If you're only getting $10/month for hosting, you're "selling" it wrong.

Half the people I deal with don't even know what hosting is. They just see the godaddy commercials and think it's $9 for a domain for life. Tell them it will be $50/month to maintain their website, make minor changes, deal with security risks, etc. etc.

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Hugh

12 years ago

My "Sweet Spot" is $89 a month. I don't do quite as much
as Craig, but I do deliver value (read: more customers.)

Hugh

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Lesley Huntley

12 years ago

I charge $47 per month. I don't call it hosting, I call it 'monthly fees.'

I say the monthly fees cover everything I do for you behind the scenes, nightly backups of design plus plugins and content, email creation as needed, small design changes, ongoing design support, update of the content management system and plugins as required to avoid security breaches, and general on-going maintenance. This all adds up to over an hour per month on its own (tell them your hourly rate is $XX). The monthly fees cover hosting and also all support requests and domain name registration.

Most importantly, the website we set you up with has the very best chance of being found in the search engines for the keywords your customers are using to look for you. Just one lead from an online search brought in by the on-page optimisation we set up for you more than covers our low monthly fees.

Most don't question it after that. If they do, let them go. As long as you are providing great value for the money you charge, it's their loss.

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kumarkunal

Banned 12 years ago

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TheShark 12 years ago

Why not add ongoing content and videos - that is what I do for my clients and they are very happy paying a $ that most wouldn't believe - but it keeps them at the top of google in very competitive markets.

Just a thoughts. Also, maybe your niche isn't high dollar.

Good luck.
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mayankgangwal

12 years ago

Charge depends on what service is he providing. The hosting is on delicated server or linux. You may be charging $10 but you might not providing a delicated virtual server.
May be someday i wana try you service for a month.

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huwagkukurap

Banned 12 years ago

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ahlexis 12 years ago

Originally Posted by huwagkukurap

ahhhmmmm i've been confuse.. why per month? google supplies domain 10$ a year.. is there any difference sir?

There are multiple parts to having your website found on the internet. The domain name is like a house number or street address. The hosting is the actual computer it sits on, which uses electricity every month. (But no, you're not charging for the electricity.)

The SEO is the details put into the design that makes it more likely to end up found at the top or near the top of the search engines when someone types in a keyword you are doing SEO for.

You need both a domain name (house address that specifies an exact location) and hosting (a building for you to lay your head down at night) in order for your site to have a place to exist on the web. And for those who might say, "But there are free websites out there" you are right. But those sites still need a domain name pointing to computer, even if it is not one you pay for.

As for the original poster, when you buy auto insurance you are not really buying the green little gecko or the Allstate guy putting his hands out as "the good hands" people. You're actually buying a promise that when something goes wrong it will be fixed with as little as hassle as possible. Actually you're not even buying that. When you buy insurance what you are really buying is peace of mind so that you can rest easy instead of worrying about what can go wrong. Because otherwise why would you pay so much money and then hope you never have to use it?

And the monthly maintenance fees for hosting are the ongoing peace of mind that a business owner is willing to pay in order for them not to have to sweat details they know very little if anything about. The sooner you realize that what they are really paying you for is peace of mind the sooner you will find it easier to charge more money for those services. Because as their web guy, you are who they are going to turn to when something goes wrong. And chances are, it's not always going to go wrong between 9-5 Monday through Friday, so plan that into your pricing as well when you decide what to charge them.

So I guess in a way the monthly fees they pay are insurance that you, their web guy, will fix what needs to be fixed so that they can rest easy!
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How do you justify charging a monthly fee for providing a website?

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