What to charge for maintaining a website

8 replies
Hey warriors, I have a client that wants me to manage/maintain their website.

I have never done anything like this and I'm not sure what to charge them monthly, or what services I can offer them to justify the cost.

I'm hoping that anyone with experience managing websites for clients can share some ideas and insight.

Thanks...
#charge #maintaining #website
  • Profile picture of the author WRCREX
    Also interested in this as I am a compsci major
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7129686].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Krishna876
    Just to add some details, they dont know much about their website. They had someone build the site and hand it over to them.

    It's a wordpress site. Our relationship started because they wanted me to do some seo work for them. Once I got started, I realized that their plugins were outdated and weren't working properly.

    Their permalinks weren't setup properly and they didnt know how to track their traffic or where the traffic was coming from. So since I was able to tell them all this, they suggested that I just manage the site for them completely.

    So I told them I'd get back to them so that I could research how much to charge and what to tell them they would be getting for that cost.

    It's a security company website if that makes a difference...

    Thanks...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7129734].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author luvtrees
    I generally charge a per hour fee according to what the task is and how much time it takes, somewhere between $40 and $65. Make sure to specify a minimum charge as well, for the really simple tasks.

    I know of some large web design firms that charge $100 an hour for webmaster services though.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7130448].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author SEO Diva
      Put them on a retainer and roll ongoing SEO services into it. You can ask for more money that way.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7130589].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    Figure out what you're going to have to do to maintain the site. Figure out how much work it will take you to maintain the site. Figure out how much you value your time ($ wise) for doing that amount of work each month.

    Or, if the website is profitable, ask for a % of the profits for maintaining and growing the site.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7130662].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jacqueline Smith
    Another option is to ask for 'profit sharing'.

    If you think you can develop the site enough to generate a high revenue, this may be the way to go. Propose it as a win-win.....nothing out of their pocket and you being motivated to make them the most money. I'd ask for a 50/50 split.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7131780].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author haroonnasim
    It really depends on the clients business really.

    Do some back ground checks on the business they are doing and how good they are at what they are doing and what heir turn over and things like that. Put everything together and you get an idea how much you should be charging them

    You dont want to be charging $100 per hour from a client whose company turn over is 3k -5k a month

    I hope you got the point
    Signature

    3 Character Premium .Com domain up for sell

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7131817].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author pinakin
    Well, I am a freelancer and I charge for the keywords that need to be ranked, I calculate my charges for the keywords for example keyword has 1000 exact searches in Google keyword tool and CPC of $2 then I would charge the $2000 (1000 x $2) for ranking that keyword in search engines, and to maintain that ranking I take 30% of $2000 that is $600/month.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7133261].message }}

Trending Topics