Fee for Managing Websites

Fern9do

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How much would you guys charge to manage/maintain a clients website?
I'm thinking R20 per month is fair? Seeing as it's really not that much work. Just update it whenever they want to change a page and make back ups every week.

One of my clients want me to maintain their site but just not sure what whould be a fair price.
 
R20pm is useless unless you thrive on volume. It also depends on if you have to keep the back up (download & store at your own expense) and if the client is the fussy type or not - R50 to R120 pm if it is minor work and up to R450 pm for more serious pt stuff with a client that keeps on changing his mind and emailing you page edits every second day.

But it is up to you. Last time I had an offer to maintain a website & database and and and the client offered me ~R325 pm and we talked it out. Do the same with your client, bargain with them and ask what are they are willing to pay. R20 per month seems "cheap", and business people don't like cheap. They like affordable, so R50 for backup and minor editing seems fair.

Unless you break it down, R30 per page edited per month + R20 for backup etc :cool:
 
This guy is very picky...And changes his mind quite often. I just figured that it's not really that much work, I have my own blog which I update 6-7 times a day so updating a client's site once or twice a week is really nothing to me.

I do however agree that R20 sounds "cheap":)
Funny how people always get suspicious when things are "too cheap"

I guess I can live with R50, will hear what he says about that. It's nothing major though, just a Guest house website.
 
R20pm is useless unless you thrive on volume. It also depends on if you have to keep the back up (download & store at your own expense) and if the client is the fussy type or not - R50 to R120 pm if it is minor work and up to R450 pm for more serious pt stuff with a client that keeps on changing his mind and emailing you page edits every second day.

But it is up to you. Last time I had an offer to maintain a website & database and and and the client offered me ~R325 pm and we talked it out. Do the same with your client, bargain with them and ask what are they are willing to pay. R20 per month seems "cheap", and business people don't like cheap. They like affordable, so R50 for backup and minor editing seems fair.

Unless you break it down, R30 per page edited per month + R20 for backup etc :cool:

+1, we don't work for free.
 
Hosting costs about R25 pm so that means its about R125 pm for the maintenance. Interesting. Im just trying to find out what the industry norms are. I get ripped off enough so I refuse to rip other people off.
 
I think R20.00 per month is far too little - even if you get 10 clients (that would be an accomplishment for you just starting out), it is only R200.00 per month. By that time, I can assure you that you won't be very happy about maintaining 10 websites every month for that sum of money.
 
I agree with the above. I've also been in a position where I've been burned by a client taking advantage of the low maintenance rate.

I say tell them R150-R250 per month and state what that includes eg:
- Weekly backups
- Update 4 pages or create 2 new pages

The reason you want to do this is that some clients start posting tons of crap to their sites if they see it costs next to nothing. I've had a client go from .5 to 1 update a month to almost daily updates and expecting to pay the monthly rate - monthyl rate assumed 2-6 updates a month.

Also have some kind of terms which include that they perhaps pay you for the month in advance and that you'll stop all services if your fee is not paid within 7/14/30 days. Most clients are ok but some are just a pain and you want to cover your ass in regards to those. Also a site owner that is a home business would require less and get charged less than a corporate. If you're charging R25 to a corporate they'll think you're offering a crap service after all ISPs charge R150-R450 for a single update.

Don't be your own enemy, charge them decent cash for a decent job. Most people get screwed on no charging for the little things and that's where they loose lots of money.
 
If you're charging an hourly rate of, lets say, R300/h, R20 would buy you.... um, about... hmm, lets say 5 minutes of time.

So, are you only going to be doing 5 minutes work every month?
 
I agree with the above. I've also been in a position where I've been burned by a client taking advantage of the low maintenance rate.

I say tell them R150-R250 per month and state what that includes eg:
- Weekly backups
- Update 4 pages or create 2 new pages

The reason you want to do this is that some clients start posting tons of crap to their sites if they see it costs next to nothing. I've had a client go from .5 to 1 update a month to almost daily updates and expecting to pay the monthly rate - monthyl rate assumed 2-6 updates a month.

Also have some kind of terms which include that they perhaps pay you for the month in advance and that you'll stop all services if your fee is not paid within 7/14/30 days. Most clients are ok but some are just a pain and you want to cover your ass in regards to those. Also a site owner that is a home business would require less and get charged less than a corporate. If you're charging R25 to a corporate they'll think you're offering a crap service after all ISPs charge R150-R450 for a single update.

Don't be your own enemy, charge them decent cash for a decent job. Most people get screwed on no charging for the little things and that's where they loose lots of money.
Wise words. +1

Exactly what I was going to say.
 
If you want to charge R20 per month, rather do it for free....LOL!
 
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