What Are You Really Paying for Each Month on Your Website?
By Samer Shaker
Your prices have changed, but your website still shows the old ones. You have a blog idea but no time to write it. A customer says your contact form does not work. You pay a monthly website fee, so who takes care of all this?
That is what you need to know before you choose a plan. Managed website services can cover site care, page edits and new blog posts. But those are different kinds of work. A fee that keeps your site online may not cover a new post or a broken form.
Start with the work your business needs. Compare what each team will do and what costs extra. Find out what you still handle. You should not need to learn to build a site to see where your money goes.
Key takeaways
- Hosting gives your site a place to run. It does not mean someone will change your prices or write your blog. Look for those tasks in your quote.
- A form can show a success message and still fail to send you the lead. After a fix, send a test and make sure it reaches your inbox.
- A backup is useful only if your team can bring the site back from it. Request a safe restore test, with real payments and customer messages turned off.
- Owning your blog posts does not tell you whether you can move the whole site. Settle rights to the design, code and paid tools before you sign.
Start with a normal month in your business
Think about what you have put off on your site. A salon may need new prices and a staff photo. A repair shop may need to change its hours. A cleaning firm may want a post that explains what a deep clean includes.
Bring that list to the team you might hire. It gives them something real to quote. It also helps you spot a plan that leaves you with the work you hoped to hand off.
The main types of work serve different needs:
- Hosting gives your site a place to run online. Find out who helps if it goes down.
- Site care includes tasks such as software updates and backups. The quote should say which tasks the team handles and how often.
- Page edits change what is already on your site, such as a phone number or a service price.
- Blog writing creates new content. It takes more than pasting text into a page.
An allowance for edits does not tell you how many new posts you get. If you want both, have the quote list both. It should also state how many draft changes are included.
Compare the full cost of your work list. Add any setup fee, repairs and extra writing to the monthly fee. A lower price is less useful if it leaves out the tasks you need most.
Know what you still need to send
You can hand off the writing without handing off the facts about your business.
Suppose you run that cleaning firm. You want to raise your prices and add a post about deep cleans. Give the writer the new rates and their start date. Explain what your team does on each visit. Send a photo you have the right to use.
From there, the work should be easy to follow. You review the price text and blog draft. The team makes the changes you approve. It then posts them and sends you the live links. You can then see the new prices where customers will see them.
That is one way to split the work. Your quote sets how much you get. Before work starts, choose one person on your side to review drafts. Give the team a clear route for getting missing facts. Set a due date for your reply. That helps keep posts from sitting unseen in an inbox.
Late replies need a plan too. Find out if a late post moves to the next month. Will you lose any unused work? Silence should not count as permission to publish.
Make sure a fix solves the customer's problem
A quick reply from support is useful. It is not the same as a working site.
Take a broken contact form. The team may fix the button and see a success message. But if the message never reaches your inbox, you still miss the lead.
Send a clearly marked test through the form. Confirm that it arrives in the right inbox or sales tool. Do not use real customer details. Delete private test data when you are done.
For a price change, open the live page as a visitor would. For a booking fix, try the booking steps in a safe test mode. The test should match what the customer was trying to do.
Before you need urgent help, know the support hours and time zone. Get a contact for urgent faults and a route to follow if a request stalls. A promised reply time does not tell you when the repair will be done. Any work that costs extra should need your approval first.
Find out how your site would come back after a fault
Backups are saved copies of your site. A restore puts a saved copy back to work. You need to know that both parts work before a fault takes your site down.
For WordPress, a full restore needs the database and the site files. The database holds site data apart from the files. A copy of the site folder alone leaves that data out. Other site systems have their own backup rules.
Have the team explain how much recent work you could lose. If you add content each day, an old copy may be missing several posts. The plan should state how often copies are saved and how long they are kept.
A restore test belongs in a private test space, away from your live site. The team must protect copied customer data. It must turn off real payments, messages and bookings. It should also block timed tasks and links that send data to live business tools.
Once the copy works, the team can test a recent page. It can then try the photos and main form. Request a short record of what worked, what failed and how long recovery took. Set a time to test again after major changes.
Routine updates deserve care too. WordPress recommends a backup before an update. Your team should have a way to undo a failed change. It should test the forms or booking steps afterward.
Keep control of the site you are paying for
Your domain is your website's name. Keep its account in your name. Make sure you can reset the login on your own. Give the team its own login where possible, with only the access it needs.
This matters when you switch providers. You need to be able to reach your domain account. You also need to know which parts of the site you can move.
Before signing, find out what you would receive if you left. Posts and photos are one part. The design, code and paid tools may have separate terms. You may need to pay to use some tools on the new site. Other parts may need to be rebuilt.
For example, a WordPress content export can carry posts, pages and comments. It is not a full backup of all site files and data. A file called an export does not, by itself, mean a new team can run your whole site.
Find out how much notice you must give and what a move costs. Set a date to get your files. Leave time for the new team to test the files before hosting ends. The terms should say who handles missing files. They should also cover extra hosting costs if the move is late.
What iMakeMVPs offers
Our Managed Website & Blog service covers hosting, site care, writing and posting. You can send ideas and photos, and we can suggest topics when you do not have one ready.
The service FAQ describes the plan as month-to-month. It says your domain stays in your name and you own the content we post. We can also take over an existing site if it is in good shape.
Those points help you judge fit. Your quote still needs a price and a clear list of work. It should set any build or repair fees and the support terms. This guide is buying advice, not an addition to your contract.
Frequently asked questions
Do managed website services include blog writing?
Only when your plan includes it. Changing text on an existing page is a different job from writing a new post. Look for a post count, draft review process and posting schedule in the quote.
How much will I pay each month?
Get a quote based on your site and the work you need. It should separate the monthly fee from setup, repairs and extra work. This guide does not set an iMakeMVPs price or a fixed post count.
What will I still need to do?
Send accurate prices, service details and photos you have permission to use. Review drafts before they go live. Keep control of key accounts, and confirm that test requests reach your business. A named reviewer on your team helps prevent delays.
Can iMakeMVPs manage the site I already have?
Our FAQ says we can take over a site in good shape. Send the site link and tell us about known faults. We can then discuss repairs or a rebuild, if needed. That comes before we set the work, cost and start date.
What should I know before I cancel a plan?
Know how much notice you must give and when hosting ends. Get a list of the files you will receive. Get the rights and costs for moving the code, design and paid tools in writing. Owning your content does not settle every part of a site move.
Bring the work you want off your desk
Before your next website call, write down what you need done this month. Include the small jobs you keep putting off, such as old prices or a form no one has tested. Add any new pages or posts you want.
Use that list to judge the quote. You should know what the team will finish and what it needs from you. You should also know what the whole list will cost.
Want help with both your site and blog? Send us your site link and work list through our Managed Website & Blog service page. We can discuss the work you need and put the scope in writing.