Hosting and maintenance of your website: what is it, and do you need it?

A website is not a thing you buy and put in a cupboard. It lives on a computer that is always on, it has an address, and something changes every year that means it needs maintenance. This is what those words mean.

Hosting

The computer your site lives on, at a company that makes sure it is reachable day and night. Good hosting is fast, secure and keeps a backup of your site. Bad hosting is slow and falls over. Cost: €5 to €15 a month for an ordinary business site.

Domain name

Your address: yourbusiness.com. You rent it per year, €10 to €20. Important: put it in your own name, not your web designer's. Otherwise you lose it when you part ways.

Security

The padlock in the browser (SSL) is free nowadays and part of the deal. Without a padlock the browser warns your visitors, and Google ranks you lower.

Maintenance

Everything that still needs to happen after launch: new prices, a different opening hour, a new photo, a broken link, a technical update. Without maintenance a site ages in a year: the prices are wrong, and visitors notice.

Do you need maintenance?

If you like working on your site yourself and remember to: no. If, like most business owners, you would rather be doing your actual work: yes. A fair price for hosting and security alone is around €15 to €25 a month in the Netherlands, for hosting plus maintenance between €35 and €55 a month, cancellable monthly. Watch out for contracts of a year or longer, and for maintenance where you pay for every change separately.

How Scrollvio does it

Two subscriptions, both cancellable monthly. Hosting and security for €19.99 a month: hosting, domain, the padlock, technical updates and a backup every day. Or changes for €49.99 a month: the same, plus all your changes after one message and a monthly check on speed and findability. And without a subscription the site is still yours and still online; we then explain how to do it yourself.