What Are the Hidden Costs of Owning a Website?

Launching a website is a major milestone — but it’s not the finish line. Without regular upkeep, even a brand-new site can quickly start to feel outdated unless you stay on top of website maintenance tasks. Some tasks are obvious — creating content, taking product photos, setting up a contact form —  and you rightly plan for them.

But that’s not what we’re talking about here.

Some of the biggest surprises for marketing directors and site owners are the hidden costs of owning a website, the things you don’t think about until after contracts are signed and the site is designed, developed, and launched.

These are the six hidden costs site owners have found the most surprising.

1) ADA Compliance

Of all the tasks people think of when launching a website, ADA accessibility is likely not at the top of the list. The focus tends to be on design, timelines, and other KPIs specific to business goals. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) only applies to physical buildings with ramps and elevators, not websites. Right?

Site owners should ensure their sites are as accessible as possible for everyone. Fortunately, tools such as AccessiBe or AudioEye can help.

Web developers often include some form of ADA compliance in their agreements. We certainly do. Still, the site’s size and complexity could raise the cost of building and maintaining it. Additionally, retrofitting ADA compliance to an existing site could be even costlier. A basic accessibility audit could cost between $500 and $1500. For large e-commerce sites, the upfront cost could be even higher.

So why bother? First, it’s the right thing to do. Secondly, depending on your site, it’s the law. Lastly, 3,188 ADA website lawsuits were filed, an increase of 7% in 2024, with 3,188 filed that year alone. As you can guess, defending and settling these cases are expensive. Settlements can range between $5000 and $25,000, with defense fees adding another $15,000 to $25,000 burden for the company.

And since the U.S. Department of Justice hasn’t truly defined which sites must be ADA-compliant and by how much, it’s mainly up to the courts to decide. So the best defense is quite literally a good defense. Use a tool like AudioEye and check your site’s accessibility rating. From there, you’ll know what your site does well and what needs fixing.

2) Security

We’ll keep this simple: website security isn’t optional. It’s essential. Security measures and updates don’t just protect your site from hacks, malware, and data breaches. They also protect something even harder to recover — your company’s reputation.

Let me give you an example: You make a purchase from a small online store, only to have your credit card information stolen. Would you ever trust that business again? Probably not. Most customers wouldn’t either. Basic website security plugins are often free or free with the option for more advanced features (freemium).

Most standard website maintenance plans include routine security updates. But larger sites with more complex needs or sites might require more advanced plugins or custom security solutions. These will likely have higher maintenance fees not included in a standard maintenance agreement.  But not keeping up with software and security updates could cost a business a lot more.

In 2024, an estimated 60% of data breaches were the result of hackers targeting a site with older, “unpatched” software. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report from a year before, CMS breaches cost businesses up to $4.45 million on average between lost revenue and damaged reputation.

3) Site & Data Backups

Regular backups can mean the difference between a minor inconvenience and a major crisis if your site’s data is compromised — whether from a cyberattack, technical glitch, or simple human error. Regular website backups are typically included in most standard website maintenance packages, or they’re relatively affordable. However, the cost of more advanced, comprehensive backup solutions can vary depending on the site’s size and complexity.

There are also special edge cases, such as when Google switched from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (G4 or GA4). The two systems were incompatible, but you could access the old UA data.

Then Google announced that Universal Analytics was completely shutting down and that all historical data would be deleted starting the week of July 1, 2024. Companies paid for services and agencies that could download, store, and transfer this data for them — an unexpected cost that ran in the thousands for larger companies with a lot of data.

4) In-Depth SEO Monitoring

Keeping up with SEO (search engine optimization) is essential for maintaining and improving your website’s visibility in search results. Search engines update their algorithms. A new competitor comes in and disrupts the playing field. These are just a couple of factors that make ongoing SEO critical to stay competitive. The cost of SEO monitoring and strategy varies widely between agencies and is often not included in standard website maintenance plans.

More comprehensive strategies can easily cost thousands, but a brand could benefit from proper SEO monitoring and analysis, which can provide invaluable insights. An industry shift could change how people talk about the services and products of that industry. A dedicated team of SEO strategists would see this shift coming and could plan accordingly.

The toupée industry is a recent example of this. Although “toupee” has been used for centuries, it has a more derogatory connotation in modern times. The term “hair system” grew out of a need for a more neutral term. A toupée brand looking at its analytics might start seeing its site served to a growing number of users searching for the term “hair system.” After researching, it sees that the term has been growing in popularity since the late 1990s, finally overtaking “toupee” in search trends in the early 2000s, and decides to include that term in its SEO content strategy.

A company that has an SEO specialist on staff or hires an SEO agency will be able to take advantage of the insight gained from in-depth SEO monitoring and potentially turn those insights into action.

5) Bandwidth Planning

Bandwidth planning becomes essential for growing businesses expecting spikes in website traffic. As traffic increases, it puts more strain on your website’s backend. Think of it as a vehicle carrying too much weight. That added weight can slow down performance if not properly managed.

Effective bandwidth planning involves reviewing your web hosting plan and making adjustments to ensure your site can handle higher traffic volumes. If you’re working with a website maintenance provider, they’ll typically monitor this for you and help you plan upgrades as needed to keep your site running smoothly.

6) Weekend & Emergency Support

Surprising website costs can quickly compound too. Imagine the perfect storm where poor bandwidth planning causes a critical service disruption during a peak sales event. The single outage incident alone can cost $10,000- $100,000+ in combined support fees and lost revenue. But what if the peak sales event happened on a weekend, like Black Friday Weekend or Singles’ Day?

A generous website service agreement may include 2-3 hours of after-hours or weekend support, but after that, you’re paying 2x or 3x the developers’ hourly rate. Emergency after-hours and weekend rates can be as high as $300-$500/hour. There may even be a 4-hour minimum. What would typically be a $200 quick fix on Tuesday morning becomes a $1,200-2,000 emergency call on Saturday night. And that’s before any holiday premiums kick in.

When planning your website budget, you probably assume your developer will be available when problems arise. After all, websites run 24/7, so support should too, right?

Bottom Lines & Next Steps

You’re running a marketing department. You’re managing a team of employees. You’re engaging with existing clients, potential clients, and the media. Basically, your plate is full already. You don’t need to add to it, especially when you can outsource these website maintenance tasks to an agency with the expertise to handle them effectively.

Ayokay works closely with businesses to keep their websites running smoothly, day in and day out.  With our monthly retainer, you’ll know exactly what’s needed, what’s included, and what it’ll cost — no surprises.

Ready to reclaim your time and take one more thing off your to-do list? Contact us today to schedule a website strategy call. We’re here to help with web design, SEO, content marketing, and more.