Pay monthly websites
Paying monthly is not free. Here is the trade
Every pay-monthly website arrangement is the same bargain in different wrapping: you pay less now and more later, and somebody else holds something. What matters is knowing exactly what they hold.
The short answer
£297/month
- £297 to start, no build fee
- Hosting and changes included
- No minimum term
- Buy the code after three months for £1,000
You are renting a working website. If you stop paying, it stops serving. That is how there is no build fee.
The three ways
What you are actually choosing between.
There are broadly three arrangements on the market. All three are legitimate and all three suit somebody. The mistake is not knowing which one you are buying.
Paying up front
Two to three thousand pounds before anything exists, then hosting and changes billed separately. You own the code from day one.
Good: You own it outright and can take it anywhere.
Catch: The money leaves before you know whether it works, and the agency has been paid whether it does or not.
Paying monthly, hosted
£297 a month, and the first month is all you pay to start. Build, hosting, changes and support in one number. You are renting a working website.
Good: One month’s fee to start rather than a build fee, and you can stop if it is not working.
Catch: Stop paying and the site stops serving, unless you buy it out.
A cheap monthly template
Thirty to fifty pounds a month for a template with your name on it, usually produced offshore, with no call and nobody to ring.
Good: Genuinely cheap, and for some businesses genuinely enough.
Catch: It is a template. It will not be built around your treatments and nothing follows up an enquiry.
Why it works at all
How anybody can afford to build without charging up front.
A custom ten to twenty page site is a few days of work. Charged as a build fee that is two to three thousand pounds, which is why almost everybody charges it.
The only way to waive that is to carry the cost across the months and be reasonably confident you will stay. That confidence has to come from somewhere, and there are two honest ways to get it: a minimum term, or hosting the site so that leaving actually means leaving.
I use the second. No minimum term, no notice period, and the site runs on my hosting. It only works if I keep earning it month to month, which is a better arrangement for you than a twelve-month tie-in and a worse one for me. That is deliberate.
Anybody offering both no minimum term and outright ownership from day one with no build fee is either about to lose money or is not telling you something. Ask which.
Before you sign anything
Six questions worth asking, of anybody.
Including me. If somebody will not answer these plainly, that is the answer.
Does the portfolio actually resolve?
Open three sites from their portfolio. If any of them 404 or land on a parked page, that tells you more than the sales call will.
Who does the work?
Ask directly whether the build is done in-house or produced offshore. Both are legitimate. Not being told is not.
Where is it hosted, and by whom?
If they host it, ask what happens if you leave. If you host it, ask what you are actually paying monthly for.
What happens on cancellation?
Do you keep the site, the code, the domain, the content? Get the answer before you sign, not after.
Is there a notice period?
A monthly price with a twelve-month minimum term is an annual contract paid in instalments. That is fine if you know.
Who owns the domain?
It should be registered in your name. This is the single most common way small businesses get held hostage.
Who it suits
Monthly is the right answer when
- You do not want two thousand pounds leaving before anything exists
- You want hosting, changes and support in one number
- You would rather be able to stop than be locked in
- You want the person building it to stay interested afterwards
And when it is not
Pay up front instead when
- You need to own the asset outright from day one, for a sale or a funder
- You have in-house people who will maintain it
- You genuinely only need a brochure and will never change it
- The total over three years matters more to you than the cash flow now
Questions
The ones that actually matter.
Is paying monthly more expensive over time?
Over a long enough period, usually yes, and anybody telling you otherwise is doing arithmetic you should check. What you get for that is one month to start instead of two or three thousand, hosting and changes included, and the ability to stop. Whether that is worth it depends on whether you have two thousand pounds spare and whether you are confident it will work.
Do I own the website if I pay monthly?
It depends entirely on the arrangement, and you must ask. With ours you are renting a working website: I host it, and if you stop paying it stops serving. After three months you can buy the code outright for £1,000 and it will run anywhere. Your domain is yours from day one either way.
Why would anyone rent rather than own?
Because owning a website that nobody maintains is worth less than it sounds. Most businesses that paid three thousand pounds for a site have one that has not been touched in four years. The monthly arrangement only works for the person building it if they keep it working, which is the point.
What if I already paid for a website and it does not work?
Then the money is gone and the question is only what to do next. Sometimes the honest answer is that the existing site is fine and the problem is that nothing follows up an enquiry. I will tell you that on the call if that is what I think.
Is there a minimum term?
Not with ours. Cancel any time after the first month, no notice period. Do check this with anybody else you speak to, because a monthly price with a twelve-month tie-in is common and is not the same thing.
Wondering what a website should cost in the first place? That is a separate question, answered here.
Thirty minutes, and you will know if it is worth it.
No obligation, and nothing to pay to have the conversation.