The cost of a webmaster

If you have a website and are considering hiring someone to run it, you should consider the cost of hiring a webmaster. Compared to the cost of hiring a full or part-time employee, outsourcing your website management needs to a professional webmaster can make a lot more sense.

How much does a webmaster cost?

This is a somewhat loaded question. The answer is as simple as it is complicated … it depends! Each website has different management needs, therefore the cost of managing it will be different from one website to another.

Webmasters also charge different fees. Some base it on a standard hourly rate, while others offer monthly or annual packages. You could see prices online ranging from $ 10 an hour for an international webmaster to a few thousand a month for a professional webmaster who only focuses on a couple of clients.

What you need to remember is that in this market, you really get what you pay for at the webmasters. At $ 10 an hour, you are most likely considering someone overseas who works in a different time zone, offers only a select few options in administration, and manages a hundred or more clients at a time. At several thousand dollars a month, you should expect a dedicated webmaster with few clients and a wide range of services.

Outsourcing vs. direct hiring

One of the considerations is whether to outsource or hire internally. Here the cost difference can be even greater. Let’s look at an example …

According to Salary.com, the average salary for a webmaster can range from $ 45,000 to more than $ 105,000 a year, depending on location and experience. Add to that the costs of employee benefits, like insurance and retirement, and the additional taxes required for social security and unemployment, and you can see how the costs really add up!

If outsourcing to a professional webmaster can range from $ 10 an hour to a few thousand a month, you could see annual costs from less than $ 1,000 to more than $ 30-40,000 a year, depending on your needs, the services offered by the webmaster and the number of clients you work with. The more the webmaster charges, the more options he should offer and work with fewer clients, giving him more exclusive attention.

John, with Widgets Galore, is looking for someone to manage his company website. They need a website manager to update content weekly, optimize their content, and keep software up to date. Adding social content and email marketing would be secondary needs, if your budget can handle it. Doing some research, John has found a professional webmaster who works with only a handful of clients with a monthly cost of around $ 600 to meet all of their needs. Doing some simple calculations, the annual cost for this webmaster would run John’s business at just $ 7,200 a year, far less than hiring a full-time employee, or even a part-time employee. Given the huge difference in costs, you should seriously consider a webmaster service rather than hiring an employee to manage your organization’s website.