Dynamic or Content Management System websites have a massive cost benefit over Static websites.
A 'Static' website is one that requires a web designer to update your pages, a CMS site has no hourly charges - you are in control.

For one of our clients switching to a CMS delivered yearly savings of nearly £20,000

Our client had paid only £1,000 for a Static website, but hadn't budgeted for update costs on his old site, they were a big suprise! His website hIt's a very common mistake with commissioning a website - overlooking editing costs in your initial budget.

CMS Site Cost Benefit Example

Initial construction costs for a CMS website are higher than for a Static website, but CMS websites have no update fee.

In this example we take the case of a small website that requires minor alterations around four times a week. An example site would be a small retail or a property rentals site, or even a site which had a moderate news basis (community websites)

 

Initial Cost of Each Type of Site :
Static site = £750CMS site = £2,500
The Static site seems a great deal cheaper than the CMS site, but factoring anual update costs reveals the true picture. Webdesigners charge between £20 and £50 per hour for updates, in our experience it is closer to the latter figure(!) .. but we will use a figure of £25 per hour.

Static update webdesigner costs - 4 hours per week @ £25 (208 hours per year)= £ 3,120
CMS update webdesigner costs - none = £ 0

Total First Year Cost of Each Type Of Site :

Static site = £3,870 CMS site = £2,500

CMS sites take this saving into the following year too, so for the following year the costs would be non existant for the CMS site, while the Static site is an un-expected drain on the years finances!

second year Anual cost of Each Type Of Site :

Static site = £3,120 (all update costs) CMS site = £0

Many of our clients have been suprised to find they are paying a webdesigner twenty times more than the initial cost in the second year, this is due to corporate growth and increased demands on the website. Often our clients had allocated no budget to their website in the second year, which if they had chosen a CMS would be accurate, sadly with a Static site .. that is not the case.

Although this example is EXTREMELY xonservative relative to our real world clients costs - this is the total for each type of site after two years

Total after 2 years - Each Type Of Site :

Static site = £6,990 CMS site = £2,500

At this point the Static site normally requires a redesign as corporate branding has changed or growth means new sections are required, the web designer has to re-make every single page that has been produced over teh last 2 years!

With a CMS site 're-skinning' the site is a simple and relatively cheap process , the data is left untouched in the database and a new skin is laid on top.

See how we re-skinned the Atomic Kitten website for more information