Is It Worth It To Keep Your Web Designer Under Retainer?

What is meant by keeping your website under retainer?

“Simply, by keeping your web designer under a retainer, you are paying a low monthly fee to maintain, update, and run your website.”

Most designers charge an hourly fee for their work after the project is completed. Simple updates may become expensive if very time consuming. Especially if updates are needed often. So what to do?

Advantages Of A Retainer:

1. Any issues with your site, your designer is responsible for and should fix asap. (Although rare, when a client’s site has any issue, I immediately will work to fix it)
2. You should get unlimited updates to your site. Ex. content changes, image changes etc… (My clients can ask for any type of work done and it is covered)
3. For the type of site that needs frequent updates, it is more cost effective to pay a low monthly fee rather than pay an hourly fee. (Some updates can take a few hours. This can become expensive.)
4. Priority customer support. (My retainer clients work always gets priority over non retainer clients)
5. A security issue or bug can be an expensive fix.
6. Without a retainer you may have to wait a couple of days for new work to be done.
7. Piece of mind that your site is being looked after. (My clients can worry about their business and not their website)

Disadvantages of a Retainer:

1. If your website does not require many updates, it could be more cost effective to pay per hour.
2. If you can do the work yourself and have the time to spare, why pay someone when you can do it yourself.
3. Monthly fees, depending on your designer, can be high and may not cover all types of work.

I usually give new clients some time before approaching them with this idea. This allows me to build trust with them and also allows them time to understand how owning and using a website works.

My biggest point for a retainer is fixes and updates. I had a client who would pay me per hour for their updates which were frequent. Then their site was flagged by Google as unsafe. They had no one to turn to but me as they had no idea why it was flagged. I explained that to find this problem, could take some time and be expensive. They had no choice but to pay me my hourly fee and basically bite the bullet. After a few hours of work, I found and fixed the issue. By the time it was fixed, they had paid me what would have been a full years retainers fee, plus all their updates fees. After showing them the breakdown and the hundreds of dollars they had spent that they could have saved, they decided to keep me under retainer and we both have not looked back.

If you are thinking about entering this agreement here are some things to look at:

1. What work is covered? (fixes, bugs, updates, redesigns)
2. How much work is covered? (is it all unlimited or are there specified amounts)
3. Is it cost effective? (If its not a lot less expensive than your designers hourly rate, is it worth the money?)
4. Is it affordable?
5. How long before the work gets done? (asap, a few days, etc…)

So as for me, I base my fee on the amount of updates a client needs per month. I try to keep the fee low, and offer any work connected to their site. I also offer significant discounts on total site redesigns. My retainer clients join my Slack Page so I can make myself accessible to them at anytime in real time.

I would recommend keeping your guy under retainer if you can.

You’ll sleep better!

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