Most Agency Retainers Are Rent on Your Own Website
$500–$2K
Typical agency retainer per month for a small business website
$15K
Avg. annual agency cost — before the original build fee
85%
of agency retainer hours go unused most months
0
platform-locked sites you can take with you when you leave
Avg. Agency Retainer
$15,000/yr
monthly fees that mostly cover availability, not actual work performed on your site
vs
Cohoon Consulting Ongoing
~$15/yr
your domain renewal, in your name. Hosting is free at local-business traffic levels. No mystery monthly fee just to keep the site alive. Optional add-ons (custom email, AI subscription, ongoing management) only if you want them.
Lock-in is the agency business model. Most retainers don’t buy you work — they buy permission to access your own website.
What's Actually In That Monthly Bill?
Every line on a typical agency retainer, what they charge, what it really costs, and where it goes when you work with us.
| Service |
What an Agency Charges |
Real Cost |
With Cohoon Consulting |
| Hosting + SSL + DNSWhere your site lives on the internet |
$50–$150 / mo |
$0–$5 / mo |
Free (Netlify) |
| Domain RegistrationYour .com address |
Marked up, often hidden |
~$15 / yr |
~$15/yr (in your name) |
| Content Updates"Change this paragraph, swap that photo" |
$100–$300 / hr |
Minutes of your time |
$0 (you do it in Cursor) |
| "Security Monitoring"Bundled into most retainers |
Bundled |
$0 for static sites |
$0 (no attack surface) |
| Form SubmissionsContact forms, lead capture |
Bundled |
$0–$20 / mo |
$0–$20/mo (in your name) |
| Analytics Reports"Here's how your site is doing" |
$200–$500 / mo |
$0 (Google Analytics) |
$0 (in your GA account) |
| Email MarketingNewsletters, drip campaigns |
$300–$1,500 / mo |
$0–$80 / mo for tools |
Setup once, you own it |
| Annualized Total |
$6,000–$24,000 / yr |
$200–$1,300 / yr |
~$15/yr base — up to ~$500/yr fully loaded |
What You Actually Pay With Us — In Your Name, No Markup
Every recurring bill goes directly to you. We never mark up infrastructure or skim a vendor commission.
Optional One-Time Build
$3,500 – $5,000
7-Day Liftoff ($3,500 — we build it) or 30-Day Owner Bootcamp ($5,000 — we build it with you and teach you to run it yourself). One-time, not a retainer. 30-day unconditional money-back guarantee on both.
Required (everyone pays)
-
Domain registrationYour .com, registered at Namecheap in your name
~$15 / yr
-
HostingNetlify free tier covers nearly all small business traffic
Free
-
SSL certificateThe "https" lock icon. Auto-renewed by Netlify.
Free
Optional (only if you want it)
-
Form submissionsFormspree free or paid plan if volume grows
$0–$20 / mo
-
Custom email addressGoogle Workspace for you@yourbiz.com
$6 / mo
-
Email marketingMailchimp / ConvertKit free tier or ActiveCampaign
$0–$80 / mo
