Notes on websites for local businesses

Prices and costs

How much does a website cost in Vancouver?
Agencies, freelancers and website builders priced side by side, with the five questions to ask before hiring anyone.

Website builder or web designer? Real three year costs
Wix and Squarespace added up over three years, against hiring once. When each is genuinely the right call.

How much does business photography cost in Vancouver?
Real hourly rates, why quotes vary, and the usage rights trap in Canadian copyright law.

Before you hire anyone

Do you actually own your website?
Who owns the domain, the files and the photos, and the five ownership questions to ask in writing.

Why doesn’t my business show up on Google Maps?
The four usual causes and a free fix list you can finish in an evening.

For your kind of business

What a barber shop website actually needs
Six things, in order, and the booking tools that stay free.

What a café website actually needs
Why the menu decides the visit, and why it should never be a PDF.

Websites for trades in the Lower Mainland
What homeowners check before hiring a plumber, electrician or landscaper, and why naming your cities wins searches.

Does your salon need a website if you have Instagram?
What the feed does well, where it stops, and the one page site that catches the searchers.

Realtor websites in Vancouver: own one or rent one?
We checked 20 local agents. 80 percent rent. Here is the math on owning instead.

Quick answers

Do I need a website if I have Instagram?
What the feed covers, what it cannot, for any kind of business.

How long does a small business website take?
The industry says 4 to 8 weeks. Where the time really goes, and what one week looks like.

What is a domain name, and who should own yours?
The $20 a year detail that can hold a business hostage, explained without jargon.

Free booking tools compared: Setmore, Square, Fresha
Which free plans still exist in 2026, and the fees hiding behind each.

What to prepare before talking to a web designer
Seven things that make the first call count, whoever you hire.

Wix, Squarespace, Shopify or a custom site?
Routed by what your business does, with the honest answer for stores.

Where we work

Web design in the Lower Mainland: how our service area works
Websites anywhere in Canada, shoots in the seven cities we drive to.

What a website costs in Surrey
BC’s fastest growing city, and its 500 review businesses with no website.

What a website costs in Burnaby
Four downtowns, one search result: why findability decides here.

What a website costs in Richmond
The region’s most international city, where photos are the universal language.