Montreal
Website design in Montreal for SMBs
In Montreal, a site that talks about everything ranks for nothing. OKTO Solutions builds sites where each page goes after one service and one customer segment, in French and in English. The work is done remotely from our office in Trois-Rivières, with in-person meetings when they help.
Website design in Montreal calls for more focused pages than elsewhere, because online competition there is the toughest in Quebec. An effective site gives each service and each customer segment its own page, exists in French and in English, loads fast on a phone and complies with Law 25.
The Montreal market
Why does a Montreal website need a narrower focus?
Because everyone is chasing the same words. In Montreal, a broad search such as “accountant” or “marketing agency” brings up firms that have been around for years, directories and paid ads. A new site that tries its luck there with a single “Our services” page stays well behind, no matter how good it looks. The regional economy runs mostly on services: offices, professional firms and agencies, with very few workshops. These businesses sell expertise, and their customers look for it with precise words. Someone who types “bookkeeping for restaurants” knows what they need, and they click the page that says exactly that. So in Montreal, you gain ground one narrow query at a time, with a page that answers what was typed and nothing else. A general page that tries to cover every service at once ends up answering none of them well enough to rank.
- One topic per page, stated in the title
- The customer segment named in plain words
- A direct answer at the top that answer engines can quote
The same site on a computer, a tablet and a phone, checked before every release.
One page per search
Which pages do you need to rank in Montreal?
The ones your customers already search for. We start from what they type, then give each search its own page. Here is how that works for three kinds of businesses.
| Business | Page that is too broad | Pages that stand a chance |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting firm | “Our accounting services” | One page for bookkeeping for restaurants, another for income tax for self-employed workers. |
| Communications agency | “What we do” | One page per service the agency offers, each one aimed at a type of client: retailers, nonprofits, manufacturers. |
| Professional services office | “Our expertise” | One page per typical mandate, written in the client’s words rather than in the trade’s jargon. |
Two pages that say the same thing compete with each other, and Google ends up keeping neither.
French and English
How do you build a bilingual website?
Not with an automatic translation button. Each version has to stand on its own.
Two linked versions
Each page has its counterpart in the other language, linked so that Google shows the right version to the right person. French stays the reference version.
Words people search, not translations
The titles and descriptions of the English version are written from what people actually search for in English.
Law 25 in both languages
The consent banner, the privacy policy and the forms follow the language of the page.
Remote and on site
How does OKTO work with a Montreal business from Trois-Rivières?
Our office is in Trois-Rivières, about 141 km from downtown via Highway 40. We have no premises on the island, and we would rather say so up front. For a website, everything can be seen on a screen.
Day-to-day work, remotely
Mockups, copy and corrections go through a preview address and video calls.
Planned meetings
We travel by appointment when meeting in person helps, at the scoping stage for example. Count on about two hours on the road.
The same team afterwards
The site is hosted on our servers, backed up and monitored by the people who built it. The domain name stays in your name.
The process
What are the steps of a website project in Montreal?
Five steps, in this order. You see the site on the preview address well before it goes live.
-
Scoping
We look at what your customers type and who already shows up for those searches. You leave with the list of pages and the schedule.
-
Page plan
Each service and each segment gets its own page, in both languages.
-
Mockup
The home page and one service page, in your colours, with real copy.
-
Build
The pages are built, then checked on phone, tablet and computer before they go up on the preview address.
-
Launch and follow-up
The sitemap is submitted to search engines the same day. After that, we rework the pages that do not rank.
Each address on the old site leads to its new page, in both languages.
Redesign
Already have a site that ranks a little in Montreal?
Then every position you hold is worth a lot, and you do not want to lose it by rebuilding the site. In a market this contested, a page that breaks on switchover day hands its spot to a competitor, and winning it back takes a long time. Before touching anything, we list every address on the old site, in French and in English. Each one gets a destination in the new site. After launch, we replay them one by one to check that they land in the right place. Copy, images and blog posts come along, with nothing retyped. The website design page describes the whole method.
- No address Google knows is left broken
- Pages that already rank are kept and strengthened
What about the area around Montreal?
A business with customers in Laval or on the South Shore gets one page per city, so it does not get lost in the island’s results. The same team also manages IT environments.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions about website design in Montreal
Do you have an office in Montreal for website design?
Can we meet in person in Montreal?
Does my website need to be in French and English in Montreal?
How many pages does a site need to rank in Montreal?
Do you also build websites for Laval and the South Shore?
Show us the searches you want to show up in
Send us your website address and the three searches that matter to you in Montreal. We will tell you what is missing, honestly, even if the answer does not involve us.
Reviewed by Antonio Pazzi, president of OKTO Solutions · updated