Choosing a web agency in Provence, as an English speaker
You need someone to rebuild your website, and three proposals arrive with different prices, different vocabulary and different lengths. None of them is dishonest, and yet they do not describe the same work. If you run a gîte, a small brand or a consultancy in Provence and English is your first language, one more layer sits on top of that: the technical words are unfamiliar, and so is the business culture behind the quote. Here is how to read a proposal, what to ask before signing, and how to leave owning what you paid for.
The word "website" covers three different jobs
When two quotes are wildly apart, it is almost never because one is honest and the other is not. It is because they contain different work. There are three jobs, and they are often sold under the same name.
- Building. The pages exist, they load, they look good. This is the visible part, and the part everyone prices.
- Deciding. Who is looking for you, in which language, with which words, for what need, and in which order you should say things so that they write to you. This is the work that separates a site that brings enquiries from one that only brings visits.
- Continuing. What happens once the site is live: edits, the Google Business Profile, new text, the numbers someone actually reads, the enquiries someone actually answers.
A short quote usually prices the first item only. That is not a trap, it is a different offer. The trap starts when you believe you are buying all three and receive one. So the question that changes the conversation is simply: what is included beyond building the pages?
Why nobody quotes you a price up front
You are probably looking for a ballpark figure and finding none anywhere. That is not coyness. A handful of pages assembled from text and photographs you supply is not the same work as a project that includes positioning, site structure, copywriting, local visibility, measuring enquiries and support after launch. Announcing a figure without knowing which of the two you want would mean promising one and invoicing the other.
What you can do instead is compare scope before you compare amounts. Take the proposals you have and line them up against the three jobs above: which one contains only the building, which one also contains the deciding, which one covers the continuing and for how long. The most expensive quote is sometimes the cheapest per unit of real work, and the reverse happens just as often. If a provider cannot tell you what sits inside their single line, the amount is not the problem.
For our part, we quote after a first conversation, once the scope is written down, and the quote itemises what is included. The contact form offers budget brackets: they exist to tell us what size of project we are talking about, not to lock you into a price. And if you want concrete orders of magnitude, we set out the offers observed in the region and our own anchors in How much does a website cost in France.
An extra question when your business is bilingual
If your customers are both French and English speaking, ask specifically who writes and maintains the second language. A translated site is not the same product as a bilingual site: each page needs its counterpart, the two versions have to be linked so that search engines understand they are the same page in two languages, and someone has to keep them in step every time a price or a service changes. Quotes rarely say which of the two you are getting, and the difference in workload is considerable. We treat the pair as non-negotiable on our own site, which is why every page you are reading exists in both languages.
The three kinds of provider you will meet
Locally the offer falls into roughly three families. None is better in the abstract; they suit different situations.
What each does well, and where to look closely
- The freelance. Often the best ratio between price and quality of execution, and the person you meet is the person who works. What to check is continuity: what happens during holidays, during illness, or if they change career. Ask who takes over and where your access credentials live.
- The agency. More hands, more process, the capacity to run several projects at once. What to check is who will actually do the work, and whether the person you met during the sale stays your contact afterwards.
- The subscription platform. Fast, structured, predictable. What to check is ownership: depending on the contract, the site can become inaccessible when the subscription ends, and moving the content elsewhere is not always provided for. Read that clause before signing, it varies a great deal between offers.
There is a fourth route few people consider, and it works well for a small business: commission a solid base once, then take light monthly support to keep it alive. It avoids the most common situation we meet, which is an expensive site left untouched for four years.
A website that has not changed in four years is not finished, it is abandoned.
Seven questions to ask before signing
They fit in one email, and the answers will tell you more than any portfolio. A good provider will answer without bristling, because these are normal questions. And so the answers are comparable, attach your one-page brief to that email: everyone will finally be pricing the same project.
- Whose name will the domain and hosting be in? The right answer is yours.
- What happens if we stop working together? You must be able to leave with the site, the text, the photographs and the access.
- Who writes the copy? This is the most underestimated line in any quote, and the one that delays projects most when nobody owns it.
- How will we know whether this is working? Ask what will be measured and how often you will see it. Visitor numbers do not answer the question; enquiries received do.
- Can I edit a page myself? If yes, which one and how. If no, what a small change costs and how long it takes.
- What exactly does maintenance include? Backups, updates, fixing breakages, or also improvements. Those four do not cost the same.
- May I see a project delivered a while ago, and hear what happened to it afterwards? A beautiful project proves the building. What proves the continuing is a site still online, still current, and a provider who can tell you what they have done to it since. A young studio can answer that question perfectly well; a provider who vanishes after delivery cannot.
Three things that must stay in your name
This is the point we are inflexible about, including when it does not suit us: a client's assets stay with the client. In practice three things should be created with your email address and belong to you, whatever happens next.
A Google Business Profile created on an agency's personal account is a classic case, and reclaiming it later means a formal ownership request that can take weeks. We described what that road looks like in Google Business verification rejected: what to do. And for the full inventory, asset by asset, with the check to run today: Who owns your domain name and your accounts.
Signals that should slow you down
None of these proves bad faith, but each deserves one more question before you sign.
- A guarantee of first place on Google. Nobody controls Google's ranking, and Google says so itself. Work and measured progress can be promised; a position cannot.
- A quote with no breakdown of what is delivered. One line saying "website creation" and an amount lets you compare with nothing.
- A long commitment with no trial period. For monthly support, a few months are enough to judge the quality of the support itself: responsiveness, clarity of reporting, work actually done. Commercial results and search visibility are judged over a longer period, one that depends on your market and how much searching happens in it. Do not confuse the two timescales, that confusion is the expensive one.
- A work example that is not online. Ask for the address of the site, not a picture of it.
- No questions about your customers. Anyone who prices your project without asking about your business is selling pages, not strategy.
What being local actually gives you
Do you really need someone based in the same département? A large part of the work happens perfectly well remotely, and limiting yourself to a thirty kilometre radius shrinks your options for no good reason. But proximity does give you three concrete things.
First, an understanding of the ground: tourist seasonality, the difference between passing trade and village regulars, the weight of word of mouth in a commune of two thousand people. Second, someone who can come and photograph your workshop, your gîte or your shop, which changes a website far more than stock imagery does. Third, local visibility on Google, which is built with words you do not invent from an office eight hundred kilometres away.
So the question is not local or remote, it is: does this person know your territory, and do they work just as well when they are not in your office. Our studio is based in Provence, works in French and English, and runs that way on purpose, with a written method so that nothing depends on anyone's memory.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a website cost for a small business?
There is no reference price, because the word "website" covers three different jobs: building the pages, the positioning and content work, and the follow-up once it is live. A short quote usually prices only the first. To compare two proposals, ask each one what is included beyond the building, and over what period.
Should I choose a local web agency or work remotely?
Much of the work happens perfectly well remotely. Proximity gives you three concrete things: knowledge of the ground and its seasonality, someone who can photograph your actual business, and local visibility work built on the vocabulary people really use in the region. The right criterion is not distance, it is whether they know your territory and stay available when they are not in your office.
Can I work with a French agency if my French is limited?
Yes, but agree two things in writing at the start: which language your working conversations happen in, and who writes and maintains each language version of the site. A translated site and a genuinely bilingual site are different products with very different workloads, and quotes rarely say which one you are getting.
Who should own my domain name?
You, without exception. The domain, the Google Business Profile and any analytics or advertising accounts should be created with your email address and remain your property. The provider receives management access, never ownership. That is what lets you change partner without losing anything.
What if my agency created my Google Business Profile on its own account?
You can request ownership. If the agency cooperates, the transfer takes a few minutes from the profile itself. If not, Google has a formal claim process that requires evidence the business is yours, and it takes longer. The simplest fix is to ask whose account the profile will live on before it is created.
Can anyone guarantee first place on Google?
No, and a ranking guarantee is a warning sign. Nobody controls Google's ranking, which depends on competition, on the exact query and on where the person searching is. What can seriously be committed to is described work, a timetable, and measured outcomes: enquiries received, calls from the profile, positions tracked over time.
More questions ? Many answers are already gathered on our FAQ page.
Comparing proposals and unsure what to make of them ?
In a first conversation, we help you spot the main differences in scope between the proposals you have received, and see what each one leaves unsaid. That conversation is free and comes with no obligation.