You wouldn't do your clients' accounting once and walk away

Imagine a CPA who prepares a client's financial statements in March, sends the invoice, and disappears for three years. No quarterly follow-up. No tax adjustments. No regulatory monitoring. Just a one-time deliverable and a "good luck."

No professional works that way. Yet that's exactly the dominant model for professional firm websites in Quebec.

The traditional model: a one-time project

Here's how it usually goes. You hire an agency. You pay between $10,000 and $20,000. After a few months of development, you receive a website. It looks great. It's new. You're happy.

The agency offers you a "maintenance plan" at $100 per month. In practice, that covers hosting and security patches. No new content. No optimization. No performance tracking.

Your website is at its best on launch day. From there, it degrades.

Why websites degrade

A website isn't a building. It's a living organism in an environment that changes constantly. Here's what happens while your site is just sitting there:

Google changes its algorithms. Several times a year, Google modifies how it ranks websites. The SEO that worked in 2024 doesn't necessarily work in 2026. Your position in search results quietly slips without you noticing.

Laws evolve. Bill 25 on personal information protection has imposed new obligations every year since 2022. Bill 96 strengthens language requirements. If your site isn't updated accordingly, you're out of compliance.

Your competitors improve. While your site stays frozen, a competitor launches a new site with optimized content, client testimonials, and online appointment booking. The web is a relative ranking: even if your site doesn't change, your position can decline.

Content becomes stale. A partner leaves the firm. You add a new service. Your office hours change. Inaccurate information doesn't just hurt your credibility — it also confuses Google and AI assistants.

Technology moves forward. Accessibility standards evolve. Browsers add new capabilities. Visitors expect faster, clearer sites that work better on mobile. What was acceptable three years ago can feel dated today.

AI assistants emerge. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity — more and more people are asking AI to recommend professionals. If your site doesn't have up-to-date structured data, you're invisible in this discovery channel that grows every month.

The managed model: continuous investment

The approach is fundamentally different. Instead of paying a large sum for a one-time deliverable, you invest a more modest setup fee to build the site, then a monthly amount for it to improve continuously.

Every month, your site is audited. Compliance issues are fixed. Content is updated. SEO is adjusted. Performance is measured and documented.

Your website is at its worst on launch day. That's the starting point. Every month after that, it gets better.

Honest financial comparison

Let's take two identical firms investing in their web presence.

Firm A: one-time project

| | Amount | |---|---| | Website (traditional agency) | $12,000 | | Hosting and maintenance ($100/mo) | $1,200/yr | | Year 1 cost | $13,200 | | Year 2 cost | $1,200 | | Year 3 cost | $1,200 | | Site rebuild (year 3 or 4) | $12,000 | | 3-year total | $15,600 + rebuild |

Site quality: steadily declining. No performance tracking.

Firm B: managed site (Growth plan)

| | Amount | |---|---| | Site setup | $3,500 | | Monthly service ($749/mo) | $8,988/yr | | Year 1 cost | $12,488 | | Year 2 cost | $8,988 | | Year 3 cost | $8,988 | | Rebuild needed | Never | | 3-year total | $30,464 |

Site quality: improving every month. Monthly audit. Documented score card.

The total cost of the managed model is higher over three years. That's a fact, and we're not going to hide it. But the comparison isn't between two identical sites. It's the difference between a site that degrades for 36 months and a site that receives 36 cycles of improvement.

It's also the difference between "I think my site is working" and "I know exactly where it stands this month."

The accountability difference

In the traditional model, how do you know if your site is performing? You don't. No one is watching it. No one is measuring anything. You discover problems when a client tells you "your site is slow" or when you realize your phone number has been wrong for six months.

In the managed model, you receive a score card every month. Six dimensions evaluated: legal compliance, visibility, conversion, credibility, technical foundation, AI visibility. You see the progress. You see the fixes applied. You see the results.

It's the same principle you apply with your own clients. You don't prepare financial statements in 2024 and the next ones in 2027. You provide continuous oversight because things change, and your clients need to know where they stand.

When each model makes sense

The managed model isn't always the right answer. Here's an honest read.

A one-time project makes sense if:

You need a simple brochure site and your expectations are modest
You have someone in-house who can maintain the site (updates, content, compliance)
Your website isn't a business development tool — it's just a minimal online presence
You're comfortable rebuilding the site in 3 to 4 years

The managed model makes sense if:

Your website is a business development tool and you want it to generate leads
You don't have anyone in-house to handle compliance, SEO, and updates
You want accountability — to know what your investment produces every month
You prefer a predictable monthly cost rather than a large check every three years followed by nothing

A logic you already understand

Your clients don't hire you for a one-time deliverable. They hire you for ongoing service. They understand that their financial, legal, or technical situation evolves, and they need a professional who stays on top of it.

It's the exact same logic applied to the web.

Our managed plans start at $499/month. Every plan includes site setup, hosting, monthly audits, compliance fixes, and a documented score card.

See our plans