Your Wix site has a French version, and it's quietly failing your Montreal audience
A custom website in Montreal runs $20k to $80k over 2 to 5 months. Wix, Squarespace, and templates can hold two languages, but they handle bilingual badly where it counts: forms and confirmations slip to one language, French SEO is an afterthought, and the French version often isn't the default, which is exactly what Quebec's Charter of the French Language expects it to be.
Builders treat French as a secondary copy of an English-first site. The hero translates, but the contact form's validation messages, the booking confirmation, the cookie banner, and the metadata that drives French search results often don't, so your Montreal site looks bilingual and behaves English-first. For a Montreal professional firm, agency, or B2B brand, that means losing French search traffic and tripping Bill 96 at the same time.
Builders also cap your performance and integration ceiling. Once you need real French-and-English SEO architecture, gated bilingual content, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and booking integration, and Core Web Vitals that actually rank, the template fights you on every front and the bilingual requirement doubles the work.
Why the usual tools struggle in Montreal
- Forms, confirmations, and cookie banners slip to one language while the page translates
- French SEO metadata and URL structure are an afterthought, costing French search traffic
- The French version isn't the default, contrary to Quebec's French-first expectation
- Builder performance and integration ceilings block proper bilingual architecture
What a custom website build changes
You build when the website is a real acquisition channel that must rank and convert in French and English, with French as the default. A custom site gives you proper bilingual SEO architecture, localized forms and confirmations end to end, and the performance and integrations a builder caps. For a Montreal business that gets leads from search, that's the difference between a brochure and a channel.
The features that matter for Montreal
Website services we deliver in Montreal
Digital Heroes builds the full website stack for Montreal teams. Typical engagements cover web design, Next.js development, React development, responsive web design and landing page development.
- The site is a search-driven acquisition channel, not a brochure
- French must be the default with real bilingual SEO
- Forms and confirmations must be localized end to end
- You need integrations and performance a builder caps
- A simple bilingual brochure site meets your needs
- You don't depend on French organic search
- Budget and timeline favor a template
- You have no one to maintain a custom site
Website pricing in Montreal: the real numbers
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Custom bilingual marketing site with proper French SEO | $20k to $40k | 2 to 3 months |
| Site with CRM, booking, and gated bilingual content | $45k to $80k | 3 to 5 months |
| Headless bilingual site with CMS for the team | $35k to $65k | 3 to 4 months |
From kickoff to launch: the schedule
Exactly what you get
A website where French is the default a Montreal visitor lands in, with bilingual SEO architecture that ranks in French as well as English, and forms, confirmations, and consent banners localized end to end so nothing slips through in the wrong language. It hits Core Web Vitals in both languages, integrates with your CRM, booking system, and analytics, and ships with a CMS your team can edit bilingual content in. Accessibility holds across both languages.
How to choose a developer in Montreal
Pick a team that talks about French SEO architecture and localized forms in the first conversation, because that's where bilingual sites fail. Ask about their hreflang and metadata strategy, how forms and confirmations localize, and how both language versions hit Core Web Vitals. A capable Montreal partner treats French as the default and bilingual SEO as core, not a translation pass over an English-first build.
- French as the default with proper bilingual SEO architecture and URL structure
- Forms, validation, confirmations, and banners localized end to end
- Core Web Vitals tuned so both language versions actually rank
- CRM, booking system, and analytics integrated cleanly
- Accessible, brand-grade design that builders can't fully express
- Custom costs more than a Wix or Squarespace subscription
- You own hosting, maintenance, and updates
- A simple brochure site may be perfectly served by a good template
- Content editing needs a CMS setup the team has to learn
- !They translate pages but not forms, ask how validation and confirmations localize
- !French SEO is an afterthought, ask about hreflang and French metadata strategy
- !They ignore Core Web Vitals, ask how both language versions hit performance targets
- !No CMS plan, ask how the team edits bilingual content after launch
- !No integration plan, ask how the site connects to your CRM and booking system
Teams investing in website in Montreal usually scope it next to hr, accounting, business intelligence dashboards, since these systems share data and budgets.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
Can't Wix or Squarespace handle a bilingual Montreal site?
They can hold two languages, but forms, confirmations, and French SEO usually stay English-first, and the French version isn't the default. Custom work makes French the default with real bilingual SEO and fully localized forms, which is what Bill 96 and French search both reward.
What does a custom bilingual site cost in Montreal?
A marketing site with proper French SEO runs $20k to $40k. A site with CRM, booking, and gated bilingual content runs $45k to $80k over three to five months.
Why does French SEO need its own architecture?
French and English need correct hreflang, separate metadata, and often distinct URL structure to rank independently. Builders bolt French on as a translation, which leaves French search traffic on the table.
Do contact forms really need full French localization?
Yes, including validation messages and confirmation emails. A form that errors or confirms in English to a French visitor is both a conversion leak and a Bill 96 exposure.
Should we keep editing the site ourselves after launch?
Yes, a custom build can ship with a CMS so your team edits bilingual content without a developer, which is worth specifying up front so editing stays in-house.