Websites for Florida businesses
Florida has more than 23 million people, the third-largest population of any state, and the longest coastline in the contiguous United States at about 1,350 miles. It's the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. For local businesses, that means a long, spread-out market with very different regions: South Florida, Central Florida, the Tampa Bay area, the Gulf Coast, Northeast Florida and the Panhandle.
Florida customers rarely search for "Florida" when they need help. They search for their city, often with "near me". So a statewide site isn't the goal. A site built around the cities you serve is.
Where Floridians search for web design
We pulled monthly Google searches for "web design" plus Florida's main cities. It's a fair proxy for where business owners are most active online.
Orlando leads at 1,000 searches a month, ahead of Miami at 880 and Jacksonville at 720. Fort Lauderdale and Sarasota tie at 590. Sarasota stands out for its size, which matches the many small businesses serving its large retiree population. Tampa shows only 210, likely because people there split searches across Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
| What people type into Google | US searches per month |
|---|---|
| florida web design | 320 |
| web design florida | 90 |
Florida's regions, and how their searches differ
South Florida. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties form one of the largest metro areas in the country. Searches are often by city, like Hialeah, Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood or Boca Raton. Spanish matters a lot here. Many customers search in English and still prefer to talk in Spanish.
Central Florida. Orlando, Kissimmee, Sanford and the suburbs around them have grown quickly. Tourism and hospitality are big, and so are home services for the many new subdivisions.
Tampa Bay. Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Brandon behave like separate markets even though they share a metro area. A business should name each one it serves.
The Gulf Coast. Sarasota, Bradenton, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Naples have many seasonal residents. Demand rises in winter when part-time residents return.
Northeast Florida and the Panhandle. Jacksonville is the largest city by area in the continental US, so customers there search by neighborhood. Tallahassee, Pensacola and Panama City are smaller markets with fewer strong local sites.
Florida rules that affect your website
Florida generally requires licensed contractors to include their state certification or registration number in advertising, and the state treats websites as advertising. That covers general, roofing, plumbing, electrical, air conditioning and pool contractors, among others. We put the number in the footer and on the about page. Check the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for the rules on your license.
Florida's own consumer privacy law mainly targets very large companies, but a plain privacy policy is still good practice for any site with a contact form. We include one.
Hurricane season and your site
Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Before a storm, people search for shutters, generators, tree trimming and roof checks. After a storm, they search for roof repair, water damage and debris removal. Businesses with pages ready for both moments get those calls.
- A hurricane prep page if you sell shutters, generators, tree work or inspections
- A storm damage page that explains your process and insurance claims honestly
- A 24/7 or emergency phone line, if you really offer it
- Your license number, since unlicensed storm chasers are a known problem and customers check
What a Florida site should show first
- The service and the city in the headline, like "AC repair in Kissimmee"
- A tap-to-call button and, for appointments, a booking button
- Your Google rating and a recent local review
- "Se habla español" near the phone number, if true
- Your license number for licensed trades
Pages we usually plan for Florida businesses
| Page | When it's worth it |
|---|---|
| Home | Always, naming your main city and service |
| Service pages | For each service you want to rank for |
| City pages | For each city with real searches where you work |
| Spanish pages | If your team takes calls in Spanish |
| Hurricane pages | For trades with storm demand |
| About | License, insurance and team |
City guides on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts
Three more Florida cities now have their own pages. Owners around Hillsborough and Pasco can read our guide to web design in Tampa, which covers storm-season pages and the suburbs east of the bay. South of it, web design in Sarasota looks at seasonal residents, Lakewood Ranch and repairs after Helene and Milton. On the Atlantic side, web design in West Palm Beach covers Palm Beach County from Jupiter to Boynton Beach.
Real data from one of our sites
That's real Google Search Console data from one of our client sites, with the name hidden. It isn't a Florida business, so we share it as an example of the approach.
Mistakes on Florida small business sites
- No license number. It's expected for contractors and it's what careful customers check first.
- Storm pages that appear after the storm. Build them in spring.
- "Serving all of South Florida." Name the cities. Hialeah and Boca Raton are different markets.
- A Spanish translation widget. Proper Spanish pages work better and can rank on their own.
How we work
- Run the calculator with your trade and your Florida city.
- List the cities you serve and whether you take Spanish calls.
- We write and build the site, with your license number and real photos.
- You review the draft, and we launch.
- We connect your Google Business Profile.
Price
$299 base, $15 for each extra page, never more than $630. Florida businesses with several cities or Spanish pages usually need a few extra pages. For trade-specific advice, see websites for roofers, HVAC website design or websites for real estate agents. For general pricing, see how much a website costs.
Website design across Florida's big cities
Most searches don't say "Florida" at all. People search by city: website design in Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville each get far more searches than the state-wide phrase, per DataForSEO. Sarasota and Clearwater show up too, and South Florida gets searched as a region of its own.
That tells you how to plan your pages. If you work in Tampa and Clearwater, each place deserves its own page. When you compare website design companies in Florida, ask whether they plan pages this way, or just put "serving all of Florida" in the footer.
