Blog · By Nuno Costa
Prices, timelines, SEO. No fine print.
Practical articles about building websites, real costs and digital presence in Portugal; written by a freelancer who ships these projects every month. No empty theory, no disguised sales pitches.
Original articles✦ Published starting prices✦ Written in Madeira
( 01 )Articles
Start here.
Most-read first. Every article answers a real question from someone planning a website; with numbers, timelines and concrete examples.
Restaurant website in Madeira: digital menu, bookings and costs
The tourist in the Old Town decides where to dine in two minutes, on a phone, and decides by the digital menu, the photos and the Google listing. This guide gives what a restaurant website needs, what it costs (landing from €800, full from €1,500, Commerce €199/month), and the right order of local digital marketing, from the Google listing to ads.
Read article MadeiraReal estate website in Madeira: property search and buyers
The island's property buyer searches from abroad, in English, weeks before catching the flight. This guide gives what a real estate website needs (filtered search, full listings, viewing requests, multilingual), what it costs (from €1,500 or €99/month on subscription), and how to split the work between portals and your own site without losing a lead.
Read article E-commerceOnline store in Madeira: costs, payments and shipping solved
The online store stretches the tourist's holiday week and reaches the diaspora and the whole country. This guide compares the three routes (DIY ~€30/month, built store from €3,000, Commerce subscription €199/month), what a store needs, MB Way, Multibanco, clear shipping, and the part nobody tells you: the logistics of selling from the island.
Read article MarketingDigital marketing in Madeira: the foundation before ads
In a tourist economy the audience is dual and the clock is seasonal, so the order matters: foundation (website, Google listing, SEO) before paid traffic. This guide gives the three cost blocks, what you can do yourself without paying anyone, when ads make sense on the island, and the checklist for choosing who runs your marketing.
Read article MadeiraCar rental website in Madeira: competing with the internationals
The car rental customer books before catching the flight, in English, comparing three sites. This guide gives what the website needs (quotes in minutes, an honest fleet, terms without fine print), what it costs (landing from €800, bookings from €1,500, Commerce €199/month), and the three levers a local rental company beats the internationals with.
Read article MadeiraTransfers website in Madeira: the direct booking that stays
"Madeira airport transfer" is one of the largest local search volumes there is, and the booking belongs to whoever shows up with a visible price and a simple booking. This guide gives what a transfers website needs, what it costs (from €800 or €199/month), and the gradual exit from dependence on aggregators that commission every trip.
Read article MadeiraTourism website in Madeira: the direct booking without commissions
The tourist experience sells three times, and the platforms charge commission on the first. This guide gives what a tourism website needs (experiences well told, tickets by date, multilingual), what it costs (from €800 or €199/month), and the island's calendar logic: the site gets built in the low season to sell the high season, direct.
Read article MadeiraLaw firm website in Madeira: practice areas, team and booking
Recommendation still picks the lawyer, but now it gets confirmed in a three-minute search. This guide gives what a firm's website needs (substantive areas, an identified team, consultation booking, PT/EN), what it costs (from €800 or €99/month), and how to serve the foreign client searching residency, property and tax in English.
Read article MadeiraArchitect website in Madeira: project dossiers and English clients
Nobody commissions a house from an invisible studio: the website is the permanent portfolio. This guide gives what an architecture website needs (project dossiers, large and fast photos, the process told, English), what it costs (from €800 or €99/month), and how to capture the foreign client buying land on the island and searching in English.
Read article MadeiraConstruction website in Madeira: project portfolio and quotes
The hoarding on the site dies with the project; the search stays. This guide gives what a construction website needs (portfolio by project type, before-and-afters, quote requests, service areas), what it costs (from €800 or €99/month), and the sector's most profitable habit: photographing and publishing every finished build, which goes on selling by itself for years.
Read article MadeiraWeb design in Funchal: prices, the landscape and how to choose
A website in Funchal costs the same as in the rest of the country, landing from €800, brochure from €1,500, subscription from €49/month. What differs is the offer: the city concentrates the region's agencies, almost none publishing prices. This guide gives the landscape by provider type, what Old Town restaurants, tour operators and local services should demand, and a six-point checklist before signing.
Read article MadeiraWeb design in Câmara de Lobos: prices and who serves the area
Câmara de Lobos is the island's second most populous municipality, full of family restaurants and shops, with almost all the web design offer concentrated next door in Funchal. This guide shows the real routes for hiring, what the bay, Estreito and Cabo Girão tourism ask of a website, and how to compare quotes when almost nobody publishes prices.
Read article MadeiraWeb design in Machico: prices and what to demand from a site
Machico lives off active tourism, levada walks, Ponta de São Lourenço, surfing in Porto da Cruz, and rural accommodation, audiences that search and book in English. This guide gives 2026 prices, the routes for hiring in a municipality with no agency of its own, what each type of business should demand, and the checklist before signing.
Read article MadeiraWeb design in Santa Cruz: the airport municipality guide
Santa Cruz is the airport municipality: the customer arrives by plane with the decision half-made on a phone. This guide gives 2026 prices, what rental companies, transfer operators, Caniço lodgings and restaurants should demand, fast quotes, multilingual, speed, and the checklist to catch the tourist before they land.
Read article MadeiraWeb design in Calheta: prices and the guide to the island's west
Calheta lives off visitors who plan from home: beach, levada walks, surf and rural stays are decided in searches made weeks ahead. This guide gives 2026 prices, explains why the distance from Funchal does not matter in remote work, what rural tourism, boutique lodgings and producers should demand, and the checklist to be online before summer.
Read article MadeiraWeb design in Porto Santo: prices and the golden island guide
In Porto Santo the economy concentrates in summer, but holidays are decided in winter, in English and German searches. This guide gives 2026 prices, shows that the remote process is the natural method on an island with no web design offer, what lodgings, restaurants and activities should demand, and the checklist to have the site ready before the first ferry.
Read article PricingWebsite quote: how to request it, what it must include, and how to compare
Comparing website quotes without a written scope is comparing luck. This guide gives the process: the seven questions of the brief, the seven sections every serious quote must contain, an eight-line request template ready to send, the four reasons quotes for the same site vary so much, and the four-step comparison method.
Read article SEOMy website doesn't show up on Google: why and how to fix it
A website does not show up on Google for one of five reasons: never submitted, blocked by a forgotten noindex, too new, content that does not answer real searches, or losing to stronger competitors. This guide gives the diagnosis in order, dismantles the "create a website on google" misunderstanding, and shows what is free and what takes months.
Read article Web designSmall business website: what it really needs to have
Between the dead brochure and the oversized project there is an honest middle: five pages with defined jobs, easy contact, mobile behaviour, speed and a connected Google listing. This guide gives the minimum kit, the three classic SME site mistakes, the published prices per format, and the growth order: each addition enters when the previous one brings customers.
Read article PricingWebsite redesign: how much it costs and when it is worth it (2026)
A redesign starts from the same bases as a new site and adds the work that only exists when a site is already there: inventory, content migration and redirects. This guide separates redesign from patch with a table of signals, explains how the Google ranking survives the change, the process from the inside, and the right choice between redesign, maintenance and subscription.
Read article Web designCustom website: how much it costs and when it pays off
"Custom" is the most sold and least explained word in the industry. This guide defines what it is, gives the starting prices (web apps from €5,000 against €1,500 brochure and €49/month subscription), lists when proprietary logic justifies the investment and when it does not, and closes with the three questions that decide between standard and custom without paying for status.
Read article Web designWeb design: what it is and what a web designer does
The term is in every quote and means different things to different people. This guide defines web design in plain language, lists what a web designer really does day to day, separates design from development, and delivers the five pieces of every professional website (domain, hosting, content, build and indexation) with the project steps.
Read article Web designTypes of websites: which one is right for your business
Seven website types serve seven different goals, and choosing by what is pretty is choosing backwards. This guide puts the seven families on the same table with published starting prices, teaches choosing by the first-year goal and the next growth step, and shows how the types combine in the stack of growing businesses.
Read article HiringFreelance web design: pricing, hourly rates and what they include
How do freelance web designers charge? Hourly (€40-80 depending on complexity), fixed project (landing €800+, brochure €1,500+, shop €3,000+) or monthly (subscription from €49). This guide explains the three models, what moves the rate from freelancer to freelancer, what must be included in the agreed price, and what changes against an agency.
Read article PricingHow much does it cost to build and maintain a website? The full cost in 2026
The full bill has two halves: building (once, from €800 for a landing, €1,500 brochure, €3,000 shop) and maintaining every month (domain, hosting, SSL, email and maintenance). This guide separates each component, adds up three real scenarios, shows what free plans hide, and settles the ownership question: whose name the domain is in when you hire someone.
Read article Web designResponsive website: what it is and why your business needs one
A responsive website adapts to the screen it is opened on, and mobile is where customers search. This guide explains the concept without jargon, Google mobile-first indexing, the three two-minute tests that confirm whether your site passes, the five common mistakes even on "responsive" sites, and what it all changes about the price: nothing, because responsive is the standard.
Read article Web designLanding page and one page website: what they are and when each makes sense
Landing page, one page website, capture page and full site are four formats that get confused and serve different goals. This guide tells them apart by traffic source and goal, shows when each makes sense (and when it is the most expensive briefing mistake), with the published prices: landing from €800, brochure site from €1,500.
Read article ContentBlogging platform: how to choose and what to know before starting
The platform is the easy part; the right decision starts with your own domain, content ownership and the real monthly cost. This guide compares WordPress, Wix, Blogger and Substack by what truly separates them, teaches the three rules of a business blog that brings customers, and uses this very blog as the living example.
Read article HiringHow to choose who builds your website: agency, freelancer or DIY?
The best web design company in the abstract does not exist; there is one that is right for your project. This guide gives you the method: the five comparison criteria, the seven questions before hiring, the five red flags, and the process for comparing three quotes with the same written scope.
Read article SEOSEO for websites: what you can do yourself (and when to hire)
The first layer of SEO is homework, and this guide is the list: complete Google Business, unique titles and descriptions, one clear H1, compressed images, and content answering real questions. Plus: where specialist work begins, how to measure with free tools, and when hiring makes sense.
Read article MadeiraBuilding a website in Madeira: prices and guide 2026
A guide written from inside the island: national prices apply in Madeira because the work is remote, landing pages from €800, brochure sites from €1,500, subscriptions from €49/month. What really differs here is transparency: how to compare local quotes, when to hire from outside the island, and the provider-choice checklist.
Read article MarketingHow much does digital marketing cost? SME budgets in 2026
"How much does digital marketing cost?" has the worst possible answer: "it depends". This guide swaps "it depends" for structure: the three blocks of a budget (base, traffic, presence), the three charging models and what each hides, why proposals differ so much, and the right investment order on a small budget.
Read article E-commerceBest online store platforms in 2026, and when a built-for-you store pays off
Every platform sells; none alone covers what a Portuguese store needs. An honest comparison of Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix by the criteria that matter, MB Way and Multibanco, real monthly cost, SEO and scalability, plus the question nobody asks: is your time worth more than the cost of having the store built?
Read article SubscriptionsWebsite subscription: what it is, what it costs and when it pays off
A professional website with no upfront investment, with hosting, maintenance and changes included, the model Portuguese SMEs do not know well yet. I explain how the monthly subscription works, what the €49–€199 fee should include, when VAT applies at the legal rate, the honest comparison with custom builds and DIY, and the five details to confirm before signing.
Read article SEOFree SEO analysis: how to audit your website in 2026
A website can be beautiful and invisible. This free SEO analysis combines the fast route, a 30-second automated audit with score and priorities, and the full DIY checklist: technical, content and structure, with the fix order that pays off per hour of work.
Read article PricingHow much does a website cost in Portugal? 2026 price guide
Landing pages from €800, brochure sites from €1,500, web apps from €5,000, but what explains the difference? I break the costs down line by line: what drives the price, the hidden costs nobody mentions, and how to tell whether a quote is fair.
Read article TimelinesHow long does it take to build a website? Real timelines in 2026
From 7 business days to 4 months, what determines your project timeline, the five phases of every website, and what actually causes delays (spoiler: it is almost never the coding).
Read article MaintenanceWebsite maintenance: what it includes and what it costs in 2026
A website does not end at launch. What professional maintenance should include, what it costs in Portugal, and what really happens to those who ignore it for a year.
Read article( 02 )About this blog
Written by someone who builds.
I am Nuno Costa; a digital freelancer from Madeira. I build websites, automations and brands for companies in Portugal and abroad. I write about what I see from this side of the counter.
No empty theory
Articles answer practical questions with clear examples. Demonstration prototypes are labelled as examples, not presented as measured client results.
Numbers on the table
Published starting prices and timelines for my services, with scope and additional costs explained before a quote.
Kept current
Articles are reviewed when the information changes. Publication dates and, when relevant, later update dates appear on the article.
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