Gananoque sells a season. The websites that do well here are the ones still working in the months the boats are out of the water, because that is when next summer gets booked.
Work is done remotely, and after launch monthly care covers the updates, backups and monitoring if you want it.
Building on the web since 1996, in WordPress since 2007 · accessibility built in from the first commit, AODA and WCAG 2.2 AA · WordCamp speaker at 18+ events · Fort Erie, Ontario
I summer on this river, so Gananoque is not a market I picked off a map. If you run something here that is flat out from June and quiet by November, this is for you.
Map of Gananoque and the Thousand Islands shoreline, with the villages marked: Gananoque, Marble Rock, Ivy Lea, Lansdowne, and Rockport. Christopher Ross builds and supports websites for businesses here, working remotely.
The river does not let go
Gananoque is the front door to the Thousand Islands. The densest part of the archipelago starts here and runs east, and the boats have been going out from this town since three local men started Gananoque Boat Lines in 1951 with a vessel called the Linda 7. They were building their own hulls by the 1970s, and some of those boats are still working.
Anyone can love this place in July. What I would offer instead is that I think about it in February, when the Playhouse is dark, the docks are empty and the people who run those businesses are working out whether the year added up. That is the part of Gananoque most visitors never see, and it is the part that decides who is still open next season.
What a Gananoque website is actually competing with
The Thousand Islands Playhouse runs its season from roughly May to October across two theatres, the Springer in a vintage canoe club on the water and the Firehall in a heritage building. That season is the shape of the whole town: the Thursday farmers market, the boat lines, the restaurants along King Street and the waterfront all breathe with it. A visitor books a July weekend in March, and whoever answers their question in March gets the booking.
That is the whole argument for taking the website seriously in a town this size. It is the only part of the business that can trade in the off-season, and it is competing for attention against every other island town on the river at the moment somebody is planning a trip.
Three markets in one town
- Visitors planning from somewhere else. They are comparing you against two other tabs, weeks before they arrive. What wins is the practical detail almost nobody publishes: what is open outside the season, whether a booking is needed, how long the drive is from the 401, and what happens if the weather turns on the day.
- People already on the water. Boaters, cyclists on the 1000 Islands Bike Path, and day visitors off a cruise, all searching on a phone with one bar and a decision to make in the next twenty minutes. A page that loads fast and puts hours and location first beats a prettier one that does not.
- The businesses that serve residents all year. Trades, professional services and the shops that stay open in January, in Gananoque and out through Lansdowne, Ivy Lea, Rockport and Marble Rock. This market is not seasonal at all and it is badly served by a site built for tourists. It usually needs its own pages.
Working with someone who is not down the road
I work from Fort Erie, and I would rather say so on the first screen than have you find it out later. The build is done remotely, which for a website is genuinely the better arrangement: you pay for the work instead of the driving, and you get an answer the same day rather than waiting for a slot. It also means the site can be built in your quiet months and tested properly, so it is ready before the first long weekend rather than during it.
Where a Gananoque business gets known
No arrangement, no referral fee, nothing in it for me. These are simply where a business here gets found and gets known locally, and being listed and active in them does more for a small business than most of what gets sold as marketing. Talk to them before you talk to me.
- 1000 Islands Gananoque Chamber of Commerce (opens in a new tab). Promotes business, tourism and the sense of community that makes a town this size work.
- Town of Gananoque (opens in a new tab). The municipal starting point for licensing and permits.
- Thousand Islands Playhouse (opens in a new tab). Not a business organisation, but it sets the season the whole town trades against. Worth knowing their calendar before you set your own hours.
What to ask before you hire anybody, me included
Ask who owns it when the work is done. The honest answer is you: the domain, the hosting, the content, all in your name. You want the site to keep working whatever happens between you and whoever built it.
Ask whether another developer could pick it up. A site built on standard WordPress can be handed to any competent developer if life happens to the one who built it. Worth confirming early, while it is still an easy question.
Ask what happens after launch. Plugins update, browsers change, and security matters. You do not have to hire locally to get straight answers to any of this, and you should ask it of whoever you choose.
Common questions
How much does a website cost in Gananoque?
Most local builds start at $2,500 CAD. It is a fixed price agreed against a written scope before the work begins, so the number does not move once you have said yes to it. What changes the figure is how many pages you need and how much of the writing and photography you already have. You get a real number after a twenty-minute call.
When should a seasonal business build its site?
Over the winter. Four to ten weeks is typical, so starting in January or February puts you well ahead of the season, with the site already tested by real visitors instead of being fixed during the weeks that pay for your year.
Tell me about your project
The fastest way to a straight answer. Tell me what you need and I will reply within a business day, honestly, even when the answer is that I am not the right fit.
Prefer to talk? Call 647-641-0643
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