Arch'Inov — a first website for a solo architect in Besançon

Context

Arch'Inov is an architecture studio in Besançon, France, run by a solo architect. Until this project, the studio had no online presence at all — no website, no public portfolio, no Google visibility. New work came purely through local word of mouth.

The brief was short:

A first website that shows my work like a monograph, not a gallery. And that makes me findable on Google when someone searches for an architect in Besançon.

The problem

Three things to solve in parallel:

1. Digital identity from zero. No formalized logo, no design system, no structured photo library. Everything had to be set at the same time as the site.
2. Photography. The projects deserve to be shown large. The site needed to handle high-resolution images without sacrificing load time.
3. Local SEO. The goal: rank for architecte Besançon, architecte Franche-Comté, and related queries (new builds, heritage rehabilitation, ERP audits). A regional market with very little digital competition — a real opening.

The site is in French only. The client base is regional and francophone, so a bilingual build would have diluted the voice without bringing any additional users.

Our approach

Phase 1 — Discovery (1 week)

Workshop with the architect. Mapped the work into typologies (residential, heritage rehabilitation, public buildings / ERP). Defined a reusable project page structure: narrative, photography, technical data.

Phase 2 — Design (2 weeks)

A two-level typographic system: an editorial serif for titles (a nod to the architectural monograph), a mono for metadata (a nod to site notes). Twelve-column grid, very generous vertical breathing room.

Deliberate choices: no carousel, no parallax, no background video. The photography does the work.

Phase 3 — Development (2.5 weeks)

Stack:

• Next.js 14 (App Router) for static rendering
• MDX in Git as the content system — the architect edits projects in Markdown files, auto-deploys on every push
• Vercel for hosting and CDN
• next/image with automatic WebP / AVIF generation

No external CMS, no monthly subscription. Simplicity as a design constraint.

Phase 4 — Local SEO (0.5 week)

The goal wasn't traffic — it was being found by the right people in Besançon and across Franche-Comté. Fifteen useful queries, not a thousand vague ones.

In practice: every project title and metadata was written by hand, in human-readable language first, using the words a local client actually types — not a keyword list. Location terms (Besançon, Franche-Comté) sit where they make editorial sense, never tacked on at the bottom of a page. Google indexes a clean new site within weeks if the structure is legible — that's what we got.

Results

• First website ever shipped for the studio — a visual and commercial reference point
• Fast indexing: visible in Google.fr for architecte Besançon and related Franche-Comté queries within the first few weeks
• Performance: strong Lighthouse scores across all four axes, near-instant load on 4G
• Operating cost: free Vercel hosting, no CMS subscription

What we take away

For a solo practice or a studio under five people, no CMS is needed. Git-tracked Markdown files are more than enough and cost nothing per month. We now propose this by default for studios of this size.

What changed after launch

Before launch, the studio had no online presence at all — no site, no public portfolio, no Google visibility. New work came purely through local word of mouth.

After six weeks of work:

• A first visual and commercial reference point the architect can send to a prospective client, cite in a public-tender application, or share with a peer.
• Visible in Google.fr on architecte Besançon and related Franche-Comté queries within the first few weeks after indexing.
• Near-zero operating cost — free Vercel hosting, no CMS subscription, no dependency on a third-party vendor.

The SEO programme continues month after month: new project pages, monitoring of queries that are climbing, targeted editorial adjustments.

Why this matters for architecture firms

Most architecture-firm websites do not fail on design — they fail on findability and narrative. Arch'Inov did not need a website that looked pretty; it needed one that made the studio findable in Besançon and legible to a client meeting the work for the first time.

That's exactly what we build by default for architecture firms: an editorial, restrained site; narrative project pages; serious local SEO; and an operating cost that does not hold you hostage.

Go further:

• Our architecture offer →
• How to create a website for an architecture firm (FR) →
• What an architecture-firm website actually costs (FR) →
• See Façade Atelier — 4 years of brand, site, and SEO →