Moving to the Algarve? What British Expats Need to Know About Setting Up a Business Website

We moved to the Algarve six years ago. Like most British expats who make the move, we arrived with a plan, some savings, and a vague understanding of how different running a business here would be compared to back home.

One thing we learned quickly: your website isn't just a website. For an expat-run business in Portugal, it's often the first — and most important — piece of credibility you have. You're unknown. You don't have the word-of-mouth network yet. Your website has to do a lot of heavy lifting.

Here's what we wish someone had told us.

Your Two Audiences Are Very Different

Most expat businesses in the Algarve serve two distinct groups: British and Northern European tourists, and the local expat community (which is largely British, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian).

Tourists are seasonal, high-volume, and find you through Google or recommendations. The expat community is year-round, smaller, and finds you through word of mouth — but once they trust you, they're loyal and they talk.

Your website needs to work for both. That means clear English (obviously), honest pricing, and content that signals you understand the local context — not just a generic template that could be anywhere.

Don't Build It Before You Know What You're Selling

This is the most common mistake we see. Someone moves to the Algarve, decides to start a B&B or a yoga retreat or a boat charter, and immediately spends €3,000 on a website before they've figured out their pricing, their booking process, or who their actual customer is.

Six months later, everything has changed — the target market is different, the pricing model shifted, the services evolved — and the website is either wrong or needs rebuilding.

Our advice: spend your first season getting clear on what you're actually offering and who wants it. A simple, cheap starter site is fine while you figure that out. Build the proper site when you know what it needs to say.

The Seasonal Reality Changes Everything

The Algarve has one of the most intense seasonal swings in Europe. June to September is relentless. October to May is quiet — some sectors go almost silent.

Your website should account for this from the start. That means:

• Capturing email addresses so you can market to past customers in the off-season
• Having clear seasonal availability or closing dates visible — nothing frustrates tourists more than finding a business online that turns out to be closed
• Thinking about year-round revenue streams early — the expat market, local Portuguese customers, remote workers — and making sure your site speaks to them too

We've seen too many expat businesses build a site purely aimed at summer tourists, then struggle through winter with no way to reach people. A good website thinks about the whole year, not just July and August.

Language: English First, Portuguese Second

If your primary customers are British expats and Northern European tourists, build your site in English first and do it properly. Don't use Google Translate to slap a Portuguese version together — it looks unprofessional and the Portuguese community will notice.

A clean, well-written English site will serve you better than a bilingual site where half the content is broken Portuguese. Add Portuguese when you have a proper translation — ideally from someone local, not an algorithm.

German and Dutch versions are worth considering if you're in a heavily Northern European area (parts of the Western Algarve, Vilamoura). But again — only if the translation is actually good.

Use a Local Web Designer

We're obviously biased here. But here's the honest reason: someone who lives and works in the Algarve understands things a designer in Manchester or Lisbon simply doesn't.

They know what tourists actually search for. They understand the seasonal market. They know which areas attract which nationalities, which booking platforms dominate here, what local businesses charge and how they present themselves. That context makes a real difference to how your site is built and what it says.

There's also the practical side: someone local is reachable. When you need to update your menu or change your opening hours or add a new service, you're not trying to reach an agency three time zones away that's moved on to bigger clients.

What Should Your Site Actually Have?

For most expat-run businesses in the Algarve, the essentials are:

• A clear explanation of what you do — sounds obvious, but many sites bury it
• Honest pricing — expats especially appreciate transparency; it signals you're not going to mess them around
• Real photos — of you, your place, your product; stock photos don't build trust
• A way to get in touch or book directly — don't make people hunt for your contact details
• Something personal — a short "who we are" that shows you're real people who chose this life; expats especially connect with that story

The businesses we've seen thrive in the Algarve expat market all have one thing in common: they feel human. Not corporate, not generic. Like you're dealing with someone you might bump into at the market on Saturday morning.

If you're setting up a business in the Algarve and want to talk through what your website should do, drop us a message. We've been through the same process and we're genuinely happy to help — even if it's just a conversation before you're ready to build anything.