Switch and Save: How Local Businesses Cut Agency Fees by Up to 70%

Many local service businesses signed up with an agency years ago. Back then, a monthly retainer made sense. Building and updating a site took a lot of hours, and running ads took a lot of hands-on work.

Today, a lot of that work is faster. Modern tools and AI-assisted workflows handle the repetitive tasks. But many agencies never lowered their prices. You are still paying for hours that no longer happen.

Ask yourself a simple question: what exactly did my agency do for me last month? If you cannot answer clearly, you are probably overpaying.

Here is how AXF Creative pricing works. There are no long contracts and no surprise bills.

• Website: one-time build fee starting at $300 (up to 5 pages), then only $50/mo for hosting.
• Google Ads: one-time setup fee starting at $300, then only $100/mo per campaign. We never take a cut of your ad spend.

So a website plus one Google Ads campaign runs about $150 a month after setup. If you pay an agency $500 a month for the same thing, that is a 70% cut. If you pay more, you save even more.

Try your own numbers below. Type in what you pay now and see your monthly and yearly savings.

This is the biggest fear we hear, and it makes sense. You worked hard to show up on Google.

The truth is, a careful switch protects your rankings. We keep your domain name. We map every old page address to its new page with a permanent redirect, so Google knows exactly where everything moved. Then we connect the new site with no downtime.

A new site can lose traffic when it is built only to look pretty. We build to be found. You can read more in Your New Site Looks Better and Ranks Worse.

In most cases, you own them. Sometimes the agency registered your domain or Google Business Profile under their own login. That is fixable.

Before you cancel anything, ask for owner or admin access to each account. Once you have it, nothing important is held hostage.

Old agency rebuilds often drag on for months of back and forth. We keep it simple. You tell us about your business, we build the pages, you review, and we launch. Most local sites go live in days, not months.

Use this list before you send a cancellation email. Get access first, then cancel.

1. Domain registrar: get the login where your domain is registered (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains and so on).
2. Google Business Profile: make sure you are listed as the primary owner.
3. Google Ads: get admin access to your ad account and write down the account ID.
4. Google Analytics and Search Console: ask for admin or owner access.
5. Website files and images: ask for a copy of your photos, logos and written content.
6. Contract terms: check how much notice your agreement requires.

Want a ready-made script? See our guide on canceling an agency retainer, or just ask us and we will walk you through it.

Answer these honestly:

• Do you pay more than $200 a month for your website and marketing?
• Do you struggle to see what your agency actually does each month?
• Do simple website changes take too long or cost extra?
• Are you being charged a percentage of your ad spend?

If you said yes to even one, you are a strong fit. Read the story of a Bunnell business that cut its retainer by 78%.

I started coding websites in 2005 and got into SEO in 2007. Over 20 years I have managed more than $3.5 million in ad spend, and I used to run the kind of agency that charged thousands a month. I walked away from that model because it stopped making sense for local businesses.

Now our client sites average a 92/100 audit score, and our pricing is flat and simple. My goal is to help local businesses thrive by cutting their marketing costs and keeping more money in their pocket.

Start with one of two easy steps:

• Get a free website scan to see how your current site scores for SEO, AI search, user experience and speed.
• Get a quote and we will show you exactly what you would pay, and how much you would save.

Every build comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.