Guides & notes
How the systems I build actually work — payments, booking, SEO — and what running a site costs. Written for the people I build for.
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Getting a new website without losing your place on Google
A new website can throw away years of Google rankings on launch day, because every old page address quietly stops working. The one job that prevents it, why "send everything to the home page" doesn't count, and how to tell whether it was done.
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The scam calls, emails and invoices every small business gets
The week you get a website, the fake invoices start. "Google" rings about your listing, a stranger warns your domain is expiring, and an SEO guarantees page one. How to tell each one from the real thing, and six habits that stop nearly all of them.
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Photography: the best money in your website budget
Where to spend an extra few hundred dollars on a new website? Usually not on the website. Why real photos outsell stock, what to shoot, what a photographer costs, and who owns the pictures afterwards.
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Does my business need an app?
Somebody always says you should have an app. For almost every local business the honest answer is no. What Apple's own rules say about website-in-a-wrapper apps, what an app costs to keep alive, and the installable website nobody mentions.
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Website animations: when they help, and when they get in the way
Movement is the loudest thing on a page. Where animation explains, responds or shows off the product — and where it hides the phone number, slows the page or makes people feel ill. With examples from my own demos.
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Should you put an AI chatbot on your website?
Every website builder now sells an AI assistant for your site. What the sales pages leave out: whatever the bot says, you said. The Air Canada ruling, what customers really think of chatbots, and the kind of chat that helps without the risk.
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Marketing a local business website: what works and what doesn't
A new website does not bring customers on its own. The few things that actually work for a local business — most of them free — and the ones your inbox keeps selling you that don't, with the evidence for each.
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Website accessibility and the ADA, without the scare tactics
Sooner or later somebody tells you your website breaks the law — usually while selling you a widget. What the ADA actually asks of a small business site, who is really being sued, why the widget does not help, and the six fixes that matter.
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Why your emails go to spam
A customer fills in your form and you never see it. The form worked — something between you and them decided it was junk. What SPF, DKIM and DMARC actually do, and why sending from a Gmail address is the usual cause.
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Getting reviews the right way, and what Google actually forbids
Reviews are the highest-return thing a local business can do for free, and the way they are usually collected breaks Google's rules. What is allowed, what is not, and the six-step version that works.
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What I need from you before I can start
The thing that delays a website is almost never the code — it is waiting for words and pictures. The whole list up front, what to do when you have no photographs, and the part where I design all of it anyway.
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Why your business doesn't show up on Google
There are two different Googles — the map and the blue links — and they fail for different reasons. How to tell which one lost you, quoted throughout from Google's own documentation.
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Squarespace, Wix, or a custom site?
The question is usually asked as which is cheaper, and that is the one question that tells you least. What the advertised price leaves out, what a percentage of every sale costs over five years, and where the line actually falls.
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What a website actually costs to run, every month
Everybody asks what a website costs to build. The number that decides whether you still like it in year two is the monthly one. Here is the whole bill, line by line, at each vendor's published price.
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What a small business website costs
There is no trustworthy average, and the figure everyone quotes turns out not to exist. So here are real published prices instead — mine, and the platforms' — and what actually moves the number.
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Getting your site into Google Search Console
Search Console is Google's own report on your website: which searches brought people to you, which pages Google has read, and anything stopping it reading more. Free, in your name, and the one setup that takes two sittings.
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What you own when you hire a web developer
Most website disputes are not about money or quality. They are about the day somebody wants to leave. Which parts are yours outright, which are yours with me added, and which are licensed — stated plainly, including the part that stays mine.
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Setting up your Google Business Profile, and adding me to it
The panel on the right of Google and the pin on Maps — free, in your name, and the thing that decides whether a local customer finds you at all. How to create it, get verified, and collect the reviews that do the work.
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Buying your domain on Cloudflare, and adding me to it
Your domain is the one piece of this you should own outright. How to buy it on Cloudflare at cost, in your own name, and give me only the access the work needs.
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Setting up Resend, and adding me to it
Resend sends the automatic emails from your site — the confirmations and receipts that land in spam when they come from a Gmail address. Two steps, five minutes, and a screenshot of both.
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Setting up Stripe, and adding me to it
Stripe takes the card payments on your site, and the account should be in your name, not mine. What Stripe asks for, how long it takes, and exactly which role to give me — with a screenshot of every screen.
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I build and look after custom sites for local businesses. The first call is free, and you get a fixed quote in writing.
Or call (360) 921-0148 — most enquiries to a business like this come by phone.