Writing
Honest notes on web & search.
Plain-spoken essays on web design, SEO, and building sites that actually get found — from someone who’d rather tell you the truth about your website than sell you a guarantee nobody can keep.
How Much Should a Website Cost? An Honest Breakdown
“It depends” is the honest answer, but it’s also a cop-out. Here’s what actually drives the price of a website — and roughly what to expect at each tier.
Read the article→Custom Website vs. Template: Which Is Right for Your Business?
A template isn’t a failure and custom isn’t always worth it. The right answer depends on one question most people skip: what is this website actually for?
Read→5 Signs Your Website Is Quietly Costing You Customers
The worst website problems are the invisible ones — no error message, no complaint, just visitors quietly leaving. Here’s how to spot the leak before it drains you.
Read→Web Design vs SEO: Which Does Your Business Actually Need First?
People ask me to choose a side — pretty site or ranking site. It’s the wrong question. What actually matters is the order you build them in.
Read→What Is Local SEO, and Does Your Business Actually Need It?
If your customers are nearby, local SEO is probably the highest-leverage thing you can do. If they’re not, it’s a waste. Here’s how to tell which you are.
Read→Why I Won’t Promise You the #1 Spot on Google
The fastest way to spot someone who’ll waste your money is a guarantee of the #1 spot. Nobody controls the algorithm — and the ones who say they do are telling on themselves.
Read→Why Your Beautiful Website Isn’t Getting Any Traffic
You paid for a beautiful site and the traffic never came. That’s not bad luck — it’s usually one of five specific, fixable reasons. Let’s find yours.
Read→What Actually Makes a Website Fast — and Why It Decides Whether You Get Found
“Make it fast” gets said a lot and explained rarely. Here’s what speed actually means, what quietly wrecks it, and why it’s one of the few SEO levers fully in your control.
Read→Got a question I haven’t written about?
If there’s something you’re trying to figure out about your site or your search presence, ask. A straight answer is free.