Field notes,
from a working studio.
Short entries on the work in progress — GBP API quirks, programmatic SEO traps, clinic intake patterns, and the small structural decisions that compound. Written for the kind of operator who reads release notes.
October 1, 2026 · buying guide · decision framework · web design
Template vs Custom: An Honest Decision Tree
Sometimes the template is the right call, and I'll say so. The tree branches on lead economics — what a booked job is worth and how contested your map pack is.
September 30, 2026 · buying guide · red flags · web design
Web Design Red Flags I See Every Week
Pricing that appears only after a call. Portfolios with no live links. 'SEO included' with nothing shipped. A contract that owns your domain. All avoidable.
September 29, 2026 · buying guide · hiring · web design
Seven Questions That Expose a Bad Web Designer
Who owns the domain? Where do form submissions go? Show me last month's shipped work. Seven questions that separate operators from invoice machines.
September 28, 2026 · migration · SEO · anti-WordPress
Leaving WordPress Without Losing Your Rankings
Rankings live in your URLs, content, and history — all portable if the migration preserves URL identity. The horror stories skip that one discipline.
September 25, 2026 · WordPress · site reliability · anti-WordPress
Anatomy of a WordPress Crash
Fourteen plugins, one shared host, an auto-update at 2 AM. The crash isn't bad luck — it's the architecture working as designed. The failure chain, explained.
September 24, 2026 · SEO · retainers · anti-WordPress
Your SEO Retainer Is Plugin Updates
One question audits any SEO retainer: show me what shipped last month. Content, rankings reviewed, pages rewritten — or a plugin changelog and a login.
September 23, 2026 · page builders · web architecture · anti-WordPress
Page Builders vs Hand-Coded: What Breaks First
Drag-and-drop builders optimize for the demo, not the third year. The order things break: speed first, then forms, then your patience with 'premium plugins.'
September 22, 2026 · hosting · pricing · anti-WordPress
$150/Month to Host a $12 Website
Static hosting for a small-business site costs almost nothing now. If your invoice says 'hosting & maintenance,' here's how to decompose that line.
September 21, 2026 · WordPress · web development · positioning
Why I Don't Build on WordPress
Not for new sites, not for rebuilds, not for migrations onto it. Here's the receipt on what the typical WordPress retainer actually buys a small business.
September 18, 2026 · AEO · SEO · AI search
AEO vs SEO: Same Homework, New Grader
Answer-engine optimization isn't a new discipline to buy. It's the old discipline — structure, sources, consistency — graded by a reader that skips your tricks.
September 17, 2026 · AEO · AI search · content strategy
Being Citable Is the New Ranking
AI answers cite pages carrying named sources, dates, and verifiable numbers. My stats page exists for exactly that — and the discipline transfers anywhere.
September 16, 2026 · FAQ schema · AEO · AI search
FAQ Rich Results Are Dead. Your FAQs Aren't.
Google retired FAQ rich results for regular sites. The SERP feature died — but the answer-shaped content that feeds AI citations and real customers did not.
September 15, 2026 · AI search · local SEO · AEO
How AI Assistants Pick a Local Business
Ask an assistant for a good HVAC company near Fairhope and watch what it leans on: reviews, structured data, consistent facts, crawlable content — old homework.
September 14, 2026 · llms.txt · AI search · AEO
llms.txt: The Robots.txt of the AI Era
A plain-text file that hands AI crawlers your business's canonical facts. Five minutes to ship, and I put one on every site I run. Here's what it is and isn't.
September 11, 2026 · AI search · local SEO · AEO
Will AI Kill Local Search? The Boring Answer
The panic is misplaced and the complacency is worse. AI assistants still have to pick a plumber from somewhere — and where they look turns out to be auditable.
September 10, 2026 · indexing · sitemaps · local SEO
Sitemaps and Indexing, Explained for Owners
'It's published' and 'Google shows it' are different events, sometimes weeks apart. Here's the pipeline between them, in owner language, and where it breaks.
September 9, 2026 · SEO retainer · local SEO · accountability
What a Monthly SEO Retainer Should Actually Include
If the monthly report doesn't show content shipped, Search Console reviewed, and pages rewritten, you're paying for plugin updates with extra steps.
September 8, 2026 · website ownership · domain · hosting
Who Owns Your Website? No, Really — Check.
Domain in the old designer's account, hosting on his card, GBP claimed by an agency that ghosted. Hostage infrastructure is the most common mess I inherit.
September 7, 2026 · contact forms · lead capture · web infrastructure
Contact Forms That Leak: Where Your Leads Go to Die
The form 'works' — and delivers to a mailbox nobody checks, gets eaten by spam filters, or drowns in bot noise. Lead plumbing is infrastructure, not a widget.
September 4, 2026 · site speed · conversion · mobile
Your Site Loads in 6 Seconds. Your Lead Left in 3.
Site speed is a leads problem before it's a rankings problem. The homeowner on a job-site connection doesn't wait for your hero video. Here's the real cost.
September 3, 2026 · NAP consistency · citations · local SEO
NAP Consistency: Boring, Unsexy, Load-Bearing
Your name, address, and phone disagree with themselves across a dozen directories right now. Google notices. The fix is clerical work with ranking consequences.
September 2, 2026 · reviews · local SEO · Google Business Profile
Review Velocity Beats Review Count
A 4.9 with fresh reviews beats a 4.9 that went quiet in 2024. Recency and cadence gate the phone call — and they're a system to build, not a favor to ask.
September 1, 2026 · Google Business Profile · local SEO · reviews
Google Business Profile: The 20% That Does the Work
Most Google Business Profile advice is checkbox theater. Four things do the lifting — reviews, category precision, photo cadence, answered questions — in order.
August 31, 2026 · professional services · B2B · local SEO
Professional Services SEO: The Silent Shortlist
B2B buyers build a shortlist you never see. The firms that grow past the referral plateau are the ones that rank for what they sell — while looking effortless.
August 28, 2026 · restaurants · local SEO · AI search
Restaurant Visibility: Maps, Reviews, and AI Menus
Tourists decide where to eat from a beach chair, and AI assistants now read your hours and menu before recommending you. Stale listings are lost covers.
August 27, 2026 · landscaping · local SEO · seasonal marketing
Landscaping Marketing: Win February, Own the Year
Spring inquiry season is only weeks long. If a landscaping site isn't ranking by February, it misses the recurring-contract cycle that funds the whole year.
August 26, 2026 · water treatment · marketing · vertical playbook
Water Treatment Marketing Starts With a Smell
Demand starts as 'why does my water smell like eggs' months before 'water softener installer.' The company that answers the first search owns the second.
August 25, 2026 · med spa · local SEO · vertical playbook
Med Spa SEO Without the Compliance Landmines
Overpromising outcomes creates compliance exposure, not bookings. The med spa SEO playbook is clinical depth, real bios, and location-fenced architecture.
August 24, 2026 · electrical · marketing · vertical playbook
Electrician Marketing for Researched Purchases
EV chargers, panel upgrades, generators — buyers compare three electricians before calling one. Your site is the comparison. Most never wrote their half.
August 21, 2026 · plumbing · local SEO · vertical playbook
Plumbing SEO: Win the Emergency, Then the Repipe
Emergency plumbing converts in minutes for hundreds; a repipe in weeks for thousands. They're different SEO problems, and most plumbing sites solve neither.
August 20, 2026 · painting · marketing · vertical playbook
Painting Company Marketing: Proof Beats Promises
Homeowners hire painters they can see working — real crews, real projects, organized by city. Why proof density beats every promise in painting marketing.
August 19, 2026 · roofing · local SEO · vertical playbook
Roofing SEO: Rank Before the Wind Blows
Storm demand rewards whoever already ranks. The roofing SEO playbook is a calendar — grant windows, storm season, insurance renewals, all pre-schedulable.
August 18, 2026 · hvac · local SEO · vertical playbook
HVAC Local SEO: Surviving the Shoulder Months
Booked in July, hunting in October — the content engine is what smooths an HVAC pipeline, and most HVAC SEO retainers don't have one. Here's the fix.
August 17, 2026 · professional services · pricing · web design
What a Professional Firm's Website Costs in 2026
B2B buyers vet you online before the first call. A dated site quietly disqualifies you. Here's what a professional firm's website actually costs in 2026.
August 14, 2026 · restaurants · pricing · web design
What a Restaurant Website Actually Costs in 2026
The real restaurant website question isn't the price — it's the tax you pay third-party platforms to own your customer. Here's the honest math for 2026.
August 13, 2026 · landscaping · pricing · web design
What a Landscaper's Website Actually Costs in 2026
The profitable half of landscaping is recurring contracts, won by looking established online. Here's what that changes about a landscaper's website cost.
August 12, 2026 · water treatment · pricing · web design
What a Water Treatment Website Costs in 2026
Nobody wakes up wanting a water system. A water treatment website's budget buys the problem-search content that starts every install. Here's the 2026 cost.
August 11, 2026 · med spa · pricing · web design
What a Med Spa Website Actually Costs in 2026
A med spa website budget buys careful, compliant claims and location-fenced architecture, not sparkle. Here's what medical-adjacent web design costs in 2026.
August 10, 2026 · electrical · pricing · web design
What an Electrician's Website Actually Costs in 2026
An electrician's website cost is a credential-and-depth decision — panel upgrades and EV chargers are researched purchases won on service-page depth, not price.
August 7, 2026 · hvac · pricing · web design
What an HVAC Website Actually Costs in 2026
What an HVAC website costs in 2026 — what changes between a $6K focused scope and the $12.5K standard planning point, plus ongoing operation.
August 6, 2026 · painting · pricing · web design
What a Painter's Website Actually Costs in 2026
Painting is a trust purchase, so a painter's website budget buys proof density — real crews, real projects, organized by city. Here's what that costs in 2026.
August 5, 2026 · roofing · pricing · web design
What a Roofer's Website Actually Costs in 2026
A roofing website's real cost is a content-depth decision — insurance education, grant windows, and why the retainer ends the lead-reseller treadmill.
August 4, 2026 · plumbing · pricing · web design
What a Plumber's Website Actually Costs in 2026
The honest cost ladder for a plumbing website in 2026 — from the $0 DIY that leaks leads to the build where ROI starts, and why the retainer matters more.
August 3, 2026 · web design · local SEO · buying guide
How to Spot a Fake 'Local' Web Designer
A national cohort ranks in cities it has never visited. Here's the five-minute residency test that tells a real local web designer from a swap-the-city fake.
July 31, 2026 · local SEO · directories · market research
Why Directories Own Page One in Your Town
When Yelp, Thumbtack, and listicles fill page one for your trade in your town, Google is telling you it can't find enough real local supply. That's an opening.
July 30, 2026 · indexing · SEO · technical
How Fast Google Finds a New Local Page
Every URL I ship gets submitted to Google within 24 hours, and the submission log is committed to git — so I answer this with timestamps, not vibes.
July 29, 2026 · content publishing · SEO · drip
What 1,900 Posts Taught Me About Drip Publishing
Across the client fleet I run, just under 2,000 posts publish on automated weekday drips. Here's what cadence, uniqueness floors, and date-gating actually do.
July 28, 2026 · local SEO · statistics · sourcing
Local SEO Stats Everyone Cites and Nobody Checks
Half the stats in local-SEO listicles trace to a decade-old remark, a broken link, or nothing. I traced them. Here's which famous numbers survive their sources.
July 27, 2026 · local SEO · statistics · rankings
The Local SEO Stats That Actually Move Rankings
Of the dozens of local SEO stats in my sourced dataset, a handful are load-bearing for the next 90 days. The rest are conference-slide filler.
July 24, 2026 · pricing · web design · Mobile
Nobody in Mobile Publishes Web-Design Pricing. I Do.
Every local competitor gates cost behind a contact form. Here are the CDS planning anchors, what changes the scope, and why every project is quoted.
July 23, 2026 · Mobile · web design · market research
I Read Every Web-Design SERP on the Gulf Coast
I reviewed the local web-design and SEO results pages for Mobile by hand. Page one is directories and aggregators, and not one ranking local publishes a price.
July 22, 2026 · market research · census data · local SEO
Census Density Lies: 1,538 Contractors, 20 Searches
One Utah metro has 1,538 contractor establishments and about 20 monthly searches for web design. Census density predicts the buyer pool, not the search pool.
July 21, 2026 · market research · local SEO · web design
I Audited 34 Web-Design Markets. Most Are Already Won.
I hand-audited 34 US metros for local web-design competition. The 'wide open' market mostly closed years ago, and the few openings left share four fingerprints.
July 20, 2026 · roofing · FORTIFIED grants · local SEO
The 90-Day FORTIFIED Playbook for Gulf Coast Roofers
The grant windows are a published calendar. Ninety days is enough to build the page, earn the ranking, and stock the profile before the next one opens.
July 17, 2026 · hurricane season · roofing · service businesses
After the Storm, the Searches Change
The day after landfall, a region's searches flip: tarps, water extraction, generator repair, adjuster disputes. The prepared businesses win the after-market.
July 16, 2026 · FORTIFIED grants · roofing · Gulf Coast
The FORTIFIED Portal Closed in Minutes. Now What?
If the Strengthen Alabama Homes portal was gone by 9:02, that's first-come-first-served when demand runs deep. Here's the next window and the prep.
July 15, 2026 · Baldwin County · local SEO · competition
481 Contractors, Three Map-Pack Slots
Census County Business Patterns counts 481 specialty-trade contractors in Baldwin County, 514 in Mobile. The local map pack shows three. Do the odds out loud.
July 14, 2026 · Baldwin County · local SEO · growth
300,000 Neighbors by 2030 — Who Captures Them Online?
Baldwin County hit 267,761 people in 2025 and is pacing toward 300,000 by 2030 — a decade of first-time local searches, and the map pack only holds three names.
July 13, 2026 · restaurants · Gulf Coast · tourism
8.4 Million Visitors Searched 'Where to Eat' Last Year
Alabama's beaches set a record: 8.4 million visitors, $923 million on lodging. Tourists have zero local knowledge; maps and reviews make every dining call.
July 13, 2026 · Gulf Coast · Mobile Alabama · business networking
Gulf Coast Business Networking Events: Why AEF Is Different
America's Economic Forum gives Gulf Coast founders, operators, and investors a no-pitch room, then turns its conversations into a useful economic record.
July 10, 2026 · roofing · FORTIFIED grants · content strategy
The Insurance Crisis Is a Content Strategy
Gulf Coast homeowners are drowning in insurance questions about FORTIFIED construction — and almost no local contractor's website answers a single one of them.
July 9, 2026 · Baldwin County · local SEO · growth
Your Market Grew 2.3% Last Year. Did Your Website?
Baldwin County added 6,109 people in a year — 2.3%, four times the state average. Every new household picks its plumber and dentist from a page it's never seen.
July 8, 2026 · Mobile · Gulf Coast · professional services
1,000 Airbus Jobs Are About to Change Mobile's Searches
Airbus opened its second A320 line in Mobile in October 2025 — about 1,000 jobs, doubled production, and a wave of new households that all start as a search.
July 7, 2026 · hurricane season · Gulf Coast · service businesses
You Can't Rank for 'Roof Tarp' After the Storm
Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30. The businesses that own the post-storm searches earned that position in July. Here's the July work.
July 6, 2026 · rankings · roofing · Baldwin County
I Graded Every Roofing Website in Baldwin County
Every Baldwin County roofing site, graded on a public rubric. Per Google's PageSpeed data, 85% fail one mobile test — and not one publishes pricing.
July 3, 2026 · roofing · FORTIFIED grants · local SEO
The $10,000 Demand Spike Most Roofers Will Sleep Through
Twice a quarter, Alabama funds a stampede of homeowners to buy one product: a FORTIFIED roof. A five-minute test shows whether your site captures any of it.
July 2, 2026 · FORTIFIED grants · Gulf Coast · local demand
Alabama Will Hand Your Neighbor $10,000 Next Week
Strengthen Alabama Homes opens its Mobile County portal July 7 and Baldwin County July 9 — up to $10,000 toward a FORTIFIED roof, first come, first served.
July 1, 2026 · programmatic SEO · sitemaps · Next.js
Sitemap lastmod from git dates
Why a sitemap that says every page changed today is worse than no lastmod at all — and the git-derived pattern I run on every site I manage.