What a small-business website actually costs
One-page, five-page and store builds, plus the running costs that only turn up after launch.
Notes from the desk
What I've learned building small websites.
Fourteen notes on the questions people actually ask me before they hire anyone — price, ownership, hosting, being found, and the difference between a website that works and a website that merely exists.
Money, ownership and what happens after launch
The questions people are slightly embarrassed to ask, which are always the right ones to ask first.
Who actually owns your website
Domain, files, accounts. How to check what you own before you hire anyone.
What a website care plan actually covers
What a monthly plan should include, what should always be quoted separately, and how to spot padding.
Starting from a blank page
Scope, domains and the words themselves. Most projects go wrong here, long before anyone opens a design tool.
How many pages you actually need
One page or five, decided by what a visitor needs to know rather than by a package tier.
Choosing a domain name
Length, spelling, extensions beyond .com, and the checks to run before you pay.
What belongs on your home page
The six things the first screen has to do, and the filler to leave out entirely.
Website copy that sounds like you
The read-aloud test, cutting brochure language, and where an AI draft quietly flattens you.
Getting found by the right people
Search foundations you control, without the ranking promises nobody can honestly make.
Local SEO that is actually in your control
Consistent details, one honest page per area, real reviews. What you control and what you don't.
Business profile vs your own website
Where a free listing wins, where it can't help, and why it is not a substitute for a site.
Why your website is slow
Huge images, tracking scripts, bloated themes, fonts. Four causes, four fixes.
Taste, judgement and the machine
AI writes a serviceable draft in thirty seconds. Everything after that is still a person's job.
What AI website builders cannot do
Genuinely useful for drafts. Still cannot make four judgements that decide whether a site works.
Website photos when you have none
Phone photography that works, stock that doesn't, and designing honestly around having none.
Signs you need a redesign
Telling a dated site from one that's costing you work, and when a smaller fix wins.
The checklist before you go live
The pre-launch checks that catch real problems, including the ones no script can decide.