Notes from
the build.
Occasional writing on web development, performance, and the craft of shipping. No newsletter, no fluff.
Why Your Law Firm Website Loads Slowly
Premium themes, stacked third-party scripts, and scheduling embeds are almost always the culprit when a law firm site loads slowly. I see the same patterns on virtually every firm site I audit, and the consequences are concrete: missed consultations, wasted ad spend, and rankings handed to a faster competitor.
How to Read a Web Development Quote
Most web development quotes fail business owners not because developers are dishonest, but because both parties mean different things by the word 'done.' Here is how to read a quote critically before you sign anything.
Web Accessibility Audit: What I Check and What It Costs
A real accessibility audit is not a free scanner run. It covers both automated and manual testing, and remediation for a small business site typically runs $1,500 to $10,000 depending on what is found. Here is exactly what I check, what it costs, and where people go wrong.
Freelance Developer vs Agency: How to Actually Decide
Project size and accountability needs settle this decision for most people. Here is a practical framework for choosing between a freelance developer and an agency, with honest tradeoffs from 18 years on the contractor side.
Questions to Ask Before You Hire Any Developer
Most hiring mistakes happen before the contract is signed, not after. This is the personal vetting framework I use to screen developers, covering portfolio review, compliance, ownership, and post-launch support.
What a Website Project Should Really Cost (and Why)
Website pricing ranges from $500 to well over $75,000, and both numbers can be correct depending on what you actually need. This breakdown covers every price tier, what drives cost up or down, and how to compare proposals when you are not technical.
WordPress or Headless: Which Does Your Business Need?
Most small businesses should stay on WordPress. Headless architectures are genuinely better in specific situations, but over-engineering is the most common mistake I see. Here is how to figure out which one actually fits your business.
Redesign or Rebuild? What Your Site Actually Needs
Most business owners conflate 'I don't like how it looks' with a fundamental structural problem. Redesign changes how a site looks; a rebuild changes what it can do underneath. Knowing which one you actually need can save you tens of thousands of dollars.
Signs Your Website Is Quietly Costing You Customers
Your website may be filtering out qualified customers before you ever know they visited. The loss is invisible, which is exactly what makes it expensive. Here are the concrete symptoms to look for and how to spot them without a developer.
The Pre-Launch Checklist I Run on Every Site
A website launch checklist is a forcing function, not a formality. I cover the eight categories I check before any site goes live: performance, accessibility, SEO plumbing, analytics, redirects, and email deliverability.
SEO, AEO, and GEO: How People Find You Now
Search, voice assistants, and AI tools are now three distinct channels for business discovery, and they reward different things. Here's a plain-English map of SEO, AEO, and GEO, what each one is, how they overlap, and what a small business should actually do about it in 2026.
Headless CMS for Small Teams: When It Is Worth It
Headless CMS is genuinely useful under specific conditions, but most small teams would be better served by a simpler stack. Here is the honest decision guide I wish existed before my clients asked me this question.
How to Brief a Web Developer So Your Project Goes Right
A complete brief is the single highest-leverage thing you can do before hiring a web developer. Without one, a fixed-price project becomes a change-order machine and an $8,000 site becomes a $15,000 site. Here is exactly what to include.
What GEO Gets Wrong About Content
Most generative engine optimization advice circulating right now is not supported by actual research. Before you rewrite every H2 as a question or stuff FAQ schema onto every page, here is what the evidence actually says and what it does not.
Core Web Vitals: What Actually Moves the Numbers
Three metrics, real thresholds, and field data that actually affects rankings. Here is what Core Web Vitals are, which fixes genuinely move the numbers, and which optimizations are theater.
GEO: Getting Your Site Cited When Nobody Clicks Anymore
AI answers are eating search clicks. GEO is the practical craft of making your site the source those answers cite, and most of it is just honest structure.
Accessibility Is a Floor, Not a Feature
WCAG AA is not a premium add-on or a legal checkbox. It is the baseline of professional work, and it makes sites better for every single visitor.
The Case Against Page Builders for a Growing Business
Page builders are a fine way to get a site this weekend, and an expensive way to run one for five years. Where the costs actually hide.
Static First Is Still the Best Deal on the Web
Most business sites do not need a server rendering pages on demand. They need to be fast, cheap, and impossible to knock over. Static gets you all three.