Blog · Notes from real projects
Written for trades and service businesses around Oakland and Genesee County — what a website actually costs, how customers find you on Google, which ads are worth the money, and what to fix when the phone isn’t ringing. Every post comes out of real work for real local businesses.
· 6 min read
A client wanted a marketplace with a database and a CRM. We built the screens with nothing behind them and learned more in a week than a spec would have taught us.
· 6 min read
People are asking AI assistants for contractor recommendations. Here’s what those tools actually read when deciding whether to mention your business.
· 7 min read
One traffic source, seven separate labels, 721 sessions hidden in plain sight. How to find them and add them up before you judge the channel.
· 6 min read
183 sessions reached my contact page and produced nothing. A single landing page produced 17 in the same window. The gap isn’t about design.
· 6 min read
What the AI does, what I do, and why every post starts with something that actually happened in this business.
· 6 min read
Days of repetitive setup used to eat the start of every project. Here’s what I built to get that time back, and what it changed about the work itself.
· 6 min read
Direct was my second-biggest channel over 90 days and converted nobody. It turned out to be a measurement problem, not an audience problem.
· 6 min read
Ninety days of my own blog, audited honestly: fifteen posts nobody opened and zero leads — plus the real reason I keep writing anyway.
· 8 min read
I spent $394.28 running both at my own business for 90 days. Facebook won on clicks, reach, and cost. Google won the only thing that turned into work.
· 6 min read
Same business, same offer, same person writing both pages. One produced 3 enquiries and the other produced 19. Here’s the difference.
· 6 min read
Forty-one cents a click looked like the bargain of the year — until I looked at what those clicks actually did after they landed.
· 7 min read
I won’t recommend an ad channel I haven’t paid for myself. Here’s three months of my own spend — including the numbers that don’t flatter me.
· 6 min read
For weeks I deleted every email Google sent about my ads account. Taking the call taught me more than months of clicking around on my own — plus how to spot the fakes.
· 8 min read
A roof is a five-figure decision made by someone who has never bought one before. They’ll check three contractors before calling any of them.
· 9 min read
If you drive to your customers, getting verified is far harder than the help pages suggest. What goes wrong, and how to walk in prepared.
· 6 min read
Name, website, analytics, Google Business Profile, ads, custom software — most businesses tackle these out of order. Here’s the sequence that actually works, step by step.
· 6 min read
Once ads started driving traffic, I took the prices down on purpose. The reasoning, the trade-off, and why I dialed back keyword-stuffed copy too.
· 6 min read
A friend asked me to help relaunch his business and assumed step one was a rebuild. I told him not to touch his site. When keeping what you have is the smart call.
· 5 min read
Ads got clicks and no leads. One happy client keeps sending family. So I’m launching a simple referral program for existing clients.
· 7 min read
Turning a rough idea into a working prototype, a product spec, and a data model — so an engineering team builds the right thing the first time.
· 6 min read
Some open-source projects (like Papercups live chat) are worth adopting; others (like self-hosting with Coolify) are more work than they’re worth. How I sort them.
· 6 min read
Wire a small AI check into a form so it can filter spam, route inquiries, or tidy messages. What it actually means, when it’s useful, and when it’s overkill.
· 6 min read
Free hosting covers most local businesses forever. Here’s exactly where the free tier stops — and why hitting an edge is never lock-in.
· 6 min read
47 clicks, zero leads — and why that’s normal at day five, not a failure. My honest baseline, one thing I’m fixing already, and what I’m watching next.
· 5 min read
You get the occasional call — but no idea which ones came from the site, what’s working, or where to fix things. 3 free analytics reviews this July.
· 6 min read
Paid QR services charge monthly for one feature — re-pointing a printed code. Here’s how I built that for free on a site I already own, with scan tracking baked in.
· 7 min read
The Cursor setup you get at handoff isn’t a snapshot — every rule, skill, and MCP server you add teaches it more about how your business works.
· 7 min read
I charge $100/hr, less than most local designers. Why I’m staying there — and the deeper reason the hourly model is slowly cracking in 2026.
· 6 min read
Wired the Facebook Ads MCP into Cursor. Now I run my own ads from the same tool I build sites in. The workflow, the spend, what I’m watching.
· 5 min read
Two clients ordered business cards and shirts right after their sites launched. The website isn’t the deliverable. The confidence is.
· 6 min read
Crossing $5k/month meant separating the books. The honest first-90-days checklist — what I did, what I skipped, and what I’d do differently.
· 7 min read
Test two headlines, buttons, or heroes with a few lines of JavaScript and GA4. No Optimizely, no $200/month tools. You own the data.
· 6 min read
SEO wants weird words in weird places. Simplicity wants clean writing. How I balance both without making the site look like a 2009 article farm.
· 6 min read
A static site can serve the world from day one. Here’s why focusing on Oakland or Genesee County still beats “global on launch.”
· 7 min read
Reviews decide who gets the call. A simple 5-step system to get more of them — without feeling awkward — plus a text you can copy and send today.
· 8 min read
Visitors but no phone calls? The gap is usually fixable. Five things to check — including a candid look at my own site’s analytics.
· 7 min read
Homeowners search before they call. The five things every electrician’s website needs in 2026 — with a real local example (Colville Electric).
· 7 min read
From $0/month DIY platforms to $25,000 agency builds — what each tier actually delivers, and where most local Michigan businesses should land.
· 6 min read
A 5-minute self-audit to check who actually owns each of the six pieces of your website — domain, hosting, code, GBP, analytics, DNS — and what to do about it.
· 6 min read
Stop paying $150 every time you need to change a price or phone number. Make the edit yourself in 30 seconds using AI tools — no coding required.
· 6 min read
Most trades websites are brochures when they should be lead engines. Here’s how to spot the difference and five fixes you can make this week.
· 7 min read
A step-by-step guide to the local map pack — what Google actually looks at, and the four moves to start showing up in 60–90 days.
· 6 min read
What should be in a $1,500 contractor website, what kind of lead flow it can produce, and what you should never accept at that price point.
· 6 min read
HVAC customers in Oakland County search online before they call. The five things every HVAC website needs in 2026 — and why a Facebook page isn’t enough.
· 6 min read
If you’re a plumber in Flint without a real website, you’re losing calls every week. Five places it’s happening — and what to do about each one.
· 7 min read
What to look for when hiring a web designer in Oakland County — and the five questions that expose whether they’re building your independence or your dependence on them.
· 6 min read
Wix vs. hiring a web designer — an honest side-by-side comparison including what you actually own, what it costs over 5 years, and when DIY stops making sense.
· 5 min read
Honest breakdown across all five pricing tiers — DIY platforms, freelancers, local web designers, and agencies — with the hidden costs nobody mentions upfront.
· 7 min read
A step-by-step guide to the Google local pack: claim your profile, pick the right category, build reviews, post weekly, and get consistent citations across the web.
· 5 min read
No logins, monthly fees to keep the lights on, $150 to change a phone number. Here’s how to tell if it’s happening and what to do about it.
· 5 min read
$23/month feels cheap. $1,380 over 5 years for something you own nothing of at the end does not. Here’s the full math, including the hidden costs nobody mentions.
· 5 min read
How a referral mechanic wired into a giveaway entry form turns every entrant into a distribution channel — no ad spend, no referral SaaS.
· 4 min read
What it costs to build your own LinkTree alternative, why it’s worth it, and what you actually get instead of paying $60–$288/year forever.
· 5 min read
A landing page with pitch, comparison, email capture, and a downloadable PDF — the same funnel pattern I use, without the $97/month subscription.
· 4 min read
A survey embedded in your own site, with responses in a Google Sheet you own. No SurveyMonkey, no Typeform, no monthly bill.
· 4 min read
How a waitlist captures demand, validates ideas, and gives you a list of warm leads before launch day — no third-party tool required.
· 5 min read
A local AI script that processes sensitive data without ever leaving the owner’s machine. Nothing touches the cloud, nothing breaks HIPAA.
Not sure which of these fits your business? A free, honest conversation — I’ll tell you straight which features matter and which don’t.
