Field notes & essays.
Working notes, lessons, and the occasional opinion — from building websites, software, and AI systems for real businesses.
The full archive.
Every post, in chronological order.
Is WordPress Multisite One Theme or Multiple? How Themes Actually Work in a Network
A clear answer to whether WordPress Multisite uses one theme or multiple, how the shared theme folder really works, when Multisite is the right call, and the best WordPress and non-WordPress alternatives.
How Much Should a Website Cost in 2026? An Honest Pricing Breakdown
An honest 2026 breakdown of website costs: $500, $5K, and $50K tiers, what each actually delivers, hidden costs, hosting, care, and a simple ROI math.
Image Optimization for the Web: Formats, Sizes, and the CDN Question
A practical guide to image optimization for small business sites in 2026 — AVIF vs WebP vs JPEG, responsive srcset, image CDNs, and Lighthouse impact.
Client Onboarding Portal: Build vs Buy for Service Businesses
When HoneyBook or Dubsado is enough, when a custom onboarding portal pays back, and what a tailored portal actually includes for service businesses.
Website Form Design Best Practices: Fewer Fields, More Leads
A practical guide to web form design for small businesses: cut fields, write better errors, use autocomplete, and turn more visitors into qualified leads.
Technical SEO Audit Checklist for Small Business Websites
A practical technical SEO audit checklist for small business sites. Covers crawlability, indexability, sitemaps, robots.txt, redirects, canonicals, and log file basics.
Local SEO for Service Businesses: How to Rank in Your Service Area
A practical local SEO guide for service businesses. Rank in your service area with Google Business Profile, location pages, citations, schema, and reviews.
SEO-Friendly Website Redesign Checklist for Small Businesses
A practical website redesign checklist for small businesses that need a better site without losing rankings, leads, or the pages that already work.
Custom Client Portal for Service Businesses: What to Build Before You Buy Software
A practical guide for service businesses deciding whether they need a custom client portal, an off-the-shelf portal, or a simpler client workflow first.