Notes from the studio
Blog
Process explainers, case studies from the portfolio, and the occasional note about what's actually working in 2026 small-business web design.
Jun 1, 2026
Why Google Business Profile beats paid ads for local Rochester businesses
Paid ads spike when you spend and disappear when you stop. A well-run Google Business Profile compounds — free traffic that lasts.
Jun 1, 2026
Your homepage has 5 seconds. Here is what it needs to say.
A visitor decides whether to stay or leave within five seconds. Three sentences and a button decide it. Most homepages fail this test.
Jun 1, 2026
The 4 marketing channels that compound — and the 3 that do not
Some marketing builds equity. Some marketing rents attention. Knowing the difference is the most important budgeting decision you make all year.
May 14, 2026
How much does a small-business website cost in 2026?
What a small-business website actually costs in 2026 — real tier prices, honest market comparisons, and the red flags that mean you are being upsold.
May 7, 2026
Indexing your unique and priority pages first
Why your service-area template pages should not get the same crawl budget as your About page — and how we wire sitemap priorities so Google indexes the work that actually moves the needle.
May 6, 2026
How we approach SEO
A no-magic walkthrough of the SEO work we ship on every site — schema, sitemap, robots, semantic HTML, Core Web Vitals, AI-friendly crawling. The full stack, in plain language.
May 5, 2026
How we ship a custom website in two weeks
A look inside the studio process — discovery call, fast build, launch and measure. No pitch deck, no upsell, no ten-day delays for a checkbox change.
May 4, 2026
What makes someone book a discovery call?
After eight sites and a year running this studio, here is what actually moves a visitor from browsing to booking. Spoiler: it is not "AI-powered."
May 1, 2026
Why service-area pages fail (and how to make them rank)
Three failure modes turn well-meaning service-area pages into Google’s idea of doorway pages. The discipline that fixes all three is dull, unglamorous, and works.
Apr 15, 2026
Why most small-business sites score in the 40s on mobile
Four culprits drag mobile Lighthouse into the 40s on almost every small-business site we audit. The fix is mostly about removing things, not adding them.
Your Website Is Just the Beginning
A website launch isn't the finish line — it's the starting point. Through SEO, Google Business optimization, content, and ongoing support, I'll help you continue building your online presence long after your site goes live.