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Practical writing on web design, local marketing, and search visibility. No filler, no recycled advice.

Local Marketing

When a Competitor Bids on Your Business Name

The keyword is usually untouchable. The ad copy is not. What is worth doing about it, and why the answer is often nothing.

January 15, 2026 · 11 min read

Local Marketing

Emergency Service Pages and the 2am Search

Everyone writes 24/7 emergency service. Almost nobody answers the three questions the person at 2am is actually asking.

January 14, 2026 · 10 min read

Web Design

Phone Number Placement Beats Contact Form Optimization

Most trades sites optimise the form and leave the phone number in the footer as an image. That is exactly backwards.

January 13, 2026 · 9 min read

Web Design

Before and After Galleries: The Highest-Converting Element on a Trades Site

A homeowner cannot judge your technical skill. They can absolutely judge a photograph. What makes these work, and the mistake that ruins them.

January 12, 2026 · 10 min read

Local Marketing

Service Area Pages That Rank Without Looking Like Spam

Location pages are legitimate until the only thing changing is the town name. What Google's doorway policy actually says.

January 9, 2026 · 12 min read

Performance

How Slow Does a Contractor's Site Have to Be Before Calls Drop?

There is no single cliff, but there are three bands that matter. What the famous speed statistics actually say.

January 8, 2026 · 11 min read

Web Design

The Real Cost of a $99 a Month Website

Five years of $99 a month is $5,940, and in most arrangements you own nothing at the end. The arithmetic, and ten questions to ask.

January 7, 2026 · 10 min read

Local Marketing

Google Business Profile vs Your Website: Which Drives More Calls?

Your profile probably wins today. That is changing fast, because Google's AI local results are dropping the call button.

January 6, 2026 · 11 min read

Local Marketing

Why “All Our Work Comes By Referral” Stops Scaling

Referrals are the best work you get and the hardest channel to grow on purpose. Four ceilings, and the leak most owners never see.

January 5, 2026 · 9 min read

Web Design

What a Plumber's Website Actually Needs, and Six Things It Doesn't

Most trades websites are built like brochures when they should be built like phone-call machines. What converts, and what to stop paying for.

January 2, 2026 · 9 min read

More articles in progress on web design, AI search visibility, and what we have learned running our own site network.