Keeping a WordPress site aliveWhat a WordPress Maintenance Plan Should Include, and What It Costs in the US
A WordPress maintenance plan covers updates, backups, security checks, a staging copy and a report. Published US plans run from about $49…
Articles
Articles: What a Small Business Needs to Know About Its Website
What we tell clients, written down. Every figure is cited to its source, every article is dated, and the experience is first-hand where we say it is ours. A new article every week, in five sections: a website for your business, keeping a WordPress site alive, being found, Google Ads for trades and practices, and running the business online.
Keeping a WordPress site alive
Keeping a WordPress site aliveWhy Your Elementor or Divi Site Is Slow: Measured, Not Guessed
Measure first: the Core Web Vitals targets are LCP 2.5 s, INP 200 ms and CLS 0.1. Then fix images, caching, hosting…
Running the business onlineWhy Your Website’s Form Emails Land in Spam: SPF, DKIM and DMARC in Plain Words
Quote requests that never arrive usually fail an identity check. What SPF, DKIM and DMARC each do, what Google requires, and the…
Running the business onlineWho Owns Your Domain? Check Before Your Designer Leaves
The registrant holds the authority over a domain. How to look yours up, move it into your name, and what to ask…
A website for your businessWhat a Website Costs a Trade Business: Quotes, Line by Line
A small-business website quote has nine lines. What each covers, the market range from template builders to custom builds, and how to…
A website for your businessWhat a Contractor Website Must Show Before Anyone Calls, Including the License Number
A California contractor's website needs the license number, a phone number, work photos and a service area. What the CSLB requires and…
Being foundService Area Pages That Are Not Doorway Pages
Google's spam policy names city pages made to rank for similar queries as doorway abuse. What a real service area page holds,…
Being foundA Service-Area Business on Google: Profile Setup and What to Put on Your Site
Google's own rules for a service-area business: hide the address, up to 20 areas, about two hours' driving. Then the profile, the…
Google Ads for trades and practicesWhat Local Services Ads Really Cost per Booked Job
Local Services Ads charge per lead, not per click. Published plumbing and HVAC lead prices, the close-rate arithmetic, and a ninety-day test…
Being foundIs Thumbtack Worth It? Renting Leads Against Owning Them
Thumbtack charges nothing to join and a price per lead, shared with other pros. When renting leads pays, when owning the source…
Keeping a WordPress site aliveHacked WordPress Redirect: The First Hour
Visitors are sent to a spam site, or Google flags your pages. The first hour: contain it, back up, reset every login,…
Google Ads for trades and practicesGoogle Ads or Local Services Ads for a Plumber or HVAC Company
Search ads charge per click and Local Services Ads per lead. Side by side: charge, placement, control, tracking, and a test budget…
A website for your businessA Fence or Landscaping Website Ready for Spring: Photos, Quote Form, City Pages
What a fence or landscaping site needs before the busy season: sized work photos, a short quote form, real city pages and…
Running the business onlineFake Domain Renewal Notices: How to Tell, and What to Do
A letter that looks like your domain renewal can be a transfer order or an invoice for nothing. Four checks to tell,…
A website for your businessA Landscape or Interior Design Studio Website: Portfolio First, Then the Inquiry
A design studio's site is its portfolio. Lead with the work, size and load the photographs, say what you do in one…
A website for your businessContractor Websites Audited: What Each One Gets Right and Wrong
Six California contractor home pages read against one checklist: license number, phone, quote form, photos, service area, reviews. What each shows and…
Being foundCan a Small Business “Rank in ChatGPT”? What Is Known and What Is Sold
No one can guarantee a place in ChatGPT's answers. What Google and OpenAI say, how many local searches use AI, and what…
A website for your businessAn Acupuncture Website That Books First Visits
What an acupuncture site needs to book first visits: condition pages in patients' words, a first-visit page, booking, and no health details…
Keeping a WordPress site aliveGot a Website Accessibility Demand Letter? What a Small Business Does First
An accessibility demand letter is a legal matter; this is information, not legal advice. Talk to an attorney, then audit the site…
Keeping a WordPress site aliveYour Web Developer Disappeared: Getting Your Site, Domain and Email Back
The developer stopped answering. What to collect, in what order, to get the domain, the hosting, the WordPress login and the Business…
Being foundIs Angi Worth It for Contractors? The Cost-Per-Job Math
Whether Angi pays for a contractor depends on the cost per booked job, not the lead price. The published ranges, the arithmetic,…