Notes from the workbench.
Writing on design, performance and the decisions that quietly determine whether a website earns its keep.
Articles
Jun 19, 2025 What Every Small Business Website Needs on Its Homepage The elements every small business homepage needs, from a headline that says what you do to a call to action people can actually find. Read the article 
Jun 19, 2025 How to Build Trust with Your Website Visitors Practical ways a small business website earns trust before anyone gets in touch: honest design, clear contact details, real proof and visible security. Read the article 
Jun 17, 2024 5 Common Web Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Five design mistakes that quietly cost small business websites visitors and enquiries: confusing navigation, slow pages, weak calls to action. And how to fix them. Read the article 
Jun 10, 2024 The Role of UX/UI Design in Building Effective Websites How UX and UI design differ, why a website needs both, and the principles that make a site easy to use as well as good to look at. Read the article 
Jun 3, 2024 Content Marketing for Small Business Websites How a small business can make content marketing work without a marketing team, plus a realistic plan for the first three months of publishing. Read the article 
May 27, 2024 Understanding the Basics of Local SEO for Small Businesses How local SEO helps a small business get found nearby. Google Business Profile, consistent details, reviews and location pages, in the order that works. Read the article 
May 20, 2024 The Impact of Social Media on Website Traffic and SEO What social media actually does for website traffic and SEO. It is not a direct ranking factor, so here is what it does influence and what to measure. Read the article 
May 13, 2024 Why Websites Need Regular Maintenance Why websites need ongoing maintenance, what routine upkeep involves, and the risks of leaving software, backups and security checks unattended. Read the article 
May 6, 2024 How to Choose the Right Web Hosting for Your Small Business Shared, VPS, dedicated or cloud. How to choose hosting for a small business site, and the specific signals that tell you when to move up a tier. Read the article 
Apr 8, 2024 Maximizing SEO with High-Performance Websites How page speed affects SEO, practical ways to make a site faster, and why Core Web Vitals field data matters more than a score out of 100. Read the article 
Apr 1, 2024 The Benefits of Hand-Coded Websites What hand-coded websites do better than templates: performance, control, security and SEO. Plus an honest look at when a template is the better choice. Read the article 
Mar 25, 2024 The Importance of Mobile-First Design Why mobile-first design matters, what it changes about how a site is built, and the mistakes that turn a mobile-first project into a squeezed desktop one. Read the article
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