Reading

Notes on what makes a website work

Reference pieces for owners of locally owned businesses. Research where research exists, clearly labelled with what it does and does not show, and my own reasoning where the research runs out.

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8 articles

LocalNewest
What Actually Changes When You Hire Someone Local
The case for hiring nearby is usually made as a moral one. The practical differences are more specific than that, and so are the things proximity does not fix.
Aug 31, 2026 · 3 min read
Trust
When Your Website Doesn't Match the Real Thing
Your site sets an expectation the visit either meets or misses. Overselling is the obvious failure. Underselling is the one almost every owner is doing instead.
Aug 30, 2026 · 4 min read
Systems
The Case for One Connected System Instead of Five Vendors
A website from one vendor, a logo from another, photos from a third, follow-up from nobody. The argument for connecting the pieces, with its honest limits stated.
Aug 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Websites
What You're Actually Paying For in a Website
Website quotes range from a few hundred dollars to five figures for what looks like the same deliverable. What the money actually buys, and when not paying is the right answer.
Aug 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Follow-up
Why Customers Don't Come Back (and What Follow-Up Actually Fixes)
Most customers who never came back were not unhappy... they just forgot you. Why silence after the sale is the real leak, and what honest follow-up looks like.
Aug 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Follow-up
Why Leads Go Quiet After They Reach Out
The inquiry that went silent usually didn't disappear... it moved on while it waited. Where inquiries actually die, and what a response system needs to do about it.
Aug 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Photography
Phone Camera, Stock Photos, or a Professional: What Actually Changes
Phones are genuinely good now, and stock photos are one click away. Here is what each choice actually does to how your business reads, from someone who photographs businesses for a living.
Aug 28, 2026 · 4 min read
Trust
What Stanford's Credibility Research Says Visitors Look For First
Two often-quoted studies about first impressions, read carefully: what they measured, what they did not, and what an owner can reasonably take from them.
Aug 28, 2026 · 5 min read

What Actually Changes When You Hire Someone Local

When Your Website Doesn't Match the Real Thing

The Case for One Connected System Instead of Five Vendors

What You're Actually Paying For in a Website

Why Customers Don't Come Back (and What Follow-Up Actually Fixes)

Why Leads Go Quiet After They Reach Out

Phone Camera, Stock Photos, or a Professional: What Actually Changes

What Stanford's Credibility Research Says Visitors Look For First