Insights
Notes worth your time.
Plain-English tips on websites, SEO, and running a small business online in Kansas City. No jargon, no fluff, just the stuff that helps you make a better call.
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Kansas City Nonprofit Website Design: What Turns Visitors Into Donors and Volunteers
A nonprofit website has three audiences who want three different things, and most small nonprofit sites serve none of them well. Here is what donors, volunteers, and the people you help are looking for, and how to give it to them without a big budget.
How to Get More Google Reviews Without Being Awkward About It
Most small businesses have plenty of happy customers and a handful of reviews. The gap is almost never the work. It is that nobody asked at the right moment, in a way that took ten seconds. Here is how to fix that.
Chiropractor Website Design in Kansas City: What Actually Books Patients
Kansas City trains chiropractors, so the market here is crowded and most practice sites read the same. Here is what a patient in pain is actually looking for in the ten minutes before they call, and the handful of pages that win it.
Paying for Six Subscriptions to Run One Process? Build the Tool Instead
Most small businesses run on a stack of subscriptions held together with spreadsheets and copy-paste. Sometimes the right move is a small custom tool that does the one thing you actually need.
Kansas City Gym Website Design: What Gets Someone Through the Door
Nobody joins a gym from a website. They decide whether to walk in for the first time, and that decision is made in about a minute by someone who is a little nervous. Here is what the site has to answer.
Wix vs WordPress: An Honest Comparison for Small Businesses
Wix or WordPress is the first fork in the road for most small business websites, and the honest answer depends on who is going to maintain the thing after launch.
Restaurant Website Design: What Hungry People Actually Need
Somebody is deciding between you and three other places on the drive home. Here is what a restaurant website has to answer in that minute, and the one file format costing you tables.
Who Actually Owns Your Website? Domain, Hosting, and Logins, Explained
Most owners find out who controls their website on the day they need something and cannot log in. Here is what you actually own, how to check in fifteen minutes, and what to get in writing.
Kansas City Healthcare Website Design: What Patients Check Before They Book
A patient deciding between three practices is running a short checklist, and most practice websites answer about half of it. Here is what belongs on a medical, dental, or therapy site in Kansas City.
How to Write Your Own Website Copy Without Hating It
Most website projects stall in the same place: waiting on the words. Here is the process I hand clients who want to write their own copy, and the honest test for when you should not.
Kansas City Contractor Website Design: What Actually Books Jobs
Trades in this metro rarely lose a job on craftsmanship. They lose it in the ten seconds a homeowner spends deciding who to call. Here is what a contractor website has to answer in that window.
What to Put on Your Home Page (and What to Leave Off)
A stranger decides whether to stay on your home page in about ten seconds. Here is what has to be in that window, what belongs below it, and the standard pieces that are only taking up room.
Website Redesign in Kansas City: Fix It, Refresh It, or Rebuild It
Most owners who tell me they need a redesign need about four hours of fixes. Here is how to tell the difference between a site that needs work and a site that needs replacing.
Website Maintenance: What Actually Needs Doing After Launch
A website is not an appliance you install once and forget. Here is what website maintenance actually involves after launch, what you can handle yourself, and what quietly breaks when nobody is watching.
Kansas City Manufacturing Website Design: What Actually Wins Work
Most machine shop websites are a photo of the building and a contact form. Here is what a sourcing engineer, a repeat customer, and a job applicant each come looking for, and what it costs you when they cannot find it.
How Long Does It Take to Build a Website?
Most small business websites take three to six weeks, and the design is almost never what holds them up. Here is where the time actually goes, and the one thing that decides whether you launch on schedule.
Local SEO for Kansas City: How to Show Up in Google's Map Pack
The three businesses under the map get most of the local clicks. Here is how Google chooses them, and the plain steps to get your Kansas City business in the map pack.
5 Signs Your Website Is Quietly Losing You Customers
Nobody emails to tell you they gave up on your website. Here are the five failures that cost you customers silently, and how to check for each one in about ten minutes.
WordPress or a Custom-Built Site? How to Choose
WordPress powers a huge share of the web, but it is not always the right call. Here is the honest comparison of WordPress versus a custom-built site, and how to tell which one fits your business.
Web Designer vs. DIY Site Builder: What's Right for a KC Small Business?
Wix and Squarespace make building your own site look easy, and sometimes DIY really is the right call. Here is the honest tradeoff versus hiring a web designer, and how to tell which fits your business.
Why Website Speed Matters, and How to Tell If Yours Is Too Slow
Your site feels fast to you because your browser cached it. Here is the real test, the number Google cares about, and what to do if your site is on the wrong side of it.
Hiring a Web Designer in Kansas City: 8 Questions to Ask First
The right questions beat a pretty portfolio. Here are the 8 things to ask any web designer before you sign, and what a good answer actually sounds like.
Does Your Small Business Actually Need a Blog? (And How to Prove It Works)
Everyone says your small business should have a blog. Here is the honest answer: when it is worth it, when it is not, and how to measure whether yours actually works.
How Much Does a Website Cost in Kansas City?
Wondering what a website really costs in Kansas City? Here are honest 2026 ranges for small business sites, and the things that actually move the price up or down.
Web Design in Kansas City: Do You Need a Static Site or a CMS?
Meet TJ Slade, your Kansas City web designer, and get a plain-English answer to the first question I ask every client: does your business need a static site or a CMS?
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Written for businesses like yours.
Wondering if I've built for a business like yours? These go trade by trade: what your customers check first, the pages that earn the call, and what most sites in your line of work get wrong.
- Kansas City Nonprofit Website Design: What Turns Visitors Into Donors and Volunteers
- Chiropractor Website Design in Kansas City: What Actually Books Patients
- Kansas City Gym Website Design: What Gets Someone Through the Door
- Restaurant Website Design: What Hungry People Actually Need
- Kansas City Healthcare Website Design: What Patients Check Before They Book
- Kansas City Contractor Website Design: What Actually Books Jobs
- Kansas City Manufacturing Website Design: What Actually Wins Work
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