Notes from the workshop.
Small-business web design, AI, branding, and running a solo studio. Not SEO fodder. Not "10 tips" listicles. The arguments I'd make to a client across a coffee table, written with AI assistance and checked against my published services and prices.
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Your own phone photos beat stock photos on your website.
Stock photos tell visitors you had nothing real to show them. Here's how to take your own photos, when to hire a pro, and what to do if you must use stock.
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Who actually owns your website?
Your domain, your hosting, and your admin login are three separate accounts. Here's the fifteen-minute check to make sure at least one of them is in your name.
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How to ask for a review without being weird.
Your review count isn't low because customers don't like you. It's because you're asking a week late, by email, with a five-step link.
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The five AI workflows I set up first.
Everyone asks for the flashy AI thing. The workflows that pay for themselves are boring — and it's almost always the same five.
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How much should a logo cost? What $750 actually buys.
A $40 logo and a $750 logo aren't the same product. Here's what you're paying for at $750 — and why most of it is work you never see.
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Hurricane season and your website: a 30-minute plan.
When a storm heads for Northeast Florida, customers look you up before they call. Here's the 30 minutes of prep that makes a closure a two-minute job.
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Why I turn down work I could easily take.
Every no costs me money that day. I still say it. Here are the five projects I turn down as a one-person studio, and what each one tells you.
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Templates vs. AI: which one should answer that email?
Most small businesses point AI at the emails a saved template could answer in four seconds, then hand-write the ones AI would actually help with. Here's the line between them.
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Why my prices are on my website.
Most web design agencies hide their pricing behind a "let's hop on a call" form. Mine are right on the site. Here's why publishing the number sorts the right clients in and the wrong ones out.
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How to write your own About page without sounding like a robot.
Most small-business About pages read like a press release nobody asked for. Here's how to write one that sounds like a person and convinces somebody to hire you.
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The worst way to use AI: letting it publish posts nobody checks.
Letting AI publish generic posts nobody checks is the lowest-value use of it. The real payoff is in the invisible work: quotes, intake, follow-up.
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Why your website should load in under two seconds.
Most small-business sites are slow because of how they're built, not what's on them. Here's why I aim for under two seconds — and how I get there.
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The one question I ask every prospect on the first call.
Before I talk about pages or pricing, I ask how you get customers right now. The answer decides whether you need a website at all — and what it should do.
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Local SEO for Jacksonville: the 3 things that actually move rankings.
The three things that actually move local rankings in Jacksonville — Business Profile, steady reviews, on-site local signals — plus the factor no agency can sell.
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AI for churches and nonprofits: what works and what doesn't
An honest look at where AI helps a church or nonprofit office — and where it quietly does harm. Save volunteer hours without losing the human part.
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How long does a small-business website really take to build?
A straight answer on how long a small-business website takes — and why the delay is almost never the design. The real clock starts with you.
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Since 2015, still no employees. That's on purpose.
I've run P27 since 2015 with zero employees, and that's a deliberate choice, not a stalled one. Here's why a one-person studio is often better for small-business clients.
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What I actually do during a half-day workflow audit.
A start-to-finish look at what happens in a $750 workflow audit: how I find where your week leaks time, and what you walk away with when it's done.
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How I price projects as a solo shop (and why I don't bill them by the hour).
Why I quote fixed prices instead of hourly rates, how I estimate a project, and the three things I won't budge on as a one-person studio.
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The one thing most small-business contact pages get wrong.
Most contact pages tell you how to reach out but not what happens after you do. A sentence or two above the form fixes it, and it costs nothing.
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Your Google Business Profile is probably broken. Here's how to tell.
Most small-business profiles are broken in the same five ways — wrong category, stale photos, dead-silence review replies. A 10-minute self-audit, no developer required.
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WordPress or a static HTML site? An honest comparison.
Most small businesses end up on WordPress for the wrong reasons. Here's when each one wins — and when you don't need a CMS at all.
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The admin time sink every small business underestimates.
Ask an owner how much time admin takes and the guess is usually low. Where the time goes, and what AI can take off your plate.
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What $1,500 actually buys you in a website.
The short answer: a lot more than you'd think, if you pick the right person. Here's what's included, what's not, and where the "cheap website" horror stories come from.
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Do small businesses actually need AI? An honest answer.
No, you don't need a custom-trained LLM. Yes, there are three or four AI tools worth setting up, if you aim them at the right tasks.
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Why I don't promise you'll rank #1 on Google.
Every agency that guarantees a #1 Google ranking is either lying, misunderstanding the question, or about to do something that'll get your site penalized.
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Do I really need a website care plan?
An honest answer. What the $50/month covers, who needs it, and the uncomfortable alternative when you skip it.
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Custom GPTs for small business: what they actually do.
The short version. What a custom GPT is, what it can do for your business, and three examples of what one can handle.
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When a one-page website is the right call (and when it's not).
A $800 one-page site isn't a downgrade — it's a different tool for a different job. Here's the cheat sheet for which camp you're in.
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