Frequently Asked Questions

Like many things in life, AI is a brick – it can be used to build a church or smash a car window. There’s a beneficial and morally right way to use it, and a harmful and morally wrong way to use it.

I think AI is amazing for assisting you with tasks. But I do not think people should be outsourcing their critical thinking to AI. Studies are already showing that overusing AI is causing people’s “creative muscles” to atrophy.

I also don’t believe we should be using AI for client communication. I will never use AI to compose or respond to an email. That goes against everything I believe about being human and having a personal relationship with my clients.

AI is one of those things (like smartphones and social media) that will make life more amazing in many ways, but has the potential to ruin life in many ways.

All that being said, I use AI every single day for all sorts of use-cases. It has saved me countless hours batch processing, debugging, editing, etc. Learning how to craft a prompt to get the desired outcome has been a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any AI-related questions.

I refuse to charge by the hour. Hourly billing incentivizes waste – you’re actually rewarded for working slower. The client pays more for less.

Project-based billing incentivizes speed and efficiency. It forces you to create better systems and refine your processes. So I always bill by the project. You pay for results and I work as quickly as possible.

Whatever you need, we’ll discuss it and you’ll get a fixed quote up-front. If it’s not possible to give an exact quote for a complicated request, you’ll at least get a price range before I get started.

Of course! You’ll get complete access to your site and I can teach you (or a member of your team) how to make routine edits – new staff members, new photos, new blog posts, that kind of thing.

Some clients prefer to manage this themselves. Others prefer to just email me a punch list because they know I can handle it faster than they can. Either way works. And if something comes up that’s more complicated than a routine edit, just reach out. I’m always happy to help.

Yes. There are a handful of clients that keep me on retainer for recurring monthly edits. These are negotiated and adjusted based on the volume of work to keep everyone happy. I also limit the number of these to keep turnaround times reasonable for all clients.

Yes. I offer enterprise-grade web hosting via Digital Ocean. I resisted getting into hosting for years, but most hosting providers have become so unreliable that I now offer it as an option for clients who want better performance and security.

Our hosting requires a Managed Web Services plan because maintaining enterprise infrastructure involves ongoing server management, security updates, performance optimization, and monitoring.

Pricing is customized based on your site’s traffic, storage needs, and security requirements – high-profile clients or sensitive industries often need additional protections beyond standard configurations.

I’ve been building websites since 1999 – from static HTML in Dreamweaver to Adobe Flash to Joomla. I started working with WordPress in 2007 and haven’t looked back. I’ve built the occasional Squarespace or Shopify site over the years, but I recommend WordPress for most situations. I use modern, custom frameworks rather than pre-built themes.

Again for emphasis: I do not use pre-built WordPress themes or consumer-grade page builders. The vast majority of web designers and agencies use these, so you’re basically paying thousands of dollars for them to click “install” and then swap out the logo, colors, images, and text. It’s borderline criminal.

Every WordPress site I build is handcrafted using enterprise-grade frameworks. They’re difficult to build but easy for the user to edit. And most importantly, they’re scalable.

If a web designer pitches you a website built with WPBakery, Divi, Beaver Builder, or Elementor – run for the hills. These are not modern, professional frameworks following current best practices in web design. You will have a bloated mess of a website that’s impossible to maintain or to scale with professional consistency.

For websites hosted by third parties, I obviously can’t guarantee security. Your typical shared hosting environment is not recommended because your website is sharing a server with thousands of other websites. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. But pairing best security practices with professional frameworks, your website should be safe – even on a shared hosting environment.

Over all my years working with 200+ clients, only two websites have been infected with malware – and both times were because the client insisted on going it alone, they were on bottom-of-the-barrel shared hosting, and they failed to keep their plugins updated.

For websites that I host, I have systems in place that basically guarantee your website will be safe from malicious code or bad actors. This obviously requires that members of your team who access the website keep their devices up to date and use security best-practices (strong passwords, 2FA, safe browsing, etc.). A compromised computer can lead to a compromised website.

Every site I build is built with SEO in mind throughout the development process as well as after launch. I stay current with best practices and bake them into every website I build. If you want to talk about specific strategies and campaigns for your unique industry or market, I’m happy to chat about it.

Keep in mind, SEO is an ever-evolving beast. What works today may not work twelve months from now, so it’s important to review things together from time to time. This is especially true in the AI-era, where LLMs are making some search traffic irrelevant.

There are companies that can justify spending thousands of dollars per month on professional SEO services. But those cases are few and far between and most companies should not be paying for SEO on a monthly basis. More than that, there are some extremely bad-acting “SEO companies” out there that will prey on your ignorance and gladly take your money to do nothing.

PS. I can also help your site get indexed by AI crawlers so it will potentially show up in AI search results. This is a rapidly evolving game (similar to SEO), but I’ve had some success with certain clients here.

Marketing is 100% context-dependent. What works for one business or industry could make zero sense for another. What worked 18 months ago might not be worth spending money on today.

I’m not convinced every business should be spending time and resources on social media marketing – but for some, it’s absolutely crucial. Similarly, managing ad campaigns and monitoring ROI is a full-time job and an art form. These are things best handled by specialists whose entire focus is in that space. I know people I trust in both areas and I’m happy to make introductions.

For things like email newsletters, we can talk shop and figure out the best solution for your situation – sometimes it’s as simple as adding a form to your site, other times a dedicated platform makes more sense.

Don’t hesitate to schedule a call so we can chat about what actually makes sense for your business.