Blog

Notes from the workshop

Practical writing on websites, software, and working with developers — no fluff.

My Website Disappeared From Google

Your website vanished from Google search. The likely causes, from a hack or a manual penalty to an accidental 'block search engines' setting, and how to diagnose and recover.

Read article →

What to Do Before You Fire Your Web Developer

Before you fire your web developer, secure the things that become impossible to get afterwards: your domain, hosting, accounts, and a backup. A checklist to do first, in order.

Read article →

Website Maintenance for Non-Technical Owners

A plain guide to website maintenance for small business owners who are not technical. What actually needs doing, what you can safely handle, and when to hand it off, without the jargon.

Read article →

Managed Hosting vs a Maintenance Plan

Managed hosting and a maintenance plan sound similar but cover different things. What each actually does, where they overlap, and whether you need one, the other, or both.

Read article →

Uptime Monitoring, Explained Without Jargon

What uptime monitoring actually is, in plain English: a service that checks your site constantly and tells you the moment it goes down. Why it matters, and how to set one up for free.

Read article →

How Often Should a Website Be Updated?

How often a website needs updating depends on the type of update. Security patches: right away. Software: monthly. Content: whenever it changes. A simple schedule for each kind.

Read article →

Website Running Costs: The Full Annual Breakdown

The real annual cost of running a website, beyond the build: hosting, domain, SSL, maintenance, email, and the extras people forget. A full breakdown so nothing surprises you.

Read article →

Website Maintenance Plans: What to Check Before You Sign

How to compare website maintenance plans without being fooled by the headline price. The questions that reveal what a plan actually includes, and the fine print that hides the value.

Read article →

How to Take Over a Website Built by Someone Else

Inheriting a website from a previous developer or agency? A checklist for a clean handover: the accounts and files to collect, what to audit before you rely on it, and the traps to avoid.

Read article →