Writing

Things worth knowing before you spend anything.

Most of this is written to be sent to somebody at a particular moment rather than found through a search, so if one of them is exactly your situation then that's not really a coincidence.

Posts
Ten, so far
Roughly
Five minutes each
New ones
Every fortnight
Mailing list
There isn't one

What you won't find here

There's no newsletter to join and nothing gated behind a form, because a piece of writing that only works once you've handed over an email address usually wasn't worth the email address. If something here is useful then take it and go, and if you'd like a second opinion on your own site afterwards then that's what the last line of every one of these is for.

If your redesign just got deferred

Start with these two.

Between them they cover what most people are actually trying to work out, which is what the alternatives cost and whether they're being sold the right thing. There's also a page laying out the whole argument if you'd rather have it in one place.

09 · 5 min

What to ask for in next year's website budget

Why asking for a new website tends to get deferred, and what to put in the request instead so that saying no becomes harder than saying yes to some of it.

Budget · Internal
If a specific page is annoying you

The sections that go wrong most.

Each of these covers one part of a site, why it ended up in the shape it's in, and what to do about it whether or not you hire anybody.

06 · 4 min

Your testimonials prove someone was happy

They don't prove anything happened, which is the only part your prospect is weighing up. The number that would fix it is usually already sitting in your reporting.

Proof · Case studies
If you're choosing who to hire

How this sort of work gets priced.

10 · 5 min

Why I won't quote you a day rate

A day rate is an estimate with your name written on the risk, and it quietly rewards slowness. There are jobs where it's the honest option, and most of what people buy isn't one of them. Includes the four questions worth asking anybody who quotes you, whether or not that's me.

Buying · Pricing

Or skip the reading and send me a page.

I'll rebuild one section of it as a mockup and tell you honestly what I'd do with the rest, which is usually faster than working it out from first principles.

Free · No obligation · Usually answered same day