Observations and opinions from the studio — what we notice in small business websites, and what it costs when nobody fixes it.
The handmade, imperfect, stamp-and-seal brand aesthetic is the most sought-after look in design right now, and many local shops already have it without knowing it.
At Google Marketing Live on May 20, 2026, Google announced Gemini AI now writes search ad copy in real time, tailored to each individual query. If you run Google Ads, here is the one setting worth checking before your June budget starts running.
The $16/month plan looks reasonable until you add up three years of price hikes, missing phone clicks, and the day you decide to leave.
One bad review doesn't sink your business. A bad reply to it might. Here's the math, a usable template, and three mistakes that make shop owners look worse than the reviewer did.
Three in four businesses never reply to a negative review. Here's what that silence costs you, and a response formula that actually works.
One unaddressed one-star review costs a typical small shop more than most owners realize. Here is the math, and a reply strategy that actually works.
When someone in Indianapolis searches "coffee near me" or "florist near me," Google is running a quick ranking decision about your shop. Here's what it's actually checking.
On April 17, Google updated its review policy. Two practices that thousands of shops use every day are now banned — and AI enforcement is already removing reviews.
On April 27, Google swept thousands of Business Profiles for keyword stuffing in listing names. Here is what happened, how to check if you're at risk, and what to do if your profile went dark.
A look at the agency-pricing math that's broken — and how small businesses end up overpaying for what amounts to a glorified brochure.