June 15, 2026
Performance
8 min read
A prospective client called us last month proud of their 95 PageSpeed score. Their developer had optimized every metric Lighthouse reports. Their conversion rate was 0.6%. Something didn't add up.
We dug in. The site loaded fast—technically. But the Largest Contentful Paint was a background image, not the product headline. The Cumulative Layout Shift was low because nothing moved—because there was no interactivity. First Input Delay was excellent because there was nothing to interact with until JavaScript hydrated 4 seconds later.
This is the problem with treating Lighthouse as a target rather than a diagnostic. PageSpeed Insights measures technical performance, not business performance. A site can score 95 and still have a confusing value proposition, buried CTAs, and a checkout flow that requires account creation before purchase.
What we fixed: moved the value proposition above the fold (it was at 1400px), added a guest checkout option, replaced the hero background with a product demonstration video, and added social proof (trust badges, review count) near the primary CTA. Load time went from 1.8s to 1.4s—not because we optimized further, but because we removed unnecessary third-party scripts the previous developer had added to inflate scores artificially.
Conversion rate went from 0.6% to 2.8% in 6 weeks. The Lighthouse score? 91. The client stopped caring about the number.
The takeaway: Measure what matters. Track conversion rate, revenue per visitor, and task completion rate. Use Lighthouse to find technical bottlenecks, not to validate your work. A fast site that doesn't convert is just a fast failure.
If your Core Web Vitals are passing but conversions aren't, our performance audits look at the full picture—not just the metrics Google reports.
May 28, 2026
Strategy
6 min read
A restaurant owner in Portland told us he paid $800 for a WordPress site. "Great deal, right?" he asked. Eight months later, he called us because the site had been down for 3 days, his "developer" had disappeared, and his Google ranking had dropped from page 1 to page 6.
The real cost of that $800 site: $800 initial build + $400 for emergency hosting migration + $2,800 for malware cleanup (the theme had a backdoor) + $3,200 for our rebuild + estimated $8,000 in lost reservation revenue during the 3-week recovery. Total: approximately $15,200. And that's before counting the lost SEO momentum he's still recovering 6 months later.
This pattern repeats weekly in our intake calls. The WordPress ecosystem in 2026 is a minefield: nulled themes with embedded malware, "page builder" plugins that output 400KB of CSS for a 5-page site, shared hosting environments where one compromised neighbor takes down everyone on the server. The $500–$1,500 "custom website" is almost always a template swap with your logo dropped in.
What does a real WordPress site cost in 2026? For a small business: $4,500–$8,500 for a proper custom theme, security hardening, performance optimization, and CMS training. For e-commerce: $10,000–$20,000 depending on product count and integration complexity. Anyone charging significantly less is cutting corners you'll pay for later—usually when you can least afford it.
Red flags to watch for: no discovery phase, no mention of hosting/security, using a ThemeForest template "customized" for you, no performance budget, no training documentation. If they can't explain how they'll handle updates and backups, run.
The bottom line: WordPress is a powerful platform when built correctly. But the ecosystem's low barrier to entry means anyone can call themselves a developer. Vet credentials. Ask about their deployment pipeline. Ask how they handle plugin updates. The answers will tell you everything.
We build WordPress sites that last. See our development approach or ask us for a technical audit of your current setup.
May 10, 2026
SEO
7 min read
We've implemented Schema.org markup on 47 local business sites in the past 18 months. Here's what actually moves the needle—and what's wasted effort.
First, the markup that consistently produces results: LocalBusiness (obviously), but specifically with geo-coordinates, opening hours, and price range. Sites that added precise lat/long saw measurable improvements in map pack rankings within 3–4 weeks. Sites that used just "Austin, TX" without coordinates saw no change.
FAQPage schema is the most underutilized opportunity. We added FAQ schema to service pages for a plumbing company, targeting "how much does [service] cost in [city]" questions. Result: 14 featured snippets captured in 60 days, driving 340% more organic clicks to those pages. The trick: the questions must be genuinely useful and the answers must be substantive (40–60 words). Short, vague answers don't get featured.
Review schema works, but with caveats. Google tightened guidelines in 2024—aggregated reviews must be from verified customers on your own platform, not curated from third parties. We saw one client lose all their rich snippets for 6 weeks because they were pulling Google reviews into on-page markup incorrectly. When we switched to first-party reviews collected post-purchase, the stars returned within 10 days.
What doesn't work: HowTo schema for non-instructional content (Google ignores it), Product schema without inventory status (wastes crawl budget), and BreadcrumbList without visible on-page breadcrumbs (confuses more than helps). We also stopped implementing Speakable schema—zero measurable impact across 12 sites over 8 months.
Technical implementation note: always use JSON-LD, not microdata. Place it in the <head>, validate through Google's Rich Results Test (not just the Schema validator—they check different things), and monitor Search Console's "Enhancements" report weekly. Errors here prevent all your structured data from being used, not just the broken piece.
Our recommendation: Start with LocalBusiness + FAQPage on your top 5 service pages. Measure for 60 days. Expand only after you see movement.
We handle schema implementation as part of our SEO service, including ongoing monitoring and error fixes.
April 22, 2026
Accessibility
6 min read
In 2024, 4,605 web accessibility lawsuits were filed in federal court. In 2018, that number was 1,053. The trend is accelerating, and small businesses are no longer flying under the radar. Last month, a 3-location bakery in Ohio received a demand letter citing 14 WCAG 2.1 failures. Their settlement cost: $12,000 plus $8,000 in remediation.
The legal landscape shifted in 2025 when the Department of Justice formally adopted WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard for Title III ADA compliance. Previously, plaintiffs had to argue that specific barriers constituted discrimination. Now, WCAG failures are essentially per se violations. The plaintiff's bar has noticed.
The most common failures we see in audits: missing alt text on product images (52% of e-commerce sites), keyboard traps in modal dialogs (38%), insufficient color contrast on form labels (67%), and missing form error announcements for screen readers (44%). These aren't edge cases—they're basic failures on mainstream sites.
Here's what protects you: documented remediation. Courts consistently look favorably on businesses that demonstrate good faith efforts. If you have a current accessibility audit, a remediation timeline, and evidence of ongoing testing, you're in a far stronger position than the business that ignored the issue.
What we recommend: Get an audit now, before you receive a letter. Third-party audits are privileged work product in most jurisdictions, meaning they can't be subpoenaed by plaintiffs. Audits conducted after a demand letter may be discoverable. The $1,500–$3,000 audit cost is trivial compared to settlement or defense costs.
Quick fixes that address the majority of common failures: add descriptive alt text to all images (decorative images should have empty alt), ensure all interactive elements are keyboard accessible, add visible focus indicators, label all form fields programmatically (not just visually), and use ARIA live regions for dynamic content updates.
The reality: Accessibility isn't just about legal risk. The CDC estimates 1 in 4 U.S. adults has a disability. An accessible site reaches more customers, improves SEO (many accessibility practices overlap with SEO best practices), and demonstrates corporate responsibility. The business case is as strong as the legal one.
We build WCAG 2.1 AA compliance into every project. Learn about our accessibility-first approach or request a risk assessment.