Field notes
The blog
Practical writing on building, marketing, and automating a business in the Houston area — no listicles, no recycled press releases. Filter by service to read only what applies to you.
SEO / AIO
What is AIO? Optimizing for AI answers, not just Google
A growing share of buyers ask an AI assistant before they search. AIO is the practice of making sure the answer it gives about your business is accurate — and yours.
AI Solutions
Is an AI chatbot worth it for a small business?
The honest answer depends on one number: how many repetitive questions your team answers per week. Here's how to run that math before you spend anything.
Design
Brand refresh or full rebrand? How to tell which you need
A rebrand is expensive and occasionally necessary. Most businesses that think they need one actually need consistency.
Web Development
Why your Katy business website is slow (and what it costs you)
Page weight, render-blocking scripts, and plugin sprawl are the usual suspects. Here's how to diagnose them and what each second of delay actually costs a local business.
SEO / AIO
Local SEO checklist for Houston-area businesses
Ten things that move local rankings in a metro as competitive as Houston, in the order we'd tackle them.
AI Solutions
Five AI automations that pay for themselves in a month
Skip the moonshots. These five unglamorous automations are the ones that consistently return more than they cost for small teams.
Web Development
Custom build vs. template: an honest cost comparison
Templates are cheaper on day one. Whether they stay cheaper depends entirely on how much your business changes in the next three years.
Design
Typography that builds trust for local businesses
Type does more credibility work than any other design decision. Three principles that separate established-looking businesses from improvised ones.