Web Design

Web design and website conversion, covered from the business side, not just the aesthetic one. These posts explain why most small business websites underperform, what AI-enhanced web design actually changes about the build process, and when a new website is worth the investment versus a targeted fix. Built for owners deciding whether now is the time for a new website, not designers debating font pairings.

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Playbook
Web Design

Should You Retire Your WordPress Site? What Our 2026 Audit of 1,800 Businesses Found

Two numbers, neither an opinion: WordPress's first sustained market-share decline, and our 2026 audit of 1,800 small-business sites. Here's how to tell whether it's time to move off WordPress — for your site specifically — and what a responsible exit actually looks like.

12 min read →
How-To Guide
Web Design

Use-Cases for New Tech Stacks (Beyond Pure Static)

Moving off WordPress isn't one decision — it's four, depending on what the site has to do. A survey of documented, named deployments across headless WooCommerce, Cloudflare Pages, Astro/Next.js, and full custom apps — plus the honest fifth answer: sometimes WordPress still wins.

11 min read →
From Real Work
Web Design

We Put Website Accessibility on Trial — and Our Founder Lost 5–0

Does a five-page small-business site really need accessibility work? We staged a formal adversarial debate: our founder argued that assist widgets and proportionality should carry the load, and a panel of five specialist AIs ruled against him unanimously. The verdict produced a rule any business can budget by: a near-free mandatory floor, a risk-priced ceiling, and no credit for overlay widgets.

9 min read →
Field Notes
Web Design

Web Design for Portland Dentists: What a Dental Website Should Actually Do

Online scheduling, two-way text, digital intake, insurance verification — the front-office featureset is real, but most practices overpay for it and underbuild the site it rides on. Here's what actually moves the needle, what's bloat, and how the numbers really work.

10 min read →
How-To Guide
Web Design

What Makes a Website Actually Convert (It's Not Design)

A beautiful website that generates no leads is a digital billboard in an empty field. Design is table stakes — here's what actually turns visitors into booked appointments.

7 min read →
Field Notes
Web Design

AI-Enhanced Web Design: What It Actually Means

AI can build a website in an afternoon — and most of them convert terribly. Here's the difference between AI-enhanced design and AI slop, and why conversion fundamentals still decide who gets the phone call.

8 min read →
From Real Work
Web Design

Rough Drafts Just Got a Major Leg Up

AI didn't replace the work — it moved the starting line. Here's what a website rough draft looks like now, with three real before-and-afters to prove it.

6 min read →
Field Notes
Web Design

Why Get a New Website Now?

New technology, AI search engines, and a collapsed cost curve. The old internet is being replaced — and the companies that rebuild now will own the next decade.

6 min read →

The NW eSource dispatch

What AI can actually do for a small business.

Practical, no-hype reads. A few times a month.