Guides
38 guides on how the things we build actually work, written for the person who runs the business. Each answers questions we hear on first calls, with sources you can check.
- Written by the person who builds the sites
- Official sources linked, platform limits spelled out
- No invented numbers and no promised rankings
Prefer to talk? Call (616) 580-0996
- Real client work: Banyan Surplus, an online parts store that mirrors more than 34,000 eBay listings and syncs every day.
- What we build: websites, large online stores, member databases, integrations and the search work behind them.
- Who you talk to: Aiden or Matt, a family business in West Michigan working with businesses across the US. Call (616) 580-0996.
Contractors and trades
Getting calls and quote requests: the website, the Google profile, reviews, photos and what it all costs.
Contractor website checklist: 12 things a site needs before it gets calls
Twelve things a contractor's website needs before it brings in work, from tap-to-call and a quote form that reaches a person to real job photos and a Google Business Profile.
Contractor website cost: what raises the price and what you should own
What goes into the price of a contractor website, how a monthly plan compares with a site you own over three years, and which accounts should stay in your name.
Geotagging photos for Google My Business: what the tests show
A myth check on geotagged photos for a Google Business Profile, based on published tests and Google's own statements, plus a three-shot photo routine for crews and the specs for putting job photos on your website.
How to ask customers for Google reviews without breaking the rules
Where to find your review link, when and how to ask every customer the same way, what Google's policy forbids, how to reply, and how to send the ask automatically after each job.
How to change your Google Business Profile to a service-area business
Hide the address, pick up to 20 service areas inside Google's guidance, get through verification, then make the website say the same thing as the profile.
How to set up a request a quote form that brings in real jobs
A field-by-field plan for a quote request form: a short version and trade extras, placement on every service page, alerts tested with a real message, spam protection that doesn't punish people, and tracking which page each lead came from.
Is Angi worth it for contractors? Answer it with your own numbers
How Angi charges for leads, according to its own help center, a worksheet that turns your billing and job records into cost per booked job, when a lead marketplace makes sense, and how your own website and Google profile compare over time.
Local Services Ads vs Google Ads: which one fits a contractor
Local Services Ads charge per lead and lean on your verified profile and reviews. Search ads charge per click and lean on your landing pages. Here is how each works, what each needs, and how to judge them by booked jobs.
Service area pages for contractors that rank without being doorway pages
How to build town pages that help customers and search engines: only towns you really work in, details that are true for that town, and no copy-and-swap pages.
Your contractor license number on your website: where it goes and why
Show the number in the footer, on the About page and near your quote forms, word it the way your board does, link it to the state lookup, and check your own state's advertising rules, which differ by state and trade.
Online stores and parts sellers
Selling beside eBay, organizing big catalogs, fitment data and free Google listings.
Google Shopping free listings for used and surplus parts
Free listings can put your parts in Google's Shopping results without ad spend. For one-off used parts, a handful of fields and a daily refresh decide whether they stay approved.
How to export eBay listings to CSV, and what the file leaves out
Seller Hub Reports gives you a CSV of your active listings in a few clicks. It leaves out photos, descriptions, item specifics and shipping, so here is how to fill the gaps and clean the file.
How to organize a large parts catalog so buyers find the right part
How we lay out a parts store with thousands of items: categories built around the job, search that matches part numbers however they're typed, and pages search engines can read.
How to put your eBay Motors compatibility list on your own website
The vehicle list on an eBay Motors listing can power a year, make and model finder on your own parts store. Here is where that data lives, how it can be read, and how to keep it accurate.
How to sell on your own website and eBay at the same time
What a store beside your eBay account needs: one source of truth, a sync that fits eBay's limits, a guard against selling one item twice, and pages that can rank.
How to ship heavy parts from an online store without losing money on every order
Heavy parts ship profitably when every product carries a real packed weight and box size, parcel rates stop at the carriers' limits, and bigger items go to local pickup or a freight quote.
How to write product titles for auto parts that buyers can scan and search engines can read
One pattern for every part: brand, part type, part number, a short fitment summary and condition, trimmed to each channel's limit and free of filler, caps and claims you can't back up.
Websites, members and bookings
Owning your domain, moving off Wix or an old wiki, member dues, deposits and the cost of keeping a site running.
Appointment deposit policy: a template and how to set it up
A plain deposit policy template for service businesses, how to word it so clients don't feel accused, where it has to appear on your site, and how to set it up in a booking system.
Can you move a Wix site to another host? What works and what doesn't
Wix editor sites only run on Wix's servers, so moving means rebuilding elsewhere, keeping Wix as the back office behind new pages, or trying Wix's new code export. Here is what each path keeps and loses.
Club officer handover checklist: what to pass on when officers change
What a club or organization should hand over when officers change, from website roles and the domain to dues accounts, member data and archives, plus an agenda for the handover meeting.
How to collect membership dues online without a spreadsheet and Venmo
The three ways a club or association can take dues online, how to tie paid status to member access, and the records and handover a treasurer needs.
How to move an old club wiki to a new website without losing members
Old wikis hold years of club history. This is the order we move one in, so nothing goes missing and old links keep working.
How to plan a member database website with roles and approvals
What a club or organization should settle before building a members site: who can sign in, what each role can do, how approvals work, and what stays private.
How to redesign your website without losing SEO, using only free tools
A redesign keeps its rankings when every old address leads somewhere sensible and the pages that bring visits keep their words. This plan does it with Search Console, a free crawler, a spreadsheet and a month of checks.
Website maintenance cost per month: a line-by-line budget
How to work out what your website costs to keep running each month, by separating fixed fees you pay to vendors from the hours someone spends on it, plus what monitoring and a monthly report should include.
Who owns my website domain? How to check and fix it
How to find out who your domain is registered to, why the business has to be the registrant, the full list of accounts a business should own itself, how to get a domain back from a former web person, and why a site move must never touch email records.
Wix form notifications not working? Where the emails go and how to get them back
Most missing Wix form alerts come down to a short list: a submission held as spam, the wrong recipients, an automation that isn't running, an email filtered on arrival, or an old address. Here is how to check each one.
Wix Headless for large stores: the limits that matter
Wix can run a big catalog, but it has hard caps. These are the ones we plan around and what to check before you commit.
Wix Headless SEO checklist: what changes when your pages are code
On Wix Headless, some SEO comes from the Wix dashboard and some from your own code. This checklist covers titles, canonicals, structured data, sitemaps, robots.txt, llms.txt, redirects, Search Console and speed, with browser checks for each.
Wix Headless vs the Wix editor: what changes and who each one suits
Both run on Wix's business tools. The difference is who builds the pages your customers see and who can change them.
Wix Headless vs WordPress: a fair comparison for small business owners
WordPress gives you open-source software, thousands of plugins and layouts you can edit yourself, plus the upkeep that comes with them. Wix Headless gives you Wix's business tools and hosting behind custom-coded pages, with less upkeep and less freedom to move. Here is how to pick.
SEO and AI search
How long search takes, showing up in AI answers, Bing Webmaster Tools and llms.txt.
Bing Webmaster Tools for AI search: why it matters and how to set it up
ChatGPT search and Copilot lean on Bing's index. Here is how to get your site into it properly and keep it there.
How long does SEO take to work for a new website?
Nobody can give you a date, Google included. You can watch for clear milestones in Search Console instead: pages indexed, first impressions, first clicks on real searches, then leads.
How to see ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics, and what it still hides
A 15-minute GA4 setup that shows visits from ChatGPT and other AI assistants, ties them to form leads, and lists plainly what stays hidden, with the Bing and Search Console reports that fill some of the gap.
How to show up in AI answers from ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity and Google
AI assistants answer from pages they can find and read. These steps make your business one of those pages, and we're honest about what nobody can promise.
Local business schema markup for service businesses: what to add and what Google uses
Which schema.org types a plumber, roofer or other service business should use, what Google supports today, how to state areas served without publishing a hidden address, and how to test the markup.
Local SEO vs national SEO: which one your small business needs, and how to do both honestly
Local SEO wins nearby customers through Google's map results and your Business Profile. National SEO wins searches anywhere through pages built around topics. Here is how to tell which you need and how to measure each.
What is llms.txt, and is it worth adding to your website?
A short Markdown file at /llms.txt that points AI tools to your key pages. It's a proposal, not a standard: Google Search ignores it, few tools read it so far, and it costs little to keep.
Have a question we have not answered?
Ask it, or call (616) 580-0996. If it comes up often, it becomes the next guide, and you get the answer first.
- We read your message and look at your current site, listings or profiles.
- We reply with a few questions, or a time to talk.
- You get a written proposal with one-time and monthly costs listed separately.