📝 Planted Sky Blog
Thinking out loud.
Notes on websites, design, and running a small business online.
Sometimes teaching, always learning.
Latest posts
Why we recommend Sanity over WordPress
🗓️ May 22, 2026
For prospectsA comparison of Sanity CMS and WordPress, and why we pivoted to Sanity as our go-to after 10+ years of WordPress builds.
A day in the life of a small web agency owner
🗓️ May 21, 2026
My commute is twelve steps and my boss is my wife. Here is how I structure a working day running a small web agency: the inbox routine, the deep work block, the caffeine math, and the systems that keep the whole thing from living in my head.
The nostalgia economy
🗓️ May 21, 2026
Every week I happily answer a three-question poll from a newsletter called The 92, handing a marketer free data because it feels good. That instinct - people will pay to feel good - is the whole engine behind nostalgia marketing. An early draft, thinking out loud.
Why your website should be easy to change
🗓️ May 21, 2026
For prospectsMost small business sites freeze the day they launch, because every edit means a developer, a wait, and an invoice. Here is what that costs, and what a site built to be edited looks like instead.
WordPress's black box problem
🗓️ May 12, 2026
WordPress core is open source. The plugins you actually ship - ACF Pro, LearnDash, MemberPress, BuddyBoss - mostly are not. Here is how that trade-off looked in 2014, what it costs in 2026, and how I got here from Drupal.
Branding and SEO are not services. They are symptoms.
🗓️ May 11, 2026
When clients ask for 'branding' they usually mean a logo. When they ask for 'SEO' they usually mean meta tags. Both are real, both are slivers. Here's the frame that connects them.
10 Fort Myers spots where I get my best work done
🗓️ May 11, 2026
Some days the home office is the home office. Some days it is a corner table with headphones, a third cortado, and the only quiet hour I will have all week. My running map of the SWFL spots that earn a return trip.
10 natural health providers in SWFL I recommend without being asked
🗓️ May 11, 2026
The chiropractor, the acupuncturist, the herbalist, the midwife-adjacent folks. A working list of the practitioners our family sees. Most came from my wife's Mindful Mamas circle. Treat it as a starting map for the SWFL natural-health scene.
Mixing business and friendship - why I think the old advice is wrong
🗓️ May 11, 2026
'Never do business with friends' is one of those rules everybody repeats and almost nobody examines. I have spent ten years doing the opposite. Both my friendships and my business are still here. Here is what I actually do to keep them that way.
The Canva effect: how one tool shaped a decade of small business design
🗓️ May 11, 2026
Canva democratized design. It also handed a hundred million people the same five color palettes and the same eight font pairings. A deeper look at how the tool flattened small business visual identity, why the kitsch-collage subtype is its own thing, and what to do about it without quitting Canva.
OG slop: a brief history of sloppy content before AI got the blame
🗓️ May 11, 2026
AI slop is the new flavor. The internet has been full of slop since long before the first language model shipped. A short tour through the synonym-spinners, the link farms, the agency templates, and the Canva era - and what they all have in common.
Where I draw the line on AI design
🗓️ May 11, 2026
There is a lot of valid criticism of AI design, from data centers to displacing real designers. There are also musicians and restaurants who have never had a design budget. Here is where I land, and the one line in the sand I will not cross.
Substance over style: why what you say matters more than how it looks
🗓️ May 11, 2026
Beautiful websites do not rank, convert, or build trust on their own. Words do. A working theory about why content carries more weight than design polish, with a friendly poke at the design industry from someone who started there.
Why a web agency writes about health
🗓️ May 11, 2026
Most web agencies do not write about chiropractors, standing desks, or how to sleep better. I do, and the reason is simple: healthy people ship better work, and the people who build the internet are some of the least healthy desk workers around. This is the case for the Health at Work category.
Why I won't quit hourly billing
🗓️ May 11, 2026
Agency Twitter says value-based or die. I do both. Here is the steelman for keeping hourly in the toolkit, the failure mode value pricing has that nobody talks about, and why the entire economy already runs on the model that gets called a beginner mistake.
We rebuilt our own site. Here's what changed and why.
🗓️ Apr 19, 2026
After years of building for clients, we finally turned the lens on ourselves. Phase one is shaped around content and the things we have been wanting to say. Phase two is where we turn up the design dial.
WordPress vs headless - when each one actually makes sense
🗓️ Apr 13, 2026
Not every site needs a headless CMS. Not every site should stay on WordPress. Here's how I decide for clients.
Local SEO in 2026 - the stuff that actually moves the needle
🗓️ Apr 7, 2026
Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, and the one thing most agencies skip. A no-fluff rundown.
Pick fewer tools - the case against the all-in-one
🗓️ Apr 2, 2026
A look at why bolting features onto one tool usually beats stitching ten tools together with Zapier.
Why I run a solo agency (and what that means for you)
🗓️ Mar 31, 2026
No account managers. No handoffs. One person who knows your whole stack. Here's the trade-off and why it works.
A task is not a project - and treating them the same is why your week feels heavy
🗓️ Mar 18, 2026
A simple rule for what belongs on a task list and what belongs in a project plan, and why it matters for solo operators.
The 30-minute Friday reset that makes Monday workable
🗓️ Feb 26, 2026
A small ritual that sweeps loose ends out of your inbox and into the right place before the weekend.
How to Safely Post Questions to Your Google Business Profile
🗓️ Jul 17, 2025
Guide to Boosting Local SEO Without Getting Flagged
Plus Address Your Gmail for Infinite Email Aliases
🗓️ Dec 9, 2024
As a web agency owner, I’m always looking for simple, effective tools to streamline workflows—and Gmail aliases are one of those tools that feel like a...
How to Share a Password Safely and Securely using a Password Manager
🗓️ Feb 11, 2022
Whether it be a website If you're working on your online business, chances are high that you'll be sharing passwords or user accounts to collaborate...
How to Secure a Domain For Your Website
🗓️ Oct 28, 2020
When you decide on a name for your business/website, the first thing you'll want to do is secure the domain. The domain is also known as the web...
How To Integrate a Shopify Store with Your Wordpress Website
🗓️ Sep 23, 2020
One of the main benefits of Wordpress that makes it shine against its competitors is its flexibility in functionality and design. When Wordpress is...
What is VPN and Why Do I Need It?
🗓️ Nov 29, 2019
What is a VPN? How do I choose the right VPN? What is a VPN? A virtual private network (VPN) is a technology that creates a safe and encrypted...
Inspiration Boards on Pinterest: A Must for any Logo Design Process
🗓️ Aug 7, 2017
Creating a logo for your brand can be a very intimidating process. So many ideas. Where to begin? Do you need a logomark? Or just a logotype? How many...
Google Tasks: The Hidden Gem in Google Apps
🗓️ Apr 4, 2016
I spend a lot of time in Google. Definitely more than the average web user, and more than I’d typically like to admit. I spend a good 2+ hours a day...
#VECTORIZEMYLOGO Instagram Contest: Win a vector version of your logo sketch!
🗓️ Mar 7, 2016
To celebrate the revamp of our website, we are running a special contest on our instagram pic .
New Website!
🗓️ Mar 7, 2016
If you're reading this post, thank you for stopping by. If you've been to my site before, you may notice things look a bit different (and nicer on the...