The Santa Cruz coastline at night, traced in light

FIELD NOTES

Notes from the web, written for Santa Cruz.

Short, plain-spoken pieces on what I find rebuilding local sites: no jargon, no growth-hacking, nothing you’d need a marketing degree to use.

FEATUREDJUL 2026 · AUDITS6 MIN

I audited 12 Santa Cruz restaurant websites. Here’s what’s costing them customers.

Menus trapped in PDFs, hours that contradict Google, phone numbers you can’t tap. None of it takes a redesign to fix, and all of it decides where someone eats tonight.

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DOMAINSJUN 20264 MIN

You probably already own your best domain name.

Before you buy anything-santacruz.com, check what you registered in 2009. Expired domains, GoDaddy lock-in, and how to get yours back.

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GOOGLEJUN 20265 MIN

Your Google Business Profile is your second homepage.

Most local customers never reach your website; they decide on Google Maps. Ten minutes of cleanup that outperforms most ad spend.

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HOSTINGMAY 20263 MIN

What 'hosting' actually is, in one page.

The least-explained bill in small business. What you're paying for, what it should cost, and the one question to ask any provider.

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REBUILDSMAY 20266 MIN

Why your site dies when the page-builder does.

Flash sites vanished. Builder sites are next. What it means to actually own your website, and how to check if you do.

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SPEEDAPR 20264 MIN

Your customers are on their phones at the beach.

One bar of signal at Cowell's is your real performance budget. Why every SouthPoint site is built for the worst connection in town.

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ADSAPR 20265 MIN

Don't run ads to a website that loses the sale.

Paid traffic amplifies whatever your site already does. Fix the landing before the funnel: the math on why order matters.

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NEW NOTES WHEN THERE’S SOMETHING WORTH SAYING, NOT ON A CONTENT CALENDAR.