Business essays.
Websites that earn their keep: costs, timelines, agencies, and the decisions owners actually face.
Fixed Price or Time and Materials? How Software Projects Get Quoted
What fixed price and time and materials quotes really mean, where the risk sits in each, why fixed prices carry contingency, and how to tell which model suits your project.
→ Read essay
Xero Integrations: Connecting Your Website and Store to Your Accounts
If someone in your business is retyping online orders, bookings or invoices into Xero, there is a better way. What to sync, when an off-the-shelf connector is enough, when it isn't, and what to ask your bookkeeper first.
→ Read essay
Who Owns Your Website? Domains, Hosting, Code and Logins to Check Now
Your domain, hosting, code and analytics may be registered to someone who no longer works for you. A plain checklist for confirming you own your website before you need to.
→ Read essay
Data Breaches Are Now an SMB Problem: Privacy Act Reforms and Your Web Forms
Big breaches make the news, but the Privacy Act reforms reach the contact form on a ten-page site. Here is where customer data actually leaks from a small business website, and an afternoon of fixes.
→ Read essay
Should You Vibe-Code Your Own MVP? An Honest Answer
We get the rescue calls, and we still think founders should often build the first version themselves. Here is when vibe-coding an MVP is the right move, when it stops being one, and what to do on day one.
→ Read essay
Google Zero-Click and AI Overviews: Why Your Traffic Fell and What Still Works
Organic traffic down but rankings look fine? AI Overviews and zero-click results are probably why. How to confirm it in Search Console, what to stop funding, and what still brings enquiries.
→ Read essay
Your Developer Ghosted You. Here Is How to Recover the Project
The freelancer stopped replying, the agency folded, or the offshore team went quiet. A practical order of operations for securing what you own, finding out what exists, and getting the project moving again.
→ Read essay
How to Brief a Developer: The One-Page Document That Saves Weeks
A vague brief gets you a vague quote, or a padded one. Here is the one-page document we wish every business owner sent us, section by section, and what each part changes about the price.
→ Read essay
What a Website Discovery Phase Should Actually Deliver
Discovery is the phase most clients want to skip and most regret skipping. Here is what a proper website discovery phase produces and why it saves money.
→ Read essay
The True Cost of a Cheap Website: Technical Debt Explained for Owners
A $2,000 website is rarely cheap by year three. Here is how technical debt accrues on budget builds and what it actually costs your business.
→ Read essay
Retainer vs Project Work: How to Budget Ongoing Web Investment
Project budgets and retainers solve different problems. Here is how to pick the right mix for your business website, and how to spot a weak retainer pitch.
→ Read essay
Site Launch Checklist: 40 Things to Verify Before Flipping DNS
The 40-item pre-launch checklist we run on every CodeDrips site before DNS cutover: SEO, analytics, performance, security, functional, accessibility, and legal.
→ Read essay
The Website Migration Playbook: Zero-Downtime Replatforms
A practical playbook for replatforming a business website without losing traffic, rankings, or customer trust, from URL inventory to launch-day runbook.
→ Read essay
Recruitment Agency Websites That Attract Both Sides of the Market
Recruitment websites have to court candidates and employers from the same homepage without becoming a mess. Here is how we architect sites that do both.
→ Read essay
Attribution Is Broken: How We Track ROI for Clients in 2026
Last-click died five years ago and multi-touch is not far behind. Here is the practical attribution stack we actually use for SMB clients in 2026, and what to stop paying for.
→ Read essay
Consent Mode v2 Explained for Non-Technical Marketers
Consent Mode v2 is not just a cookie banner upgrade. Here is what it does, why Google requires it for AU and EU audiences, and what marketers need to sign off on.
→ Read essay
GA4 for Business Owners: The Only 7 Reports That Matter
GA4 overwhelms most business owners with hundreds of reports. Here are the seven that actually drive decisions, and how to read each one without a degree in analytics.
→ Read essay
Google Business Profile and Website: The AU Local Discovery Stack in 2026
Local discovery in Australia changed meaningfully in 2025 and 2026. Here is how your Google Business Profile, website, and directories need to work together now.
→ Read essay
Privacy Act 2024 Reforms: What Australian Websites Need to Change
The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 has real consequences for every Australian website that collects data. Here is what changed and the concrete work you need to do.
→ Read essay
The Hidden Cost of Generative AI Features on Your Website
The API bill is only the start. Here is the full cost picture of running generative AI features in production, and how to scope one so the ROI holds up.
→ Read essay
How Long Does It Really Take to Build a Business Website in 2026?
Timelines for web projects slip more than they should, and rarely because of code. Here's a realistic breakdown of how long each website type takes, where projects actually get stuck, and what you can do before kickoff to halve the schedule.
→ Read essay
Core Web Vitals for Small Business Owners: What Google Actually Measures
Google measures three specific things about your website's performance, and failing them quietly costs you rankings and conversions. Here's what LCP, INP, and CLS actually mean in plain English, and how to tell if your site is in trouble.
→ Read essay
Local SEO for Australian Service Businesses: Beyond 'Plumber Near Me'
Local SEO in Australia is more than a Google Business Profile and a handful of suburb pages. Here's how service businesses can rank in the map pack, build genuine suburb coverage without tripping doorway-page penalties, and earn the enquiries their competitors are getting.
→ Read essay
Conversion Rate Optimisation for Business Websites
More traffic doesn't always mean more leads. Conversion rate optimisation focuses on getting more value from the visitors you already have. Here's how to approach it.
→ Read essay§ Subscribe
One letter,
once a month.
Studio essays, postmortems and the occasional Risograph print drop. No forms, no tracking pixels. Email us and we'll add you to the list.
hello@codedrips.com →