The Captain Coder Podcast

Want to learn how to put together a simple content marketing strategy? I'll take you through step by step how to create your own, all in less than a 15 minute episode! With the advent of social media and all of the digital channels where we spend our time, we can get bombarded with marketing messages. We also have an increasing amount of control over our interruptions. To earn eyeballs as mar...

Have you ever wondered how some websites have those rich results on Google? You know, where they are answering a question, or showcasing a review, or even have their hours listed right under their search result. The answer? Schema! If you have clients who want to know how their competitors' search results have more information than their own, this episode is for you. Mentioned Resources: Sche...

Do you find yourself launching websites for clients and they call you annoyed that they “can’t find it” within a couple of hours or days? We don’t have a lot of control over when Google will index a website. And while you can do a lot to help Google find that website you just launched by how you build and structure it, there’s an awesome shortcut to make that all work much faster and get listed on...

When I started developing websites professionally 16 years ago, I only had to worry about a couple of screen sizes. Most monitors came in roughly the same size and we didn't have to even think about phones. Now, we have so many devices to plan for that when you develop a website you're managing multiple breakpoints. But if you haven't made the switch to mobile-first design yet, you&...

A website on its own will not bring customers in droves. A poorly built website is, frankly, just a waste of money. Unless you build a website that has the components it needs to actually convert browsers into buyers, a website won't do much for your clients. In my 16 (really 20, but let’s not get into that) years of building websites, the key pieces that make a website go from present to gre...

If you have any agency experience, you know how long it takes to build a website matters to your boss’s bottom line. At one of my first agencies, we were budgeted about 40 hours for a full website (WordPress, custom coded theme, probably 5-10 pages and blog). That 40 hours was just development; by the time it reached the dev team, the copy had already been approved and the main designs created and...

Ok, bear with me here. I understand the concern many of you have about fully turning over the keys of a website to a customer. In the years I’ve been a web developer (16 or so), I’ve heard everything from customers from “I have no clue” or “I don’t have access to that” or “My other web developer handled that, but now they won’t answer my emails.” When a business doesn’t have control over their fou...

If you're like me at all, you probably want to build websites faster every time you build one. After all, time is money and a fast build means a higher profit margin - especially if you charge a flat rate fee. I've learned through years of building hundreds of websites that the key to building fast and building for the best UX is the same answer - consistency. In this episode, learn: Why...

If you’re not worried about the page speed of the sites you’re building, you should be. Most of us won’t wait very long for a site to load – research says we have about 3 seconds before our users will go elsewhere. One of the key ways you can speed up your website is by ensuring that your images are optimized properly. That means your images are the right size – both dimensionally and are the corr...

Ah, design. The most subjective and hard to articulate part of the website creation process for every single one of my customers. Many people know less what they do like and more what they don’t. If you're a web developer, design might not be your strongest suit. But no matter what your personal style is, there are some simple things you can do to not only improve the look of the designs you&...

Look, I’m going to be harsh with you. That pretty, modern, clean, user-friendly website you built can only get your client so far. Those expensive photoshoots they did are great, but the pictures aren’t the main thing a customer cares about. And you can build a website that moves at lightning speed, but your client is still not going to win on that alone. It's the copy that takes that website...

When it’s time to start a new website project, we often want to skip ahead to the “fun” parts. But the very first step you should be working on? The site structure or sitemap. Having a solid site structure can do way more than what colors you choose. In fact, it can improve your click through rates, lower your bounce rate, and increase your crawlability . If you’re trying to build better websites...

Well hey, you're still with me after I bashed on Wix and SquareSpace last week...thank you! I get it. You want to build websites that are affordable for your clients because you want to capture those leads. Especially brand new businesses, I totally understand that they don't have the budget for a big $6K+ website and it can be too much for what they need right now anyway. So what do you...

Look, this is going to be a rant, so fair warning. Website builders like Wix, SquareSpace, and Webflow have their place to help small business owners get their first websites off the ground. But web developers and even designers shouldn't be using them. In this episode, learn who platform website builders were created for, the huge disadvantages they present to your clients, and what options...

Buyer personas, target clients, ideal audience, ideal customer avatar - all ways that I've heard and seen others talk about finding your preferred audience. Niching down and discovering who you like to work for - and more importantly, what they like about working with you - is a huge key to growing your web development business . Often when others talk about niching they think they need to wo...

If you're a web developer who spends most of their time coding, you may be wondering why you need to care about digital marketing. If you're a web designer who builds websites with SquareSpace or WordPress themes, you may be wondering how you can charge more for the websites you're building. Here's the thing - why you need to care about digital marketing as a web developer is t...

When you're building a website for someone, the whole point is that it can be found on Google and other search engines. And yet, I often get brought in after someone else has built a website to perform an SEO audit and find the missing pieces. Do you want to know something? I find the same missing pieces in most of the websites I review. Get ahead of your peers and churn out higher-quality pr...

Want a way to become a better developer and instantly be able to charge a bit more for the websites you build? Build for digital accessibility best practices! If you haven’t heard or seen any conversations on digital accessibility and making inclusive content lately, I’d be surprised.  Want a really quick summary of why your website should be inclusive? The more inclusive the website, the better t...

When someone comes to you for a website, you want to build them something that converts and bring them leads, right? After all, a happy customer leaves great reviews and will do work with you in the future. Their homepage is where a lot of customers will be making quick, rapid decisions. So how can you create a homepage for your clients that keeps users clicking through and even converts? Let’s br...

Welcome to the Digital Masters podcast! Each week I'm going to walk you through things I've learned in my 16 years as a web developer and digital marketing strategist to grow your own business, add revenue, and improve your customers' results.