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Harbor Tree

The Harbor Log · Featured guide

How much does a small-business website cost in 2026?

The straight answer with real numbers: DIY from $20/month, template agencies from $1,000, custom studios $3,500–$9,500. What moves the price — and the red flags in cheap quotes.

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Pricing & Process5 min read

All articles

Pricing & Process5 min read

What actually happens when you hire a web design studio

From the first call to life after launch — the four phases of a web project, what's expected of you (deliberately little), and the ownership questions to ask before signing anything.

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Leads & Follow-up5 min read

Anatomy of a contact form people actually finish

Your contact form is where leads are won or abandoned. A field-by-field teardown: the four fields you need, the ones silently costing you work, and the plumbing behind the submit button.

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Leads & Follow-up5 min read

Speed to lead: why the first business to reply wins the job

The data on lead response time is brutal — and most small businesses reply in hours, not minutes. How to automate the first five minutes and win by default.

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Automation4 min read

What workflow automation actually costs a small business

The straight answer: most small-business automation projects land between $750 and $3,500. Here's what moves the number, and the ROI arithmetic that justifies it.

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Websites4 min read

DIY website builders vs hiring a pro: an honest comparison

Wix, Squarespace or a studio? An honest comparison of cost, time, speed and results — including the cases where DIY genuinely wins.

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Automation5 min read

The small-business automation starter kit: seven workflows to stop doing by hand

You don't need an enterprise stack to automate the busywork. Seven workflows almost every small business repeats by hand — and what wiring each one looks like.

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Websites5 min read

Why your website isn't getting you leads — and the five fixes that matter

Most small-business websites fail quietly: decent traffic, almost no inquiries. Here are the five fixes that move the needle, in the order we'd make them.

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