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The Kootenay Playbook

Answers before you spend a dollar.

130 free, plain-language guides for small business owners: getting found, earning trust, working cleaner, and turning quiet visits into customers. Written in Castlegar, useful anywhere.

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130 guidesGet foundEarn trustWork cleanerWin better leads
Autumn 2026 · After the season

The quiet months are when the website work actually gets done, and autumn is when grant money is real. This trail is for owners taking stock: what to fix, what it should cost, and who is out-ranking you while you were busy.

Website Refresh vs Full Rebuild: How to Know Which One You Actually Need

Getting Started · 9 min

Your Competitor Just Got a New Website. Here's What to Do Next.

Growth & SEO · 9 min

What Should a Website Cost? (And How to Read the Quote Clearly)

Getting Started · 12 min

Browse by the problem, not the date.

Pick the problem you have this week. Each route gathers the guides around one result: being found, being trusted, working cleaner, or turning attention into better enquiries.

Showing 126 guides

Get found

37 guides

Local SEO, Google Business Profile, service-area pages, and the practical search moves that help nearby buyers find you first.

02How to Get Listed on HelloBC, Now SuperNaturalBC, and Kootenay Rockies TourismBest for a Kootenay lodge, tour or attraction that wants to show up on the provincial, regional and town travel sites.
03Kootenay Business Directories: Which Ones Are Worth Listing OnBest for a local owner fielding calls about paid listings who wants to know which directories people actually use.
04Apple Business Connect and Bing Places in Canada: The Listings After GoogleBest for a business with its Google profile done that wants the right details on iPhone maps and Bing too.
05Google Ad Grants in Canada: Who Qualifies and How to Set It UpBest for a Kootenay charity, club or society that wants free search ads and needs its website ready first.
06How to Switch Website Platforms Without Losing SEOBest for an owner leaving Wix, Squarespace or WordPress who cannot afford to lose the Google traffic they already earn.
07How to Prepare Your Website for Ski Season in a Ski TownBest for a shop, lodge, school or shuttle in a ski town, starting in October.
08Google Business Profile Suspended or Not VerifiedBest for owners whose listing vanished and who need to know whether to appeal or verify.
09What Pages Should a Small Business Website Have?Best for an owner staring at a quote that says up to eight pages and wondering which eight.
10A Farm or Orchard Website That Sells DirectBest for a farm stand, u-pick, CSA, butcher, or garden centre selling direct.
11How to Show Up in ChatGPT and AI Search as a Small BusinessBest for owners wondering why an assistant names competitors and never them.
12Google Ranking vs AI Answers: Two Different FightsBest for owners being sold one package that claims to solve both at once.
13What Is llms.txt, and Does Your Small Business Need One?Best for owners who have been offered llms.txt as a paid AI visibility service.
14WordPress Alternative: When to Leave Your Aging SiteBest for owners whose WordPress site now costs more attention than it returns.
15GoDaddy Website Builder Alternative for Small BusinessBest for owners watching renewal prices climb on a template that looks like everyone else.
16What Should SEO Cost a Small Business in Canada?Best for owners holding an SEO quote and wondering if any of it is real.
17What Should a Golf Course Website Include? The Complete ChecklistBest for course operators and clubs deciding what the website actually has to do.
18RealtyNinja Alternative: When Real Estate Agents Need a Custom WebsiteBest for agents and teams deciding whether to move beyond a template realtor site.
19Jane App Is Great for Booking. Your Clinic Website Is a Different Job.Best for clinics and practitioners who use Jane App but need a stronger public website.
20BentoBox Alternative: A Restaurant Website That Actually Gets FoundBest for restaurants and cafes weighing a builder platform versus a custom site.
21Google Business Profile Guide for Kootenay Businesses (2026)Best for local businesses that want to show up in the Google map pack and 'near me' searches.
22Best Ecommerce Platform for a Canadian Small Business: Shopify vs WooCommerce vs CustomBest for Canadian businesses choosing the right platform to sell products online.
23Squarespace Alternative for Small Businesses: When a Custom Site WinsBest for Squarespace owners weighing whether to rebuild on a faster, custom foundation.
24When Your Website Becomes Business InfrastructureBest for complex organizations where the website needs to coordinate revenue paths, bookings, content, portals, and internal systems.
25The Difference Between a Website and a Growth SystemBest for businesses that need more than a brochure site but are not sure what the next layer should include.
26How Seasonal Businesses in the Kootenays Should Prep Their Website Before SummerBest if summer is your money season and the website still feels stuck in spring.
27What a Great FAQ Section Actually Does for SEO and ConversionsBest when the same questions keep coming up and the page needs to rank and convert.
28Why a One-Page Website Is Sometimes Enough, and Sometimes a TrapUseful if you want to keep things lean without accidentally kneecapping trust or future growth.
29SEO vs Google Ads for a Small Local Business: Which Should You Start With?Clarifies whether your next move should be building the foundation, buying faster traffic, or sequencing both properly.
30How a Local Shop Can Use Content to Sell More Without Feeling PushyA calm content approach for local shops that want more sales without sounding forced or overly promotional.
31What a Small Local Business Actually Needs Online FirstBest for owners who feel overwhelmed by everything they are supposedly supposed to do online.
32Why Your Business Is Not Showing Up on Google MapsUseful when customers are searching nearby but your listing still feels strangely hard to find.
33How Reviews Affect Local Search, Trust, and Phone CallsBest if you want a clear picture of why reviews matter before, during, and after the click.
34Do I Need SEO Right Away, or Can It Wait?Best for owners trying to separate real SEO priorities from agency noise.
35How Kootenay Tourism Businesses Can Win Visitors Before They ArriveStrong for stays, tours, food spots, and local experiences that need to convert trip planners before arrival.
36What Actually Happens When Someone Googles Your Business NameUseful when you want to see the whole search-to-contact journey from the customer's side.
37Tourism Season Is Coming: Is Your Website Ready for the Rush?Best before the rush, when the easy wins are still on the table.

Earn trust

53 guides

Proof, photos, FAQs, and the quiet credibility signals that make a local business feel safer to contact.

02Does My Website Need a Privacy Policy in Canada? And a Cookie Banner?Best for an owner whose site has a contact form, a newsletter box or an ad pixel, and no privacy page yet.
03Is Website Design Subject to PST in BC? A Quote, Line by LineBest for a BC owner holding a website quote and wondering which lines should carry PST.
04How Much Does Logo Design Cost in Canada?Best for a new business pricing a logo, and anyone who needs to know whether they actually own theirs.
05Web Designer Disappeared? How to Get Your Website BackBest for an owner locked out of their own site, and for anyone who wants to make sure it never happens.
06What Should a Web Design Contract Say in Canada?Best for an owner holding a web design proposal who wants to know what the contract should protect.
07My Website Was Hacked. What Now?Best for owners staring at a security warning who need the next hour in the right order.
08Website Down or Domain Expired? How to Get It BackBest for owners whose site went dark this morning and who do not know which company to phone.
09You Got a Bad Google Review. Here Is What to DoBest for owners who just read a one star and want to answer it without making it worse.
10How to Get More Google Reviews Without BeggingBest for owners doing good work with almost nothing to show for it on their profile.
11Best Website Builder for a Small Business in Canada (2026)Best for owners about to pay for a first website who keep getting a different answer on every comparison page.
12Domain Names in Canada: .ca or .com, and Who Should Own ItBest for an owner registering a first domain, or about to discover theirs is registered to someone else.
13Business Email: Stop Using Gmail for Your CompanyBest for an owner still running the business out of a personal webmail account because it worked fine for two years.
14How to Choose a Web Designer in the KootenaysBest for an owner about to spend real money with a builder they found through a friend or a search.
15What Should an Auto Repair Shop Website Include?Best for an independent garage or tire shop that still quotes every job by phone.
16A Childcare or Daycare Website Parents TrustBest for a licensed centre, preschool, or lesson studio with a waitlist in a notebook.
17An Industrial or B2B Website That Gets the RFQBest for a shop, fabricator, carrier, or yard selling to purchasing managers.
18Hidden Fees on Your Website Are Against the Law in CanadaBest for owners whose booking tool adds a fee their rates page never mentions.
19Website Hosting Explained: What You Actually Pay ForBest for owners paying a hosting bill they cannot explain in one sentence.
20Does Your Business Need Video, or Better Photos?Best for owners being pitched video who are not sure it is their bottleneck yet.
21Own Videos or a Produced Ad? Two Different JobsBest for owners already posting clips and wondering whether a paid film adds anything.
22What a Small City or Municipal Website Should IncludeBest for councils, CAOs, and corporate officers planning a civic site rebuild.
23Logo and Brand: Before or After the Website?Best for owners stuck waiting on a perfect logo while the website waits too.
24Should a Professional Firm Publish Its Fees Online?Best for lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, and notaries deciding whether to show real prices.
25What Should a Brewery Website Include?Best for breweries, cideries, distilleries, and taprooms whose website reads staler than the beer.
26What a Club or Membership Organization Website Actually NeedsBest for volunteer boards of clubs, societies, leagues, and chambers holding a frozen website.
27Who Actually Owns Your Website? Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and Custom ComparedBest for owners who want to know what they truly own before it matters.
28Website Accessibility in Canada: WCAG, AODA, and the Accessible BC ActBest for organizations, clinics, and public bodies that need an accessible, compliant website.
29When Shopify Is Not Enough: What Serious Product Brands Need NextBest for product brands that need more than a basic store theme to sell with confidence.
30When Business Cards Still Matter for Local BusinessesBest for trades, consultants, shops, makers, and local operators whose first handoff needs to feel more credible.
31Why Your Business Looks Smaller Than It Is OnlineBest for good local businesses whose online presence does not match the quality of the work.
32What Should a Small Business Post on Facebook and Instagram?Best for businesses whose social presence looks improvised but does not need monthly management yet.
33Why a Facebook Page Is Not a Website for a Growing BusinessBest if Facebook is doing the work but the business still needs a proper home base.
34What Service Pages Need to Say if You Want More Calls and Better LeadsBest for service businesses that need more calls without sounding like a used-car pitch.
35Why Some Local Businesses Feel Trustworthy Online in 10 Seconds and Others Don’tBest for sites that need to earn trust almost instantly.
36What a Great Website for a Kootenay Restaurant, Cafe, or Food Business NeedsA practical checklist for restaurants, cafes, bakeries, food trucks, and specialty food brands that need people to act fast.
37Why Businesses Lose Leads When Their Contact Page Feels Like a Dead EndBest for sites that get some attention but still feel strangely quiet at the enquiry stage.
38What Website Photos Actually Need to Show if You Want More TrustUseful if your site looks fine on paper but still feels a little too generic or low-confidence.
39Why Booking Friction Quietly Costs Local Service Businesses MoneyUseful if people visit the site but too few of them actually book, call, or request the service.
40What a Great Website for a Kootenay Clinic or Wellness Business NeedsA practical checklist for physio, massage, counselling, wellness, and care-based businesses.
41How Before-and-After Photos Help Contractors Win More WorkStrong for contractors who have good project proof already but are not using it hard enough online.
42What Product Photos, FAQs, and Shipping Info Do to Buyer ConfidenceHelpful if the store gets attention but buyers still seem hesitant to click buy.
43How to Tell If a Website Quote Is Too Cheap to Be SafeUseful when you have a low quote in hand and want to know whether it is lean or dangerous.
44Why Most Small Business Homepages Confuse People in 5 SecondsA sharp reset if your homepage feels busy, vague, or oddly ineffective.
45What a Great Website for a Kootenay Contractor NeedsA practical checklist for builders, roofers, renovators, and trades businesses that want more qualified leads.
46How Long Does It Actually Take to Build a Small Business Website?Sets realistic expectations before you start a website project or compare proposals.
47What Makes People Trust a Website Enough to CallGreat for diagnosing why traffic might be arriving but inquiries are not following.
48What Ongoing Website Maintenance Actually MeansClarifies what ongoing website care should include and what it definitely should not.
49Do You Actually Need a Website in 2026?Useful when you are deciding between social-only and a full web presence.
50Wix vs. Custom Website: What's Right for Your Business?Best for owners deciding between speed now and flexibility later.
51I Added a Soundtrack to My Website. Here's Why.Shows how distinctiveness can stay grounded in business goals.
525 Signs Your Kootenay Business Needs a New WebsiteUse this as a quick diagnostic before planning a rebuild.
53What to Expect When Working with a Web DesignerRemoves uncertainty if this is your first professional website project.

Work cleaner

14 guides

Plain-language AI and workflow guidance for owners who want real time savings without turning the business into a science project.

02How to Set Up PST and GST on Shopify in BCBest for a BC maker or shop opening a Shopify store who needs the tax side right before the first order.
03Is a Website Tax Deductible in Canada? What the CRA Actually SaysBest for an owner about to pay for a website who wants to walk into the accountant meeting prepared.
04How to Audit Your Business Software SubscriptionsBest for owners paying for more monthly tools than they can name.
05How Does a Grant Application Work? The Process, Step by StepBest for an owner or small non-profit facing their first grant form and wanting the whole process before they start.
06How Do You Train AI on Your Own Business?Best for owners whose AI keeps giving generic answers about their own work.
07BC Small Business Grants and Programs: What Is Open (2026)Best for a BC owner who has been told there is provincial money and wants to know which programs still exist.
08Federal Small Business Grants and Programs in Canada (2026)Best for an owner chasing a federal grant that the search results still describe as open.
09What Are Claude Skills, and Should Your Business Care?Best for owners already using an AI assistant who keep re-explaining the same business details.
10Custom CRM for a Small Business: Own the Whole ToolBest for owners paying per seat for a CRM that fits the business only halfway.
11Should Your Small Business Website Have an AI Assistant?Best for owners losing after-hours enquiries to slow replies.
12AI Setup vs AI Operator: Which One Does Your Business Actually Need?Best for owners deciding whether their business is ready for a private an AI operator operator system.
13When Spreadsheets Stop Being Enough for Your BusinessBest for businesses where bookings, clients, staff tasks, or records are starting to outgrow spreadsheets.
14What an AI Business Setup Actually Looks Like (No Robots, No Sci-Fi)Best if you want time back without turning the business into a machine.

Win better leads

22 guides

Homepage, service page, contact, and offer guidance that turns quiet visits into confident next steps.

02Stripe vs Square vs PayPal Fees in Canada, with Shopify PaymentsBest for a business choosing how to take cards, online or at a counter, and wanting the real fee per sale.
03How Much Does a Website Redesign Cost in Canada?Best for an owner with a tired website who wants the real cost of replacing it before asking for quotes.
04The Best Online Booking System for a Small Business in CanadaBest for a salon, clinic, trade or tour business picking a booking system and wanting it on its own site.
05How Much Does an Online Store Cost in Canada? A Full Year, Line by LineBest for a maker or shop owner who wants the whole first-year bill before choosing a platform or a build.
06Why Is My Website So Slow, and What Do I Do?Best for owners whose site feels slow on a phone and who do not know which of the four causes they have.
07Why Your Website Looks Bad on a Phone (and the Fix)Best for owners whose site looks fine on a laptop and wrong in a customer's hand.
08Shopify vs Square for a Small Store in CanadaBest for a shop owner choosing where to put a catalogue when most of the money still crosses a counter.
09Shopify vs Squarespace: Which One for a Canadian Small Business?Best for a maker or small shop weighing a good-looking site against a real store, with the crossover maths done.
10A Salon or Barber Website That Books While You CutBest for a salon or barbershop with one to five chairs that lives on Instagram and a booking app.
11A Local Shop Website That Earns the VisitBest for a boutique, gift shop, specialty retailer, or maker deciding between a catalogue and a store.
12Wix Pricing in Canada: Every Plan and Every Extra Fee (2026)Best for owners pricing out Wix who want the whole bill, not the sticker.
13What Should a 15-Second Video Ad Say?Best for owners writing a short ad and trying to fit five messages into fifteen seconds.
14Rent vs Own Your Website in Canada: The Pay-Monthly Math (2026)Best for owners comparing pay-monthly website deals and wondering what they actually keep.
15Etsy vs Your Own Store: The Honest Math for Canadian MakersBest for makers deciding whether this is the year to own the shop, not just the stall.
16How a Small Lodge Website Wins Direct BookingsBest for lodge, inn, B&B, and cabin owners tired of the commission on every stay.
17What a Wedding and Event Venue Website Needs to Book UpBest for venue owners whose gorgeous space keeps losing bookings to a clearer website.
18How an Adventure Tour Operator's Website Fills SeatsBest for guiding and tour operators whose great trips keep running half empty.
19What a Campground or RV Park Website Needs Before Booking SeasonBest for campground and RV park operators still taking reservations by voicemail.
20Is Shopify Worth It for a Small Kootenay Store? The Honest MathBest for shop owners deciding whether the store machinery is worth it this year.
21CASL Email Marketing Compliance: A Plain Guide for Canadian Small BusinessBest for Canadian businesses that want to email customers legally and effectively.
22BC Small Business Website Grants and Funding (2026)Best for BC owners looking for grants or funding to offset the cost of going digital.

The guides are the trail markers. The Lodge walks the trail with you.

These guides show the thinking. My clients get the deeper version inside the Neighbours Lodge: Field School lessons, Resource Cabin worksheets, and a direct line to me by call, text, or email when a decision needs a person.

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The free 60-second check-up scores your real site on speed, SEO, security headers, and best practices. From those numbers I can show whether you need a small cleanup, a sharper page, or a full custom build.

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Written in Castlegar, BC, for businesses anywhere.