Writing
Notes on the things I hit in client work — React hooks that look simple until they cost you a render, and the design references I keep going back to.
Fifty-seven pieces, written across two broad halves. The technical half covers React and React Native, the hooks in detail, state management, CSS and Node, and it is written from problems that turned up on real builds rather than from the documentation. The design half is mostly references: the sites worth returning to, the tools that earn their place, and what has actually changed rather than what is being announced.
More recently there is a third strand, for people hiring rather than building: what a website costs in Dubai, whether to start with Google Ads or SEO, and how a freelancer compares with an agency. Every link in every list has been opened and checked, with the date on the page.
- 4 min
Your Landing Page Is Part of Your Ad Spend
An ad buys the click. The landing page decides what it costs you. Why a two-week page change costs more than it looks, and the fixes that matter.
- 5 min
Your Cost Per Lead Is Fine. Your Sales Team Is Still Unhappy.
Cost per lead is set by the campaign. Lead quality is set by the page. Why the two reports disagree, and the one reporting change that fixes it.
- 4 min
How Much Should a Dubai Business Spend on Digital Marketing?
How to set a digital marketing budget in Dubai from your own numbers rather than a percentage rule, and the floor below which paid ads cannot work.
- 4 min
Google Ads vs Meta vs TikTok: Where to Start in the UAE
Which paid channel to start with in the UAE, decided by whether people are already searching for what you sell rather than by which platform is fashionable.
- 5 min
Real Estate Marketing in Dubai: What Actually Generates Enquiries
What produces qualified enquiries on a Dubai property launch, from four off-plan campaigns: the price in the hero, one action, and a route for existing buyers.
- 4 min
How to Tell If Your Digital Marketing Is Working
The four numbers that tell you whether marketing is working, the vanity metrics that look like progress, and the test that settles it in one question.
- 4 min
Why Your Leads Are Not Converting (It Is Rarely the Ads)
The six places an enquiry dies between the ad and the sale, in the order worth checking, starting with the one that is free to fix and usually the answer.
- 3 min
Snapchat and TikTok Ads in the UAE: When They Are Worth It
Two platforms most UAE businesses skip and two that occasionally beat Meta. Who each reaches here, what the creative has to look like, and when to ignore both.
- 5 min
What Does a Web Developer Actually Do?
A plain explanation of the job for people hiring one rather than becoming one: what the work involves, what it does not, and which kind you need.
- 4 min
Web Developer vs Web Designer: What Is the Difference?
Two different jobs that get used as one word. What each actually produces, which one your project needs first, and what goes wrong when you hire the wrong one.
- 4 min
Full Stack, Front-End or Back-End: Which Developer Do You Need?
The three developer specialisms explained for people hiring rather than coding, with a straight answer on which one your project actually needs.
- 5 min
What It Costs to Hire a Web Developer in Dubai
The four ways to hire a developer in Dubai, what each really costs once you include the parts nobody quotes, and how to compare them honestly.
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