Intelligence Log

Field notes from the front lines of digital engineering.

Commercial

Why Most Marketing Retainers Fail After Month 3

The incentive structure of a standard agency retainer is designed to maximize margin by minimizing activity. Here is the mathematical proof.

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Strategy

Traffic is Not a KPI. Revenue Is.

Any engineer can double your traffic in 30 days by targeting irrelevant, high-volume keywords. It looks great on a report and adds zero to your bottom line.

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Paid Media

The 30-Minute Ad Account Audit

How to tell if your PPC agency is asleep at the wheel by checking three specific settings in Google Ads.

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Infrastructure

The Hidden Cost of Technical Decisions

Choosing a JavaScript-heavy framework for a content site is a six-figure mistake waiting to happen.

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