Fifteen years helping small businesses get found online
I'm Russ Jeffery, the craftsman behind The Craftsman & The Machine. I ran strategy at Duda for several years, where my work helped make nearly 1 million small-business websites SEO friendly. Now I do the same thing for one business at a time.
SEO at the scale of a million websites
I've been building websites for small businesses since 2010. Before starting this studio I ran strategy at Duda, a website platform that agencies and software companies use to build sites for small businesses. Making those sites search friendly was my job, and the work I led there reached nearly 1 million of them.
That's an unusual vantage point. Most agencies learn from the few dozen sites they've built. I got to watch what moved rankings, traffic, and leads across restaurants, dentists, contractors, law firms, and shops, all at once. At that scale the patterns are clear, and most of them are simpler than the industry makes them sound.
The market keeps moving and I keep up with it. Google changes how it ranks pages, and AI answer engines like ChatGPT now send real customers to businesses. I read the updates, run the tests, and adjust what I build. You get the benefit without having to follow any of it yourself.
Three things you can expect from me
I started this studio because small businesses deserve the same quality of work that big companies get, without the runaround. These are the promises I build every project around.
Your customers are the measure
I judge a website by the customers it brings in, not by how it looks on launch day. A launch is the start of the work. Every month after, I look at what's bringing people in and improve it.
Plain English, every time
You shouldn't need to learn SEO to hire someone who knows it. I explain what I'm doing and why, in words that make sense, and I'm glad to answer questions however small they seem.
AI where it helps, a person where it counts
AI does the repetitive work: research, first drafts, structured content. I make the calls on strategy, design, and what goes live. You work with me directly, from the first call onward.
Let's talk about your business
Book a call at a time that suits you, or send me a message. I reply within 1 business day with a plan, a price, and a date.
Get in touch