Blok by Blok
Blok by Blok is a nonprofit helping small businesses and nonprofit organizations get online without the cost or complexity.
By building simple, lasting websites, we’re making Springfield more visible, connected, and accessible, one organization at a time.
06/10/2026
This is what it's all about. ❤️ 1829 Media
1829 Media 1829 Media manages 5 data types including team members. Helps you organize, track, and share your work in 1 place for teams and solo users.
Blok by Blok Podcast - Episode 6: Too Much
Modern websites were supposed to make life easier.
Instead, many organizations find themselves buried beneath layers of plugins, integrations, dashboards, settings, widgets, automations, and features they rarely use.
This one explores how the internet became obsessed with adding more, more functionality, more tools, more options, while often making websites harder to manage, harder to update, and harder to understand.
This episode examines:
feature overload
website complexity
bloated digital systems
usability vs. functionality
why organizations stop updating their websites
how complexity creates friction and kills momentum
why simplicity may be the biggest competitive advantage moving forward
Because sometimes the biggest obstacle to growth isn't what your website is missing.
It's everything that's been added to it.
The goal isn't less capability.
The goal is removing everything unnecessary so organizations can focus on what actually matters: their mission, their customers, their donors, and their growth.
Listen now and discover why complexity isn't a feature.
Cainan Barnett
Thank you to those that were able to make it out last night to the Blok by Blok • Downtown Launch Session! We look forward to pushing our community forward!
Thank you Kidzeum of Health and Science for hosting us!
See you tonight at 5:30! Blok by Blok • Downtown Launch Session
Cainan Barnett Downtown Springfield, Inc. Downtown Springfield Heritage Foundation Downtown Springfield LIVE Calendar My Heart's Downtown Springfield, IL Kidzeum of Health and Science
Most organizations don’t realize how much money quietly disappears into “just staying online.”
Hosting.
Maintenance.
Subscriptions.
Integrations.
Support retainers.
One monthly charge at a time.
Episode 5 of The Blok by Blok Podcast is about the real cost of being online, and how recurring digital overhead became so normalized that most organizations never stop to question it.
This isn’t just about websites anymore.
It’s about operational burden, dependency, and the long-term weight attached to simply existing online.
Listen to Episode 5: The Real Cost of Being Online 👇
Only a 3 Minute Listen 👂
https://open.spotify.com/show/1tObrj8w8k3gnuxrkr63iJ
Cainan Barnett Blok by Blok Blok by Blok • Downtown Launch Session
05/10/2026
Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there from Blok by Blok!
The Blok by Blok Podcast Episode 4 is uploading today on Spotify and Apple podcasts, or anywhere you may get your podcasts. Those that don't do the pods, give this the 103 second listen here 👇 (massive time commitment I know), and I would appreciate it!
Learn how to get out of the vendor trap and understand how websites are stacked, usually against you.
Learn more at:
www.blokbyblok.org
Donate at:
www.blokbyblok.org/build
Apply for website:
www.blokbyblok.org/apply
Downtown Springfield, Inc. My Heart's Downtown Springfield, IL Downtown Springfield Heritage Foundation Downtown Springfield LIVE Calendar
Join our Launch Session May 19 5:30-7pm 👇
Blok by Blok • Downtown Launch Session
05/02/2026
Have a website for any reason? Check out our ⏩ 2 minute episodes on Spotify and learn about "A Better Way To Be Online". Episodes 1-3 up now.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0IoBze0O288rMWo95oOpzH?si=n52aBok9TgWRUMNIdoT8Qw
Episode 2 • The Website You Don't Touch The Blok by Blok Podcast · Episode
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