The Business-Owner’s Nightmare: Calculating the Real Cost of a 1-Star Review
The 1-Star Review Problem Is Now an AI Problem 🤖 It stings. That one-star review just sitting there, glaring at you from your Google Business Profile. It’s the first thing you see when you check your analytics. It’s the last thing you think about before you go to sleep. As a small business owner myself—and […]
What is Topical Authority, and why does it matter for my business? 🤔
I want you to think about this for a second: Over 10 million blog posts are published every single day. (Source: Semrush). Ten. Million. Now, let’s be honest. As a small business owner, how many “blogs” has your marketing person (or maybe you, at 11 PM on a Tuesday) written and just… thrown into the […]
Don’t Be Invisible: Your 5-Step Guide to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and How Do I Rank in AI Search? I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The classic “10 blue links” on a Google search page? Their days are numbered. You’ve already seen it. You search for “best way to clean gutters,” and a big, shaded box […]
“Is This Place Any Good?” How Google’s AI Reads Your Reviews to Answer Customers (Before They Ever See Your Website) H1: “Is This Place Any Good?” How Google’s AI Uses Your Reviews to Answer Your Customers
Here’s a stat that should make every small business owner sit up straight: 90% of consumers used Google to evaluate local businesses last year. (Source: BrightLocal). For over a decade, I’ve been advising my clients—from lawyers to plumbers to restaurant owners—that their online reputation is their “digital front door.” We all know the drill: a […]
Why Visibility Now Lives in AI Answers, Not on Your Homepage
“The best place to hide a dead body is page two of Google.”— Unknown digital marketer, circa 2010. That used to be true.Now? The best place to hide your business is in Google’s AI Overview, ChatGPT’s summary, or Bing Copilot’s suggestions — if you’re not mentioned there, you simply don’t exist. Let’s be honest: we’ve […]
More Than “Fluff”: How a 0.5-Star Rating Change Can Skyrocket Your Revenue
The “0.5 Star” Difference: How a Small Shift in Your Rating Can Mean a 15% Jump in Revenue A one-star increase in your Yelp rating can lead to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue. That’s not me just saying that. That’s not a fuzzy marketing guess. That’s a direct finding from a famous study by […]
Are Customers Choosing Your Competitor (Because of Reviews)? 🏃♀️
Why Reviews Are the Lifeblood of Your Business Let’s try a quick thought experiment. Think about the last time you needed a local service for the first time. Maybe a plumber for a leaky faucet, a new restaurant for date night, or a mechanic for that weird noise your car was making. What was the […]
Why is Removing Negative Content So Important for My Business’s Survival?
Here’s a tough question: What’s the first thing a potential customer does after hearing your company’s name? I can tell you with near-certainty what they don’t do. They don’t just take your word for it. They pull out their phone, they type your name into Google, and they look for proof that you’re the real […]
Why Your Online Reputation is Costing You (or Making You) a Fortune
Why Your Online Reputation is Costing You (or Making You) a Fortune Nearly 9 out of 10 consumers check online reviews before making a purchase. Let that sink in for a moment. That’s not a fringe group of internet-savvy millennials. That’s nearly everyone. It’s the person looking for the best coffee shop “near me” on […]
Is your Google Business Profile working FOR you? 📈
30 Days from Now: Will You Be Invisible, or Will Your Business Be Thriving? Picture this. Fast forward 30 days. Your phone is ringing. New customers are walking through your door. Your Google Business Profile is alive with five-star reviews, and people are finding you without you having to spend a fortune on ads. Your […]