Most arguments about a marketing retainer are not about the price. They are about who was supposed to write the content, who chases the photos, and who rings back the enquiry that came in on Friday. Our new post sets out what a monthly fee normally covers, what sits outside it, and the three lines worth getting into the agreement before you sign. It ends with one line to go and look for in the agreement you already have.
On Chapel Street the next option is a minute’s walk away, so a website that answers slowly loses to one that answers fast. Our new piece looks at what a South Yarra trading position does to a website’s job, across the three trades that fill the strip: retail, beauty and hospitality. It ends with a test you can run on your own site this afternoon.
A hybrid needs tyres, brakes, suspension and a 12 volt battery. None of that changes because there is a battery pack under the floor. The Australian standard draws its line at the high voltage system, not at the car. So why does almost no workshop website say so?
Your SEO provider says the retainer now includes AI SEO, or a new agency has sent a proposal. Some of that work is new and a lot of it is the SEO you already pay for. Our new article shows how to tell which, using Google’s and OpenAI’s own words, and the five questions to put to any agency first.
Two quotes for the same search work, one from a person and one from a company, and no way to compare them. Our new guide sets out what you get from each, where each one lets you down, and which shape of business each suits. For some readers the honest answer is the individual, and we say so.
Three SEO quotes, three very different numbers, and no way to tell what the difference buys. Our new guide sets out what a retainer includes, what each price band pays for, and what a cheap one leaves out. It also answers the question nobody asks out loud: no, SEO is not more expensive here than anywhere else.
You asked ChatGPT for the best in your trade near your suburb and a competitor got named instead. Gemini might give a different answer again, and the reason is not what you would guess. Our new article sets out what each assistant reads, where the published documentation stops, and the five-minute check to do first.
Two quotes for the same website, written in very different language, and a third option nobody has priced. Our new guide lines up the freelancer, the agency and the in-house hire. It settles the choice on the question most buyers skip: who is still looking after the site in year two. For plenty of readers the honest answer is the freelancer, and we say so.
A plumber or electrician working out of Frankston has no shopfront a customer ever visits, and a catchment that runs a long way in one direction. That changes what the website has to do before the phone rings. Our new piece looks at what a service area needs to say, for the trades and local service businesses working across the bay suburbs and the peninsula.
The management fee and the ad spend are two different numbers, and most monthly reports never separate them. Our new post sets out what a Google Ads agency does in a normal month, which parts of that work move your cost per lead, and when a monthly fee is not worth paying. It ends with a two minute check inside your own account that often comes back wrong.
You have been quoted a few hundred a month to look after a tool Google gives you for nothing. Sometimes that is money well spent, and often it is not. Our new piece sets out what the work involves month to month, the four situations where buying it makes sense, the ones where it plainly does not, and what belongs in the quote if you go ahead.
You started with one workshop and now run three. There are three websites, three Google Business Profiles, three phone numbers and one marketing budget, and every decision that used to be obvious now has two answers. Our new piece sets out what belongs to each shop, what a group should build only once, and how to advertise several locations without paying twice.
Your workshop does six jobs and your website lists all six as bullet points on one page called Services. A driver in the next suburb searching for a brake job finds nothing there that answers them. Our new piece sets out which jobs earn a page of their own, what belongs on one, and the point where more pages stop paying for themselves.
Two AI SEO quotes, one a small monthly add-on and one several times the price, both describing the same job. Our new article sets out the five things the work is made of, the four ways Australian agencies sell it, and what each shape costs. It also says plainly what no quote can buy you.
A business that is flat out in January and quiet in June has a website problem that a standard small business site does not answer. The site has two jobs at two times of year, and it is usually built for one of them. Our new piece looks at what a seasonal trade does to a website, for the venues, studios and clinics working near the bay.
Somebody has told you Google Ads will fill the bays, and nobody has said which of your jobs the money should point at. Our new piece sets out how to sort your own job list, when the ads are worth running, where the click should land, and the point where paying for a job you already get is money spent twice.
A one-star review from a name nobody recognises. Here is what Google will actually take down, what it will not, and the reply that does the real work while you wait.
A missed call is the only lost enquiry that leaves no trace. It does not sit in an inbox waiting to be chased, and nobody rings back to tell you they tried. Our new piece sets out what an AI phone receptionist does once it picks up, the limits worth knowing before you spend anything, what the packages cost plus GST, and a free test you can run on your own number this week.
Your Google Business Profile disappears on a Tuesday morning and the phone stops. You get one appeal and one follow-up review, so the fix has to come before the submission. What triggers a suspension, what Google asks for as evidence, and the Australian version of that document list.
Ask ChatGPT for the best plumber in your suburb. Then ask Gemini. You will often get two different lists. They are reading different sources, and the fix is not the same on each. Here is the ten minute test that tells you which one has a problem with your business.
