Resources
Straight talk on marketing
for local service businesses.
No fluff. No theory. Practical guidance on paid ads, local SEO, landing pages, and growing a high-ticket local service business — written for business owners, not marketers.
- featured
How to know if your Google Ads are actually working — and what to check if they’re not
Most home service businesses running Google Ads have no idea whether the campaign is producing jobs or just burning budget. Here’s the exact framework we use to audit an account in 20 minutes — and the five numbers that tell you the truth.
8 min read
6 min
The leaky bucket problem: why your ad spend keeps disappearing without producing jobs
Traffic isn’t your problem. The page it lands on is. Here’s what’s actually happening between the click and the call — and the specific fixes that stop the leak.
Coming soon
7 min
The 5 things that actually determine whether you show up in Google Maps
Not backlinks. Not blog posts. The five specific factors that move local service businesses into the Maps 3-pack — and why most SEO agencies aren’t focused on any of them.
Coming soon
5 min
Why sending ad traffic to your homepage is costing you more than your ad spend
Your homepage is not a landing page. Here’s the difference, why it matters, and what a page built to convert actually needs — explained without jargon.
Coming soon
9 min
The feast-famine cycle: why it keeps happening and how to break it for good
Most local service businesses don’t have a quality problem. They have a consistency problem. Here’s what predictable pipeline flow looks like — and the system behind it.
Coming soon
6 min
Your Google Business Profile is probably set up wrong. Here’s how to fix it in an afternoon.
Wrong categories, missing services, outdated photos — most GBPs have at least three things actively hurting their Maps ranking. A practical walkthrough of every element that matters.
Coming soon
5 min
What is a good cost per lead for a home service business? (It depends on one number.)
$150 per lead could be exceptional or catastrophic depending on your average job value. Here’s how to work out what a good CPL looks like for your specific business — and how to benchmark your campaigns.
Coming soon
7 min
The short form that converts: why fewer fields gets you more enquiries and better leads
Every extra field in your enquiry form costs you leads. Here’s the research behind it, the four fields that actually matter, and how to pre-qualify without adding friction.
Coming soon
9 min
Speed to lead: the single biggest factor home service businesses ignore when it comes to closing jobs
A lead not answered within five minutes is dramatically less likely to book. Here’s the data, why it matters more for home services than most industries, and how to fix it without adding to your workload.
Coming soon
6 min
Negative keywords for home service businesses: the starter list that removes junk traffic from day one
The most expensive mistake in most home service ad accounts isn’t a bad headline — it’s the absence of a good negative keyword list. Here’s the starter pack, explained in plain English.
Coming soon
5 min
Service + city pages: the SEO approach that actually works for local service businesses
One page per service. One page per suburb. The approach is simple. Almost nobody does it properly. Here’s what a good service + city page looks like and why it outperforms generic website pages.
Coming soon
7 min
How to tell the difference between a busy agency and one actually doing the work
Glossy reports, vague updates, “working on your backlinks” — here are the specific questions to ask any marketing agency before you sign, and the answers that should raise red flags.
Coming soon
6 min
Ad-to-page message match: the one thing that lifts conversion rates 20–40% without touching the ad
If your ad says “free roof inspection” and your page says “welcome to our website” — you’ve already lost the lead. Here’s what message match means and how to check if yours is broken.
Coming soon
6 min
Negative keywords for home service businesses: the starter list that removes junk traffic from day one
The most expensive mistake in most home service ad accounts isn’t a bad headline — it’s the absence of a good negative keyword list. Here’s the starter pack, explained in plain English.
Coming soon
5 min
What is a good cost per lead for a home service business? (It depends on one number.)
$150 per lead could be exceptional or catastrophic depending on your average job value. Here’s how to work out what a good CPL looks like for your specific business — and how to benchmark your campaigns.
Coming soon
6 min
The leaky bucket problem: why your ad spend keeps disappearing without producing jobs
Traffic isn’t your problem. The page it lands on is. Here’s what’s actually happening between the click and the call — and the specific fixes that stop the leak.
Coming soon
7 min
The 5 things that actually determine whether you show up in Google Maps
Not backlinks. Not blog posts. The five specific factors that move local service businesses into the Maps 3-pack — and why most SEO agencies aren’t focused on any of them.
Coming soon
6 min
Your Google Business Profile is probably set up wrong. Here’s how to fix it in an afternoon.
Wrong categories, missing services, outdated photos — most GBPs have at least three things actively hurting their Maps ranking. A practical walkthrough of every element that matters.
Coming soon
5 min
Service + city pages: the SEO approach that actually works for local service businesses
One page per service. One page per suburb. The approach is simple. Almost nobody does it properly. Here’s what a good service + city page looks like and why it outperforms generic website pages.
Coming soon
5 min
Why sending ad traffic to your homepage is costing you more than your ad spend
Your homepage is not a landing page. Here’s the difference, why it matters, and what a page built to convert actually needs — explained without jargon.
Coming soon
7 min
The short form that converts: why fewer fields gets you more enquiries and better leads
Every extra field in your enquiry form costs you leads. Here’s the research behind it, the four fields that actually matter, and how to pre-qualify without adding friction.
Coming soon
6 min
Ad-to-page message match: the one thing that lifts conversion rates 20–40% without touching the ad
If your ad says “free roof inspection” and your page says “welcome to our website” — you’ve already lost the lead. Here’s what message match means and how to check if yours is broken.
Coming soon
9 min
The feast-famine cycle: why it keeps happening and how to break it for good
Most local service businesses don’t have a quality problem. They have a consistency problem. Here’s what predictable pipeline flow looks like — and the system behind it.
Coming soon
9 min
Speed to lead: the single biggest factor home service businesses ignore when it comes to closing jobs
A lead not answered within five minutes is dramatically less likely to book. Here’s the data, why it matters more for home services than most industries, and how to fix it without adding to your workload.
Coming soon
7 min
How to tell the difference between a busy agency and one actually doing the work
Glossy reports, vague updates, “working on your backlinks” — here are the specific questions to ask any marketing agency before you sign, and the answers that should raise red flags.
Coming soon
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