Paid ads · Google Ads
How much does Google Ads management cost?
Published UK guides put it from about £300 a month for a freelancer to £1,200 or more, plus ad spend. What a fair fee should include.
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SEO, AI search, Google Ads, social media, your website: what works, what it costs and what to fix first. Every answer straight, before you spend your money.
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Paid ads · Google Ads
Published UK guides put it from about £300 a month for a freelancer to £1,200 or more, plus ad spend. What a fair fee should include.
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Reviews · Google Business Profile
There is no magic number. What matters is recency, a steady flow of new reviews, and looking stronger than the businesses Google shows beside yours.
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Websites · Analytics
You need to measure your website, but it does not have to be Google Analytics. Search Console first, when GA4 is worth it, and the UK consent catch.
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PPC · Google Ads
Only if someone else is bidding on your name. The ten-minute check that tells you, and the on/off test that proves whether it pays.
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AI search/AEO · Traffic
AI answers now absorb a third to a half of clicks on question searches. How to check your own numbers, and which searches still send visitors.
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SEO · Competitors
Five free checks that show their ads, rankings, reviews and emails in thirty minutes a month – and how to use what you find without copying them.
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Reviews · Google Business Profile
Report rule-breaking reviews through Google’s own tools, track the decision, use your one appeal – and why buying reviews is now unlawful.
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Websites · Landing pages
A landing page is a single page built for one campaign and one action. When a small business needs one, when your normal pages do the job, and what good looks like.
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Email marketing · Deliverability
Usually missing SPF, DKIM or DMARC records, a stale list, or a spammer-like sending pattern. The mechanical fixes, in the order to check them.
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Social media · LinkedIn
Yes if you sell to other businesses, optional if you sell to consumers. It works as a trust check and a slow-burn network, not an enquiry tap.
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Marketing strategy · Word of mouth
Word of mouth has a ceiling: it is slow, uneven and invisible. How to stop leaking the referrals you already earn, and the few assets a referral-led business actually needs.
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Content marketing · Blogging
Yes if your customers search for advice before they buy, no if you are doing it because someone said you should. The time it takes and what it earns.
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Paid ads · Google Ads
The warmest audience you can buy, what it costs, the consent and tracking it needs first, and when it is not worth switching on.
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SEO · Link building
What a backlink actually is, why a handful of good ones beats hundreds of cheap ones, and when to walk away from someone selling them.
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Email marketing · List building
Start with the customers you already have, give people a reason to join, and ask everywhere your business touches them. The ICO soft opt-in helps.
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Social media · TikTok
Worth it when your customers are under about 45, your work is watchable and you can post three times a week. Otherwise, skip it.
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Paid ads · Microsoft Advertising
For most small businesses already spending on Google Ads, yes. Cheaper clicks and desktop reach make it a worthwhile add-on, not a replacement.
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Websites · Conversion
The quoted benchmark is a 2.35% median with the top quarter at 5.31%+, but those are ad landing pages. Your own number, measured properly, is the one to beat.
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Cost & pricing · Marketing budget
Benchmarks say 2-5% of revenue for B2B and 5-10% for B2C. The better method works backwards from what a customer is worth.
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Problems · Google Business Profile
A suspension means Google thinks something on your profile breaks its guidelines. Fix the profile first, then appeal once with evidence – and never create a duplicate.
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Paid ads · Google
Pay-per-lead ads for local trades: top of the results, the Google Verified badge, and you pay for calls and messages, not clicks. How they work and who they suit.
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Paid ads · Meta
Boosting buys reach for a post already on your page; Ads Manager builds proper campaigns with targeting, objectives and conversion tracking. How to choose, and what each really costs.
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Reviews · Google Business Profile
Ask every customer, make it a ten-second job with Google’s direct review link, and reply to what comes in. Incentives are banned – the rest is habit.
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Problems · Measurement
The five things a monthly marketing report should tell you: enquiries, where they came from, what was done, what it produced, and what changes next month because of it.
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Email marketing · What to send
What to put in a monthly email people actually read: one real customer question answered, one quick win, one line about you – and the GDPR basics.
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Problems · SEO
The five usual causes of a rankings drop, how to check each one in Search Console, and what not to touch while you diagnose.
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Paid ads · Google Ads
Benchmarks from 16,000 campaigns, the maths that decides what a lead is worth to you, and the fixes that actually bring the number down.
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AI search/AEO · AEO
Where AI search referrals show up in GA4 and Search Console, what the numbers can and cannot tell you, and how to spot the trend for free.
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Social media · Management
The real work a social media manager should do each month, the deliverables to expect, and how to judge it after three months.
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Problems · Choosing an agency
Five questions that separate real agencies from report factories: the work you get each month, how they prove it works, who does it, a client to speak to, and what you keep when you leave.
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Local SEO · Service areas
Distance is one of Google’s three local ranking factors, so the map favours firms based in the town. Service areas, reviews, genuine town pages and Google Ads are the honest routes in.
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Websites · Conversion
The average small business website turns roughly 2% of visitors into an enquiry. If yours gets traffic but the phone does not ring, the cause is almost always one of five fixable things.
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Problems · Measurement
One honest test: can you trace enquiries and revenue back to the marketing that produced them? Fix the measurement first, then judge the marketing.
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Local SEO · Google Business Profile
Google ranks map results on relevance, distance and prominence. If a competitor sits above you, they are beating you on at least one of the three.
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Websites · Content
Five things every small business website needs: a homepage that answers three questions, a page per service, real people, easy contact and proof. The rest is optional until those work.
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Comparisons · Email marketing
Yes, if you can send something genuinely useful regularly – averaging around £36 back for every £1 spent, on the one channel you own outright.
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SEO · Timescales
Three to six months of consistent work for most small businesses, six to twelve in competitive markets – and why nobody honest can promise page one in a fortnight.
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Cost & pricing · Websites
DIY builders from under £30 a month, freelancers £500 to £3,000, agencies £3,000 to £15,000+. What moves the price and the questions to ask before you sign.
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Local SEO · Google Business Profile
How Google decides who shows in the map results, the free profile work that earns a place, and what reviews actually do.
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Cost & pricing · Social media
Real 2026 UK ranges for freelancers and agencies, what a proper service includes, and the three warning signs in a cheap quote.
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Paid ads · Google & Meta
Google catches demand that already exists; Facebook and Instagram create it. Which to start with, and what management costs.
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AI search/AEO · AEO
A free ten-minute monthly check: the questions to ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google, what to record, and how to fix the gaps.
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AI search/AEO · AEO
What Google actually said about AEO, what a legitimate quote for it should contain, and what you can check yourself this week.
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Paid ads · Google Ads
What a click really costs in the UK, how the maths sets your budget, and a sensible monthly test for a small business.
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Social media · Posting
How often to post, what the 2025 averages really say, and a weekly rhythm a one-person business can keep.
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Social media · Social
The right platform is the one your customers already use and you can actually sustain. How to choose without spreading yourself thin.
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Paid ads · Google Ads
Time, complexity and the management-fee maths: three honest tests for whether to run Google Ads yourself or pay for management.
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AI search/AEO · SEO
AI Overviews answer the question before anyone clicks. What that means for paid SEO, and the work that still earns its fee.
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Social media · Social
Social media works as proof and reminder, not a stream of new enquiries. Decide what it is worth for yours.
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Paid ads · Google Ads
Clicks without enquiries usually mean broken measurement, the wrong traffic, a weak landing page or a thin campaign.
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AI search/AEO · SEO
How AI tools decide which businesses to recommend, and the honest work that improves your chances.
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Websites · SEO
Diagnose the website problem before choosing a repair or rebuild.
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Cost & pricing · SEO
Compare SEO quotes by scope, responsibility and total commitment.
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Best in market · SEO
Start SEO with useful first steps, not an automatic monthly retainer.
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Reviews · SEO
Check reviews, case-study figures and references without mistaking praise or traffic for proof of profit.
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Comparisons · SEO
Choose the first spend by urgency, demand, budget and website readiness, including when to do neither.
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Cost & pricing · SEO
Compare the work, exclusions, reporting, ownership and exit terms before comparing prices.
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Problems · SEO
Check visibility, traffic quality, enquiries and follow-up before deciding what to change.
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