Resources
Straight answers about SEO, ads and websites.
Free tools and guides for business owners who want to understand what they are buying before they buy it. No sign-up, nothing submitted.
Tools
Free tools. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Ads budget calculator
Enter a monthly budget, a cost per click, a conversion rate, a close rate and what a customer is worth. See the clicks, leads, customers, cost per lead and return on ad spend the numbers imply. Calculated in your browser; nothing is submitted.
Open the tool SEOSEO readiness checklist
Check your site against the technical, page, local and content basics that decide whether a business shows up on Google. Progress stays on your device; save a text copy or print it.
Open the tool Google Business ProfileGoogle Business Profile checklist
Claim, verify and fill in a Google Business Profile properly: categories, services, hours, photos, description, products, questions, reviews, posts and a tracked website link. Progress stays on your device.
Open the tool WebsitesWebsite launch checklist
What to test and set up before a website launches: content, SEO basics, tracking, forms, legal pages, speed and redirects from the old site. Progress stays on your device; save a text copy or print it.
Open the tool DecidingAds or SEO? Where to start
Answer six questions about timing, budget, how people search for what you sell, where your customers are, your website and your competition. Get a recommendation: Google Ads first, SEO first, Google Business Profile first, or both. A starting point, not a plan.
Open the toolGeneral information only. The tools calculate in your browser and do not send what you enter to me; none of them is a quote or a guarantee.
Guides
Plain answers, before the first conversation.
Ads or SEO first? How I decide for a local business
The honest way to choose between paying for clicks now and earning them later, with the questions I ask before recommending either.
Read the guide Getting foundHow to set up a Google Business Profile properly
The fields most businesses leave half done, the order I fill them in, and the review habit that keeps a profile climbing.
Read the guide WebsitesWhat a business website should cost, and what you are paying for
Why quotes range from $500 to $50,000, what changes the price, and the questions that tell you whether a quote is fair.
Read the guide Getting foundHow to read Google Search Console in five minutes a month
The four numbers that matter, the two reports worth opening, and how to tell whether your SEO is working without a dashboard.
Read the guide Working with an agencyWhy your agency cannot show you results, and what to ask instead
The reporting tricks that hide whether marketing is working, the numbers that cannot be faked, and the questions that end the vagueness.
Read the guide Getting foundLocal SEO for Ontario businesses: a page for every town you serve
How search works when people add a place to what they want, and the page structure that gets a business found across a service area.
Read the guideCommon questions
Questions people ask first.
Who do you work with?
Owner-run businesses in Hamilton, Burlington, the GTA and across Ontario that have something real to sell and want more customers finding them online: law firms, trades, auto, clinics, restaurants, real estate, retail and startups.
What does it cost?
It depends on scope. A Google Business Profile and a focused site is a different job from ongoing ads and SEO. You get a fixed price in writing after the first call, before anything starts.
How is this different from hiring an agency?
Agencies sell you a team you never meet. Here, the person you talk to is the person doing the work, and that person can write the code and run the marketing. Fewer handoffs, faster turnaround, and nobody marking up a freelancer.
Who owns what?
Your domain, your Google Business Profile, your ad accounts, your analytics and your customer data are in your name from day one. The platform underneath is mine: nine years of engineering you rent for a fraction of what building it would cost. If we part ways, you keep everything with your name on it and I help you move the content wherever you want.
How long until I see results?
Ads can bring in enquiries within the first week. Google Business Profile changes often move rankings within weeks. SEO compounds over months and keeps growing. I report real numbers from Search Console and your ad accounts every month.
Do I have to be in Hamilton?
No. I am based in Hamilton, Ontario and meet local clients in person when it helps, but everything I do works remotely and I have clients across the GTA.
What happens after I book?
You answer a few questions about the business, then pick a time for a 20-minute call. Before the call I look at your site, your Google profile and your competitors. Within a few days of the call you get a short written plan with a fixed price. Nothing is paid until you have seen it.
Tell me about your business
Not sure where to start?
Answer a few quick questions or send me an email. Twenty minutes is enough to tell you what would move the needle and roughly what it would cost.