How I can help
Two situations, one way of approaching both.
There's no menu to choose from and nothing here is a package. You don't need to know what the problem is, what service you need or whether to spend money at all. "Something isn't right and I'd like another experienced person to look at it" is a perfectly good place to start.
Sometimes all you need is an experienced, independent view. We can look at the situation, work out what makes sense, and leave you with clear advice to act on. Nothing else has to follow.
Starting something
You have an idea, or the beginnings of a business, and you need to work out what it really is before spending money on it. Who it's for, how it earns, what has to exist for it to work, and what can wait.
- An idea you keep coming back to
- A business that exists offline and needs to exist online
- A first website, and no idea what it should contain
Developing something that exists
The business trades, but something has stopped adding up. Enquiries have thinned out, the site is doing less than it should, or the next move isn't obvious from the inside.
- Traffic arrives but nothing happens
- Growth has flattened and spending more hasn't helped
- A rebuild, a new product line or a change of direction on the table
Usually earlier than people think.
- When you're about to spend money
- The cheapest hour you'll ever buy is the one before the invoice. An honest view on whether the plan is right, and what I'd change.
- When something isn't working
- A site that doesn't convert, an offer nobody understands, a process that loses people. Usually the cause is commercial, not technical.
- When growth has stalled
- What got a business to where it is often isn't what takes it further. Worth looking at the whole picture, not just the marketing.
- When you don't know the question
- Plenty of owners get in touch simply because something feels off. That's a perfectly good reason to talk.
No predetermined solution.
I don't start by assuming you need a new website, a search campaign or anything else in particular. Depending on the situation, the work might be:
- Review and advise on what already exists
- Research a problem or an opportunity
- Recommend changes to an existing website or digital setup
- Advise on positioning, structure, customer journey, search or digital strategy
- Help plan a new business or digital presence from the beginning
- Give an independent second opinion before significant money is spent
- Work with your existing developer, agency or internal team
- Recommend an appropriate specialist where one is needed
- Become more practically involved myself, where there is a genuine reason to
One thing I don't do: I don't manage paid-advertising campaigns. Where advertising or another specialist discipline is the right answer, I'll say so and recommend it as part of the wider strategy.
Experience, not a price list.
Business judgement
Thirty years of running businesses — hospitality, services, the music industry, a cleaning business built from nothing. I've made the decisions you're weighing up.
How people find you
Fifteen years of search and e-commerce work. Not a package: an understanding of how people look for what you sell, and why they buy or don't.
An independent view
Specialists naturally see a business through their own area. I look across the whole situation from the owner's side, with nothing to sell. Where action is needed, your own people or the right specialist usually carry it out — I can stay alongside as the adviser.
If any of this sounds familiar.
A short email is enough to start. Tell me a little about the business and what's on your mind, and I'll give you an honest view on whether I can help — I take on a small number of clients, so if I'm not the right person, I'll say so.