Plain-English guides, and how we fix each problem
Every guide below answers a question small-business owners actually ask us, in plain English, with no jargon. They are grouped by the problem behind the question, and each group starts with what is usually going on and what we do about it, so you can see the fix as well as the explanation.
Twenty-three guides, grouped by what is going wrong.
Every guide answers a question small-business owners actually ask us, in plain English. Pick the problem closest to yours. Each group opens with what is usually going on and what we do about it, then lists the guides with the short answer up front.
Found on Google, and on the map.
What is usually going on
Someone types what you do into Google and a competitor comes up. Usually the site is fine to look at but says nothing a search engine can use, the Google Business Profile is half empty, and nobody has written the pages that answer the questions buyers actually ask.
How we fix it
We fix the foundations, write the pages that answer real questions, set up and run your Google Business Profile, push every change to Google, and send a plain-English report each month.
Growth systems: SEO, AEO and GEO →Target the specific searches your customers really type, not generic terms you will never win. Get the technical basics right, set up your Google Business Profile, then add AI visibility.
Read this ifYou do not know where to start.Read the guide →02Why is my Google Business Profile not showing up, and how do I fix it?Usually it is unverified, suspended, a duplicate or under review, or it shows for your name but is outranked on category, distance or reviews. Each one has a fix.
Read this ifYour listing has gone missing or sits on page two. Start by searching your name from a phone in an incognito window.Read the guide →03How long does SEO take for a small business, and what should happen each month?Google usually shows movement in around three months, with steady enquiries building between three and six months. AI tools usually follow between month 3 and month 6.
Read this ifYou want a realistic timeline, and to know what progress you should see each month.Read the guide →04How much does SEO cost for a small business in the UK?Monthly SEO for a local business is typically a few hundred pounds a month, more for a city, a region or a busy trade. What you get for the money, what drives the price, warning signs and our own prices.
Read this ifYou are comparing SEO quotes and want to know what is fair and what to ask.Read the guide →05How do I get more Google reviews, and is it allowed to ask?Yes, you can ask, and you should. What Google allows and what it does not, six easy ways to collect reviews, what to say when you ask, and how to reply.
Read this ifYou want more reviews on your Google profile without breaking the rules.Read the guide →06How do I automate my small business?Start with the task that eats the most hours each week, let a system do the repetitive steps, and keep yourself where a decision is yours. What to automate first, tools or a custom system, and where AI fits.
Read this ifAdmin is eating your evenings and you want time back for the work that pays.Read the guide →Named by ChatGPT and AI.
What is usually going on
More people now ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI who to hire instead of scrolling. If the assistant cannot tell what you do, where you are and why you are trusted, it names someone else, and you never find out it happened.
How we fix it
We make the business easy for AI to understand, trust and cite: clear content, structured data, an llms.txt file and the AI crawlers let in. Eight of our clients, in seven industries, are recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity (November 2026).
Growth systems: SEO, AEO and GEO →It is called AEO and GEO: make your business easy for AI to understand, trust and cite, through clear content, structured data and an llms.txt file.
Read this ifCustomers ask an AI for a recommendation and you want to be one of the names it gives.Read the guide →08What are AEO and GEO, and do I need them?SEO gets you ranked on Google. AEO and GEO get you recommended inside AI answers like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
Read this ifYou keep hearing the acronyms and want the plain meaning first.Read the guide →09Should I add an AI chatbot to my small business website?Add one when visitors have questions standing between them and getting in touch. Skip it if your site gets little traffic or the only action is email me.
Read this ifA website tool is offering you a chatbot and you are unsure it is worth it.Read the guide →Calls and leads that do not slip away.
What is usually going on
You are on a job, in a treatment room or driving. The call goes to voicemail, the enquiry sits until tonight, and by then they have booked someone else. Or visitors arrive and leave without a word. Nothing is wrong with your work. The gaps are in the follow-up.
How we fix it
We make the site say fast who you are for and what to do next, then wire in the automation that catches every call and enquiry: a text back within seconds, booking, reminders and review requests, feeding a simple CRM you can read on your phone.
Workflow automation →Most sites miss for three reasons: fuzzy positioning, a slow or confusing site, or nobody can find it in the first place. Fix those and enquiries follow.
Read this ifPeople visit but never get in touch.Read the guide →11What is missed call text back, and is it worth it for a small business?An automatic, friendly text goes to anyone whose call you did not answer, within seconds. It runs on your existing number.
Read this ifYou miss calls on the job and want the cheapest fix there is.Read the guide →12How do I stop missing calls and losing leads?An unanswered call, a slow reply or a review you never asked for is money leaking out quietly. Five small automations plug the gaps.
Read this ifYou want to see the whole set of leaks, not just the phone.Read the guide →What it costs, and what to choose.
What is usually going on
Quotes for the same website or app can differ many times over, and platform advice usually comes from whoever sells the platform. It is hard to tell a sensible quote from a silly one.
How we fix it
We price by scope, in writing, before any work: a website of up to eight pages is £1,200 and up to twenty is £1,800, with basic SEO included. We choose the platform from what the site must do, and say so when custom is not the answer.
Prices are a starting point in GBP and depend on scope. You get one fixed price in writing after a free 20-minute call.
All services and prices →With us, up to eight pages is £1,200 and up to twenty is £1,800, with basic SEO. What matters most is whether it is built to be found and to convert.
Read this ifYou are comparing quotes and want to know what drives the number.Read the guide →14Shopify, WordPress, Squarespace or custom: which website does my small business need?Start from what the site has to do: sell products, take bookings, rank in a city. The platform follows from that, and the wrong choice costs you twice.
Read this ifYou are choosing a platform and want a straight comparison.Read the guide →15Should a small business use WordPress or a custom-coded website?For most small businesses a hand-coded site is faster, simpler and easier to keep secure. WordPress makes sense if you want to edit everything yourself from day one.
Read this ifYou have been told you need WordPress and want to check.Read the guide →16How much does it cost to build a custom app for a small business in the UK?A focused app that does one job well usually starts in the low five figures in pounds; ours start from £10,000. Scope drives the price more than the hourly rate.
Read this ifYou have an app idea and no idea what to budget.Read the guide →Software that fits, not another subscription.
What is usually going on
You are running the business on spreadsheets and five tools that half fit, clients email you for the same document every week, and the app idea keeps not happening because nobody will give you a straight answer.
How we fix it
We design and build the software around how you actually work, end to end, and you own it. That includes iPhone apps, web apps, AI tools and client portals, like the one every YektaD client uses at portal.yektad.com.
Custom software and apps →Use off-the-shelf for standard needs. Build custom when the tools force you to work their way, when manual work eats your time, or when the software is the product.
Read this ifYou are stitching tools together and wonder if it is time to build.Read the guide →18How do I get a custom app or software built?Start with the one workflow costing you time or money, get it scoped and priced up front, then build in stages so you see value early.
Read this ifYou are ready to build and want to know how to do it safely.Read the guide →19What does a business architect do for a small business?A business architect designs how a business gets found, wins clients and delivers as one connected system, then builds or oversees the parts.
Read this ifYour designer, SEO person and developer never talk to each other.Read the guide →You own it. You can measure it.
What is usually going on
You paid for a site but are not sure you own it, or you are about to spend on ads with nothing in place to measure them. Both mistakes are quiet and both are expensive.
How we fix it
You own your domain, content, design and code once the final invoice is paid, with the code in a private repository that belongs to you. Tracking is set up and tested before any ad spend, never after.
How we work →A privacy notice if you collect any details, a banner if you use non-essential cookies, and clear terms if you sell. Empty pages and blank templates help nobody.
Read this ifYou have a quote form, ads or analytics, or your legal pages are empty.Read the guide →21Who owns my website if someone else built it?You should own your domain, content, design and code. Some builders keep the code or host it on their own account, so you cannot take it with you.
Read this ifYou are about to sign, or want to check what you already have.Read the guide →22Is boosting a post the same as running an ad?No. Boosting pushes a post to more people with few controls. A campaign lets you choose the goal, the audience and what counts as success.
Read this ifYou want sales, not likes.Read the guide →23Do I need a Meta pixel and tracking before I run ads?Yes. Without the pixel and conversion tracking, the money is spent and you learn nothing. Set up tracking first, test it, then advertise.
Read this ifYou are about to put money behind an ad.Read the guide →Short on time? Read these in order.
Three routes through the guides for the three situations we hear most.
Fix the leak
Check before you sign
Build or buy
The words you will hear, explained simply.
Nobody should need a glossary to hire a web company. Here is every term we use, in one or two sentences each.
Website
The pages people see when they type your name or find you on Google. Phase one of the system. It should say what you do, where you are and how to get in touch, in the first screen, on a phone.
Domain
Your address on the internet, like yourbusiness.co.uk. You rent it for a small yearly fee and it should always be registered in your name, not a designer's. If the domain is yours, the website is yours.
Hosting
The computer your website lives on. You pay a small monthly or yearly fee for it. The login should be yours. We set it up for you and show you where it is.
CMS
Content management system. The screen where you change the words and pictures on your own website without asking a developer. VandaVee's site has one, and she edits every product herself.
CRM
Customer relationship management. One place that remembers every customer: who they are, what they asked for, what you quoted and when to follow up. Most small businesses keep that in their head, a notebook and WhatsApp. A CRM stops leads going cold.
Client portal
A page where your clients log in and see their own things: documents, invoices, bookings, progress. They stop ringing to ask, and you stop emailing attachments. We run YektaD on one.
SEO
Search engine optimisation. The work that makes Google show you when someone nearby searches for what you do: the right words on the right pages, a site that loads fast, a complete Google Business Profile and real reviews. It brings in people who were already looking for you, without paying for every click.
Local SEO
SEO for searches with a place in them, like "plumber in Camden" or "Pilates near me". The Google map results matter most here, and your Google Business Profile is what puts you on the map.
Google Business Profile
The free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in the box on the right of a search, with your hours, phone, photos and reviews. Many are half-filled or unverified. A complete one is often worth more than the website.
AEO and GEO
Answer engine optimisation and generative engine optimisation. Setting a business up so ChatGPT, Google's AI answers and the other assistants understand what it does and name it when someone asks. It is why eight of our clients, in seven industries, were recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity when checked in November 2026.
Automation
Jobs that run on their own. A text back to every missed call. A reminder before an appointment. A review request after the job. A follow-up when a quote goes quiet. Each one is small; together they stop work leaking out of the business.
Missed-call text-back
When you cannot answer, the caller gets a text within seconds: "Sorry we missed you, how can we help?" It gives the caller a reason to reply instead of ringing the next name on the list. It is the first piece of automation we usually add.
Schema
A short piece of code behind the page that tells Google and AI, in their own language, what the business is, where it is and what it offers. Invisible to visitors, read by machines. We add it to every site we build.
App
Software built for one job. An iPhone app engineers use on site, a web app you open in the browser, or a tool that joins two things you already use. We build one when nothing off the shelf fits how you work. Phase three.
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