- Journal
Field notes on marketing
& growth in Canada.
Building a tech product? The posts for founders, on their own
Is Social Media Worth It for a Small Business in Canada?
An honest answer by business type: what social media does for trades, clinics, restaurants and firms, and when your Google profile deserves the hours.
Can You Cancel a Marketing Agency Contract Early?
Before you sign a six or twelve month marketing agreement: why agencies ask for a term, what is reasonable, and what happens when you leave.
Is AI Search Optimisation Worth Paying For?
Google says there are no special requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. Read this before you pay anyone for AI search optimisation.
What Happens to Your Google Rankings When You Redesign
A website redesign can quietly cost you search traffic. Here's what causes the drop, what Google advises, and what to record before the build starts.
What Happens to Your Rankings If You Stop Paying for SEO
Stop paying for SEO and your rankings won't vanish overnight. Here's what decays, what lasts, and how to tell which work your site still needs.
How Much Does Branding Cost in Canada?
Branding quotes in Canada can differ tenfold. Here's what each one is really covering, what a business can defer, and the costs that come after.
What Should a Monthly SEO Report Include?
What should an SEO report include? The three questions it has to answer, the sections that belong in it, and the filler you can safely ignore.
How to Read a Marketing Proposal Before You Sign It
The price is the least useful line in a marketing proposal. How to read scope, ownership, notice periods and reporting before you sign anything.
How Much Does Social Media Management Cost in Canada?
What social media management costs in Canada depends on what is being quoted. What a package includes, what drives the price, and what to do yourself.
Real Estate Agent SEO in Canada: What You Can Still Rank For
Real estate agent SEO in Canada: the searches listing sites don't own, how to win them with neighbourhood content, and the advertising rules that apply.
Marketing a Canadian Clinic Within Your College's Rules
Running a dental, medical, physio or OT clinic? What Canadian regulatory colleges commonly restrict in advertising, and how to market well inside it.
How Much Does Google Ads Management Cost in Canada?
What Google Ads management costs in Canada: the three fee models, why your ad spend is a separate bill, and when paying for management makes sense.
Is SEO Worth It for a Small Business in Canada?
Is SEO worth it for a small business in Canada? When it pays back, when it doesn't, and how to check with free tools before you spend anything on it.
Google Business Profile Management: What It Should Include
What Google Business Profile management should include: the one-time setup, the monthly work worth paying for, and the quick jobs you can keep doing.
How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost in Canada?
What a small business website costs in Canada: what drives the build price, the running costs a quote leaves out, and the red flags in a cheap quote.
Your Google Checklist for the Holiday Rush
Set special hours, offers and review handling on your Google Business Profile before the busy quarter starts, with the Canadian dates that matter.
The Canadian E-Commerce SEO Audit Checklist
A practical audit for a Canadian online store: product pages, category structure, product markup, images and the speed numbers that actually matter.
Local SEO for Independent Auto Repair Shops in Canada
How an independent garage competes with dealerships on Google: categories, proximity, review timing and photos of your actual bay rather than stock images.
Marketing Your Firm When the Referrals Slow Down
Referrals never announce that they are slowing. What a firm should do first when the diary thins, and what is better left until later.
Restaurant SEO: What to Fix on Google Before You Pay for Ads
Paid traffic into a broken Google listing is an expensive way to learn your hours are wrong. The list to fix first, before you spend a dollar.
Local SEO for Trades: Getting Found Where You Work
Service area businesses hide their addresses, which changes how they rank. What works for trades on Google, and what quietly backfires.
Agency, Freelancer, or Your First Marketing Hire?
The real cost of an agency, a freelancer and an employee in Canada, what each is genuinely good at, and where each one fails.
What You Should Get for $1,000 a Month in Marketing
A $1,000 retainer buys a real but narrow scope. Here is what it should cover, what it cannot, and how to spot a padded one.
What SEO Actually Costs in Canada, With Real Numbers
Real monthly ranges for SEO in Canada, what moves the number up or down, and what a cheap quote quietly leaves out.
10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Marketing Partner
Ten questions to ask on a first call with a marketing agency, with the answer you want to hear and the answer that should worry you.
How 563 Imports Grew Email Revenue 218%
563 Imports grew email revenue 218% in the six months after a full flow rebuild. Here is what the rebuild involved and what transfers.
How to Split a $2,000 Monthly Marketing Budget
You have $2,000 a month for marketing and no framework for splitting it. Here is a worked allocation, and the honest floor for paid media.
Who Actually Owns Your Google Business Profile?
Your developer set up your Google Business Profile and left. Here is what Google's ownership rules actually allow, and how to get access back.
Google's New Rule on Bilingual Business Names
Google now disallows repeating your business name in two languages or scripts, even if that is what your sign says. Here is what to change.
Your Google Business Profile Got Suspended. Now What?
What Google actually documents about suspended profiles, the appeal step by step, and the one Canadian detail almost nobody mentions.
Google's AI Search Report: What It Shows, What It Hides
Google reports how often you show up in AI Overviews and AI Mode. One metric, most Canadian sites cannot see it yet, and the coverage gets one part wrong.
Which Google Business Profile Photos Actually Help?
Google does not say photos improve your local ranking. Here is what its own documentation actually says, and which photos quietly get removed.
Google Changed Its Search Links. Does It Affect You?
Google now routes search result clicks through its own redirect. Here is what it actually breaks, what nobody has proven yet, and what to check this week.
Content Marketing vs Paid Ads: Which to Fund First?
Not a matter of principle. A question about cash flow and time horizon. Run the cost-per-lead arithmetic first, and the answer usually decides itself.
How AI Search Is Changing SEO for Canadian Businesses
AI answers now sit above the results and fewer people click through. What actually changed, what Google says to do about it, and what is worth ignoring.
Do You Need a Website If You Have a Google Business Profile?
Sometimes the honest answer is no. When a Google Business Profile is genuinely enough, the four things it cannot do, and what a real website has to be.
Your Business Is on Apple Maps Too. Have You Claimed It?
Two thirds of Canadian mobile browsing happens on iPhones, and Apple Maps is the default. Here is how to claim and build your listing in about 30 minutes.
The 3 Biggest Mistakes Canadian Consultants Make Online
Three things that make independent Canadian consultants hard to hire, and one legal requirement most of them get wrong before their first campaign.
Mobile-First: Is Your Website Failing Customers?
In Canada, desktop still beats mobile for page views. Mobile-first design matters more than ever anyway. Here is why those two facts do not conflict.
Why Your Law Firm's Website Is Losing Clients
Five reasons Canadian law firm websites lose clients before a lawyer is ever contacted, including the trust signals your law society will not let you use.
What Happens to a Google Profile You Never Touch
Google does not penalize a quiet Google Business Profile. What actually happens is slower, harder to notice, and easier to fix than you think.
Google Removed Q&A From Business Profiles. Now What?
Google retired the Q&A section on Business Profiles in favour of Ask Maps. Here are five places those answers belong now, and the one you actually control.
The 15-Minute Monthly SEO Routine for Busy Business Owners
Five checks, fifteen minutes, once a month. The realistic SEO routine for an owner who does not have time for more than that, and does not need to.
How to Rank in the Google Maps 3-Pack
The 3-Pack is the block of three businesses Google shows above the map. Here is what actually moves you into it, and what you cannot change.
The Honest Agency Pricing Guide for Canadian Businesses
What a Canadian marketing retainer actually costs, the red flags worth walking away from, and exactly what mayans.STUDIO charges. No call required.
The $0 Website Audit Any Canadian Business Can Do
A free, twenty-minute audit any Canadian business owner can run today: speed, titles, broken links, profile consistency, and calls to action.
5 Signs Your Business Is Invisible on Google (And the Fix)
Five specific, fixable reasons Canadian businesses don't show up on Google, from an incomplete Business Profile to a slow site, with the fix for each.
Your Google Business Profile Checklist for Canadian Businesses
Your Google Business Profile is either your best free salesperson or a digital ghost town with no details and zero photos. Here's the complete, $0, one-afternoon checklist to fix it, before your competitor with the slightly better profile picture steals your next customer.
How to Ask for Google Reviews Without Making It Weird (A Guide for Genuine Interactions & Real Results)
Google reviews do two jobs: convince potential customers to trust you, and help Google decide whether to show your business in local search results. Most business owners either forget to ask or find it painfully awkward. This guide gives you the exact timing, word-for-word scripts, and a straightforward guide so asking for reviews becomes a natural part of every great customer experience.
How Vancouver Service Businesses Actually Win Referrals
Referrals close faster and stick longer than any paid channel. A four-step loop you can run without ever asking anyone for a favour.
An Honest Guide to Paid Ads for Vancouver Businesses
Google, Meta and LinkedIn each do a different job. Work out what a customer is worth to you first, then pick one channel and stay on it.
Maximizing Local SEO in Metro Vancouver
Metro Vancouver is 23 jurisdictions, and each neighbourhood behaves like its own market. Here is how to rank in the one your customers search from.