The Local Business Marketing Funnel: Why Some Businesses Can Skip It, and Why Others Can’t

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 15, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Most business owners assume an ad works like this. Someone sees it, they click it, they buy. In reality, that almost never happens. A person usually sees your ad, forgets about it, searches for you later, reads a few reviews, compares you to two competitors, maybe...

DIY Local SEO Checklist: What You Can Do Yourself (and What to Hand Off)

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 15, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

A quick note before we start. This is written in plain English, not marketing jargon. No made up acronyms, no technical shortcuts. If a business owner without a marketing background can’t follow it, I haven’t done my job. Every small business owner I talk...

Digital Marketing for Sandy, Oregon Small Businesses: What Actually Works Here

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 12, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Sandy businesses don’t need a national agency, they need someone who knows this market. I work with small businesses throughout the Portland metro area, and Sandy comes up often because it’s a market that gets treated as an afterthought by bigger agencies....

What Your Server Logs Are Telling You That Google Search Console Won’t

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 11, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Google Search Console shows you a sample. Server logs show you everything. Every SEO I know checks Search Console daily. Almost none of them check their server logs. That’s backwards, and I say that as someone who spent years relying on GSC data before a...

Where Ad Agencies Cut Corners to Protect Margin, and Who Pays for It

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 10, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Agency profitability and client results aren’t the same goal, and the gap is where corners get cut. I’ve sat on both sides of this table, inside agencies and advising clients trying to figure out why their agency relationship feels off even when the...

The Search Engine Marketing Metrics That Actually Matter in 2026 (And How to Know If You’re Wasting Money)

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 7, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Search engine marketing can be one of the fastest ways to generate leads — or one of the fastest ways to burn through a budget with nothing to show for it. The difference usually isn’t the platform, the industry, or even the offer. It’s whether...

Top 5 Easiest Ways to Drive Organic Leads (No Ad Spend Required)

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 6, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Paid ads can get you leads fast, but the moment you stop paying, the leads stop coming. Organic leads work differently. They take a bit more patience to build, but once the systems are in place, they keep generating results month after month without a growing ad...

Why Content Marketing Keeps Your Website Ranking Over Time

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 5, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

A lot of business owners treat their website like a home renovation. You plan it, you build it, you launch it, and then you move on with your life. That mindset works fine for a kitchen remodel. It does not work for a website, and it especially does not work for a...

What Is a Good Cost Per Lead, and How Do You Improve It

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 2, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Cost per lead is one of the most useful numbers in marketing, and also one of the most misunderstood. Business owners often ask me what a good cost per lead is, expecting a single number they can compare themselves against. The honest answer is that it depends heavily...

How to Build a Digital Marketing Strategy That Actually Drives Growth

by Kevin Bekker | Jul 2, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

Most businesses do not have a marketing strategy. They have a list of tactics. They run some paid ads. They post on social media. Someone updates the blog when there is time. It all happens, but none of it is connected to a plan. When I sit down with a business for...

Most Websites Don’t Have an SEO Problem. They Have an Ownership Problem.

by Kevin Bekker | Jun 16, 2026 | Marketing Strategy

One of the most common misconceptions I see when reviewing websites is the assumption that poor organic performance automatically means there is something wrong with the website. Business owners often believe they need a complete redesign, a new content strategy, or...

How to Fix Shortcodes That No Longer Render in Divi, Elementor, or WPBakery After WordPress 6.5

by Kevin Bekker | May 31, 2025 | Marketing Strategy

If you recently updated your site to WordPress 6.5 or newer, and noticed that shortcodes are no longer rendering in your page builder content — you’re not alone. This is a known issue that has affected a large number of WordPress users, particularly those using...

AI Search and the Rise of llms.txt: Why Your Website Needs It in 2025

by Kevin Bekker | Apr 29, 2025 | AI SEO, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, SEO

By 2025, searching online isn’t just about Google’s familiar blue links anymore. Now, search is dominated by AI models — like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude — that scan the web, gather information directly from websites, and deliver it instantly as summaries, answers, or...

The Full-Funnel Digital Marketing Strategy for 2025

by Kevin Bekker | Apr 17, 2025 | Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy

In 2025, digital marketing isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about building smart, sustainable systems that guide your audience from first contact to loyal customer. That’s where a full-funnel marketing strategy comes in. This post is your guide to understanding,...

Why Technical SEO is the Backbone of Any Successful SEO Strategy

by Kevin Bekker | Mar 7, 2025 | SEO, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy

When people think about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), they often focus on on-page SEO (content, keywords, meta descriptions) or off-page SEO (backlinks, domain authority). While these are essential components of an effective strategy, Technical SEO is the...