Blog
Field notes, takes, and the occasional teardown from the Pedal team — built from real client engagements running paid media for local and small businesses.
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
The quieter, cheaper growth lever: turning more of the visitors you already pay for into customers. What CRO means, how to calculate it, and where small and mid-sized businesses should start.
Field notesHow to Choose a Digital Marketing Agency (Without Getting Burned)
The 8 criteria that predict a good fit, the questions to ask on the call, and the red flags to walk away from. A straight guide for small and mid-sized businesses.
Field notesHow Much Does a Marketing Agency Cost? (A Straight Answer)
What marketing agencies really charge in 2026: SEO, paid media, and social, by pricing model, with honest ranges and no hidden-fee runaround.
Field notesSEO for Small & Mid-Sized Businesses: What Actually Moves Rankings
The three levers that actually move rankings for a lead-gen business — reviews, the local pack, and deep service pages — and what to stop paying your SEO retainer for.
Field notesThe 5 Questions a Real Google Ads Audit Answers That Google's Recommendations Won't
The five questions a real paid search audit answers — workhorse, budget waste, conversion-counting sanity, competitor-brand leakage, and the marginal dollar — that Google's Recommendations tab won't surface.
Field notesHow to Read a Google Ads Audit
What a real paid search audit contains — scorecard, workhorses, drains, conversion-tracking sanity — and the red flags that tell you it was a checkbox exercise.