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THE FIELD NOTES

THE BLOG.

39 articles on marketing, Google Ads, local SEO, branding, and web design, written by the person doing the work.

A person standing on a bustling city street, holding a smartphone and looking for local businesses using a search engine.

FEATURED - September 18, 2026

Local Search SEO: How Beefed Up Helps Local Businesses Dominate Nearby Results

How Google's local algorithm works, which ranking factors carry the most weight, and exactly what to prioritize first - Google Business Profile, local keywords, on-page, citations, reviews, local links, and AI search.

Isometric illustration of three small adjacent platforms each carrying a different workspace: a single chair beside a small desk for a freelancer, a small round table with two chairs for in-house team, and a larger multi-station office for an agency.

June 24, 2026

Should you hire an in-house marketer, an agency, or a freelancer? (The honest tradeoffs)

There's a moment in most small businesses where the owner stops being the marketer. The question is who picks it up next. Here's the honest comparison of in-house hires vs marketing agencies vs freelancers in 2026, with real cost numbers, the criteria for each, and the hybrid model most established SMBs end up using.

Isometric illustration of a brass balance scale with lime-green coins on the left pan and a rising lime-green line graph on the right pan, the right pan slightly higher, representing positive marketing ROI.

June 23, 2026

How to measure marketing ROI for a small business (the math, the tools, and what to ignore)

Most small business owners I work with can tell me, off the top of their head, what they spent on marketing last month. Roughly none can tell me what it returned. Here's the actual math for marketing ROI in a small business, the tools that work in 2026, and the metrics that look meaningful but aren't.

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