Let’s talk for a moment about gratitude. About how people sometimes do things for no reason beyond wanting to say, ‘Thank you for a job well done’. As small business owners, gratitude is often the last thing on our minds. Overwhelmed as we are by our quotidian railing against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Taxes and wages and equipment costs and rent and insurance and accountants and bookkeepers and ever diminishing profit margins and, oh, did we mention taxes already? The enormity of the ‘all hands to the pumps!’ approach small business owners go through on a day to day basis makes thinking beyond the next task on our  ‘To Do List’, nigh on impossible. This isn’t a slight upon us as small business owners, or as human beings. It isn’t that we don’t care about other people. It’s just that running a small business demands so much of our focus, so much of our time, that it’s often hard to look beyond our own borders. Beyond what we need or what we want.

Consequently in business (and indeed in life), someone saying thank you for a job well done, is an all too rare occurrence. Just think about how many satisfied customers you’ve had down through the years with your small business. And then try to reconcile that with the tiny handful of positive reviews you’ve got on Google maps, or the minuscule amount of testimonials you’ve got from customers or clients on your website. Because I guarantee you the math will never come close to adding up.

In small business a customer says thank you by re-signing with you when the contract is up for renewal, or by returning to buy more products from you, etc. And maybe by recommending you to a friend, colleague or business associate. Beyond that, all bets are off.

But sometimes – just sometimes – the innate kindness of the human condition shines through when you least expect it. Today was such a day for me. It started when one of our clients, AutoActive Car Solutions, (a leading North Shore Mechanic) emailed me this wonderful testimonial out of the blue:

Client Testimonial 

“Appointing Brian and Tony from SEO North Sydney & Web Design to build our new website and do our SEO was one of the best business decisions we’ve ever made. Brian is creative, knowledgeable, focused and is fantastic to work with. His experience and expertise are unparalleled. We had no idea how SEO worked but Brian explained everything and made understanding the process particularly easy for us, and it has been a wonderful experience. Solid results were seen within a few short months, and now we have twice the Google first pages promised in the contract (with many at number 1). Thank you again Brian – we simply cannot thank you enough!” 

                                                                                             – Leeman and Bruce – AutoActive Car Solutions

A Gift Basket!

As if receiving that wonderful and unexpected testimonial wasn’t enough, we then received delivery of this amazing gift basket!

SEO Case Study

When Autoactive signed with SEO North Sydney & Web Design several months ago, they needed a new website designed and built, they needed an SEO package for the new website, and they needed brilliantly written content to populate the new website. But more importantly they needed someone on the other end of the phone who not only understood what they go through each day as small business owners. But who actually gives a damn about whether their business grows or not. And that’s where I like to think SEO North Sydney & Web Design offers a real point of difference. We’re a small business just like you. Our clients are small businesses and SMEs just like you. And so we understand – I mean really understand – what steps need to be taken in the digital domain to ensure your small business can compete on an equal footing with the big boys – WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK. Because when it comes to Google, the size of your business doesn’t matter a hill of beans. What matters is the concerted ongoing execution of a comprehensive, tailored WHITE HAT SEO strategy, via Google Best Practice guidelines. Do that correctly (and ethically) and any company, no matter how modest it may be, can rank on the first page of Google.

Thank YOU.

So to Leeman and Bruce at Autoactive Car Solutions, let me go on record and say that it’s our turn to say Thank YOU. Because your thoughtfulness and kindness totally made our day!