I regularly come across Devon businesses doing brilliant work that hardly anyone can find online. A joiner with a waiting list built entirely on recommendations. A family run café with a loyal following and no active social media. They’re good at what they do and they’ve thrived on word of mouth, but the way people choose a business has changed and many of them haven’t noticed yet.
Even the warmest recommendation now ends with a search. Someone hears your name at the school gate, then looks you up on their phone before they call. If they find a proper website with recent photos of your work and some good reviews, they ring you. If they find nothing, or a Facebook page that went quiet years ago, they move on to the next name Google shows them. You never even know the enquiry existed.
Most of the business owners I speak to aren’t ignoring the problem. They simply don’t know where to start. Some have been put off by jargon, others by someone who promised the world and delivered a website nobody visits. It becomes a job for later, when things are quieter, and for most small businesses things are never quieter.
The answer isn’t to do everything at once. Getting found online is a roll out done in a sensible order, and the first step costs nothing. A properly completed Google Business Profile puts you on Google Maps and in the local results when someone nearby searches for what you do. For many businesses that alone brings in new enquiries.
From there you build outwards. Your website should be written around the phrases customers actually type, such as “roofer in Newton Abbot” rather than just “roofer”. Add real photos of your work and ask happy customers to leave a review. Over time, useful articles that answer the questions people ask you every week give Google good reason to trust you.
It does work. Through careful SEO we’ve seen our clients’ names move onto the first page of Google. For a small local business, that’s the difference between being overlooked and being the one people call.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Search Google for “devon business” and this very site, Devon Business News, sits at the top of the page, above Devon County Council. Devon Business Directory, which we built together, appears just below it and ahead of the Devon Chamber of Commerce. Both got there by following the same roll out I’d recommend to any local business, with clear content about Devon and a steady flow of useful articles, along with plenty of links from other local sites.
Local businesses also have an advantage the national firms can’t match, because you know your patch. Whether it’s repairing cob cottages or getting planning permission inside Dartmoor National Park, writing about that local knowledge is exactly what Google and the new AI search tools reward. So is being listed and talked about on trusted local sites, from business directories to news sites like this one.
I’ve set out the whole roll out, step by step, in a guide on the Countdown Creative website: Invisible online? How to get your business found in the South West. Whether you do it yourself or bring in some help, what matters most is that you start, because your next customer is already searching.
Al Gibson
Alistair Gibson is the founder of Countdown Creative and editor of Devon Business News. A journalist and communications specialist, he combines traditional storytelling with digital media to help businesses communicate clearly and get noticed. He has lived and worked in Devon since 2007, building strong connections with businesses and organisations across Plymouth, Exeter and the wider South West.
