DentalLocal SEO
How to get more new dental patients from Google Maps
Review recency, insurance clarity and same week availability, in that order.
5 min read
Marketing insights
Two Cents.
Opinion pieces. What we think about small business marketing, why, and what we'd do about it. Filter by your industry, the thing you're stuck on, or your market.
47 articles · 13 industries · every piece cites its sources
LOOKING FOR FACTS, NOT OPINIONS?
Definitions, quizzes, city guides, benchmarks and free tools live in Free Resources. This is the part where we tell you what we think.
Browse articles
Showing 47 articles
DentalPaid media
How much does dental marketing cost?
Percentage of collections, cost per new patient, and where the money goes.
6 min read
VisionLocal SEO
How to get more eye exam bookings from Google Maps
Two questions decide it: are you close, and do you take my plan.
5 min read
VisionPaid media
How much should an optometry practice spend on marketing?
A percentage of collections, and why recall should be funded before ads.
5 min read
Med spaLocal SEO
How to get more med spa patients from Google Maps
Aesthetics is a visual category and the profile is where the first impression happens.
5 min read
Med spaPaid media
How much does med spa marketing cost?
What practices spend, and what the money is buying at each level.
6 min read
Home servicesLocal SEODallas
How to get more handyman leads from Google Maps
Map ranking rewards a short list of unglamorous things. Here they are.
6 min read
Home servicesPaid mediaDallas
How much does handyman marketing cost in Dallas?
The honest range, what each line buys, and the number that tells you it is working.
6 min read
DentalPaid media
How to get more dental implant cases
Answer the cost question first and follow up for months, not days.
7 min read
DentalEmail & CRM
The dental reactivation campaign nobody runs
Your overdue hygiene list is the cheapest production available to you.
6 min read
VisionEmail & CRM
The recall system most optometry practices are missing
The cheapest exams you will book this year are patients you already have.
6 min read
VisionLocal SEO
Why insurance pages are the best SEO an eye care practice can do
High intent, low competition, and almost nobody builds them.
5 min read
Med spaReviews & reputation
How many reviews does a med spa need?
Enough to look established locally, and specific enough to sell the treatment.
5 min read
Med spaPaid media
Instagram ads or Google Ads for a med spa?
One creates demand, the other catches it. Most practices need the second one first.
6 min read
Home servicesReviews & reputationDallas
How many reviews does a Dallas handyman need?
Enough to sit alongside the top three, with the newest one from this month.
5 min read
Home servicesPaid mediaDallas
Google LSA vs Google Ads for Dallas contractors
Two different products with similar names. Pick by job type, not by preference.
6 min read
DentalPricing & offers
What drives orthodontic starts
The monthly payment, the referring dentist, and how easy the consult is to book.
6 min read
DentalBrand
How cosmetic dental practices attract better cases
Patients compare smiles. Publish yours, with prices nearby.
6 min read
VisionLocal SEO
How dry eye clinics find patients
They are searching symptoms, not specialists. Write for the symptoms.
6 min read
VisionBrand
Competing with online glasses retailers
Price is a poor contest for an independent practice. Win on judgment, access and care.
5 min read
Med spaSeasonality
The med spa year, month by month
Demand moves on a predictable calendar. Most practices spend against it evenly anyway.
6 min read
Med spaPricing & offers
Why med spa memberships beat discounts
A discount buys one visit. A membership buys a year and stops the price war.
6 min read
Home servicesPricing & offersDallas
How much should a Dallas handyman spend on marketing?
A percentage, a floor, and the point at which spending more stops helping.
5 min read
Home servicesPaid mediaDallas
The best marketing channels for Dallas contractors
Five that earn their place, in the order we would turn them on.
7 min read
DentalAI search
How to get your dental practice recommended by AI assistants
The answers patients ask for are cost, insurance and availability. Publish all three.
6 min read
DentalReviews & reputation
Marketing a pediatric dental practice to nervous parents
Reassurance sells the appointment. Everything else is secondary.
5 min read
VisionLocal SEO
Why multi-location eye care groups lose local search
Nine locations, one template, and no local specificity anywhere.
6 min read
VisionPaid media
What fills LASIK consultations
Price on the page, financing next to it, and follow up measured in months.
6 min read
Med spaBrand
What a med spa website has to do
Four things. Most sites in this category do one of them well and skip the rest.
5 min read
Med spaAI search
How to get your med spa recommended by AI assistants
Assistants answer cost and candidacy questions. Practices that publish those answers get named.
6 min read
Home servicesLocal SEODallas
Dallas handyman SEO: a practical guide
The pages to build, in order, for a metro made of suburbs that search separately.
7 min read
Home servicesAI searchDallas
How to make your handyman business show up in ChatGPT
Assistants quote sources they can read and verify. Most contractor sites are neither.
6 min read
Hair salons & barbershopsLocal market insightsNashville
How to fill salon chairs on a Tuesday
Weekends sell themselves. Midweek is where the margin hides.
5 min read
Hair salons & barbershopsLocal SEO
Your Google profile is your front window
Photos, hours and a service list do more for walk-ins than anything you'll post this month.
4 min read
Local gymsLocal market insightsChicago
January is a trap for local gyms
Signups spike, retention craters, and you end up judging the year on a month that lied to you.
6 min read
RealtorsLocal market insightsDallas
Farm one zip code before you buy a single lead
Purchased leads are rented attention. A farmed neighborhood is an asset you keep.
5 min read
DentalPaid media
The new-patient math most dental practices get wrong
A $300 acquisition cost is either fine or fatal, and one untracked number decides which.
6 min read
VisionPricing & offers
Optical is retail. Market it like retail.
The exam gets the appointment. Frames get the margin. Most vision marketing only sells the first one.
5 min read
Home repairLocal SEO
In home repair, speed is the whole strategy
The contractor who answers wins. Everything else is a tiebreaker.
4 min read
RestaurantsLocal market insightsMurfreesboro
The slow-night playbook for independent restaurants
Fill the shifts that make the week work, with people who fit the room.
6 min read
BarsLocal market insightsNashville
Regulars beat reach
Fifty people who come every week are worth more than fifty thousand who watched a reel.
5 min read
Tourism organizationsLocal market insightsMiami
The money is in shoulder season
Peak weeks sell out without you. Your job is the eight weeks on either side.
7 min read
Flower shopsEmail & CRM
Flower shops: build the 340 days between holidays
Valentine's and Mother's Day are order-taking. The rest of the year is where a florist gets built.
5 min read
Boutique & gift shopsLocal market insightsGallatin
Turn foot traffic into a list
Someone walked in, loved it, left, and forgot you exist. That's the whole problem.
4 min read
RestaurantsLocal market insightsBrooklyn
New York is five markets, not one
Borough behavior differs more than most national brands assume. Small businesses feel it first.
6 min read
Local gymsLocal market insightsBoston
Boston runs on the academic calendar
Move-in, finals and graduation reshape demand for nearly every neighborhood business in the city.
5 min read
Home repairLocal market insightsSan Antonio
What value markets teach about pricing
A tighter household budget doesn't mean cheap. It means your reasoning has to show.
5 min read
Get our two cents monthly.
One email a month: what's working for small businesses right now, what we'd skip, and the numbers behind it. Unsubscribe whenever.
Where this comes from.
Every article lists its sources. We lean on primary data instead of recycled blog posts: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau, the Small Business Administration, the Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance, Better Business Bureau standards, local chambers of commerce, official tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, industry trade associations, and Pew Research Center. Then we add what we've seen work with clients.
Common questions.
- What is Two Cents?
- Our opinion column on small business marketing, sorted by industry, subject and local market, with sources cited on every piece.
- How do I find advice for my city?
- Choose the subject "Local market insights" and the state and city dropdowns appear, covering New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Nashville, Knoxville, Murfreesboro, Gallatin, Dallas and San Antonio.
- Does it cost anything?
- No. Read it, use it, steal it. If you'd rather someone run it for you, that's the part we charge for.