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.
How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost? (What SMBs Actually Pay)
Meta runs an auction, not a price list. How your cost is really set, what the benchmark data says businesses pay per lead, the budget you need to clear the learning phase, and why cost per result beats a cheap click.
Field notesWhat 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.