In the works
Your own Reality Check, in twenty minutes
The five places money usually leaks, and how to spot yours before you hire anyone.
Resources
Frankli speaking.
Guides, plain-English answers and a monthly newsletter. Free, useful, and written like a person.
Guides
Worth reading.
In the works
Google Business Profile, done properly
The free listing most owners set up once and never touch again — and what it costs them.
In the works
Speed to lead
The cheapest growth you're ignoring: what happens in the first hour after someone reaches out.
Guide titles are working ideas. Keep, swap or cut before launch.
The glossary
Say what now?
Marketing jargon, translated. What it means, and why you should care.
- AEOAnswer engine optimization
Making your business the answer that AI tools — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews — give when someone asks a question you should own.
Why you careA growing share of searches end in an AI answer instead of a click. If you're not in the answer, you're not in the running.
- Agentic marketing
AI agents that do routine marketing work from a job description and a checklist — watching, drafting, replying, reporting — with a person editing before anything goes out.
Why you careThe routine gets done every day, not when someone remembers. The judgment stays human.
- Attribution
Deciding which touchpoint gets credit for a lead or a sale: the ad, the search, the review, the referral.
Why you careWithout it, you cut the channel that was quietly doing the work.
- CACCustomer acquisition cost
Everything you spend on marketing and sales in a period, divided by the new customers you won in it.
Why you careIt's the number that says whether growth is profitable or just busy.
- Conversion rate
The share of visitors who do the thing you want: call, book, buy, fill in the form.
Why you careDoubling it is usually cheaper than doubling your traffic.
- CPLCost per lead
Ad or campaign spend divided by the leads it produced.
Why you careCheap leads that never close are the most expensive kind.
- CTACall to action
The button or line that tells someone exactly what to do next.
Why you care"Learn more" is not a plan. A clear next step is.
- CTRClick-through rate
The share of people who saw a link, listing or ad and clicked it.
Why you careLow CTR usually means the promise, not the product, needs work.
- DNSDomain Name System
The internet's address book. It turns tobefrankli.com into the address of the server where the site actually lives, and tells email where to go.
Why you careOne wrong record and your website or your email goes dark.
- Fractional CMO
A senior marketing leader who works part-time inside your business — owning the plan, the budget and the vendors.
Why you careExecutive-level decisions without an executive-level salary.
- Google Business ProfileGBP
Your free listing on Google Search and Maps: hours, photos, reviews, calls and directions.
Why you careFor a local business, it's often seen more than the website.
- Impressions
The number of times something was shown. Not seen, not clicked, not bought — shown.
Why you careIt's the metric agencies love to report. We report in revenue.
- Local SEO
Getting found for searches with local intent: "near me", your city, your neighborhood.
Why you careIt decides who shows up when someone nearby is ready to buy.
- LTVLifetime value
How much a customer is worth over the whole relationship, not just the first sale.
Why you careIt tells you how much you can afford to spend to win one.
- Map pack
The three businesses Google shows with a map, above the regular results, for local searches.
Why you careThree spots. A large share of local calls and clicks go to whoever holds them.
- NAP consistencyName, address, phone
Your business name, address and phone number matching exactly everywhere they appear online.
Why you careMismatches confuse Google, and confusion costs you map-pack visibility.
- Name servers
The service that holds your domain's DNS records — usually your registrar (like GoDaddy) or a service like Cloudflare.
Why you careWhoever controls the name servers controls where your domain points. Know who that is.
- Organic vs. paid
Organic is traffic you earn — search, social, referrals. Paid is traffic you rent — ads.
Why you carePaid stops the day the budget does. Organic compounds.
- Retargeting
Ads shown to people who already visited your site or engaged with you.
Why you careMost people don't buy on the first visit. This is the second touch.
- Review velocity
How steadily new reviews come in over time.
Why you careA steady flow says "open and busy". A burst, then silence, says the opposite.
- Schema markup
Code on a page that tells search engines exactly what it is: a business, a service, a review, an FAQ.
Why you careIt helps you show up with richer results — and helps AI tools understand you.
- Share of voice
Your visibility compared with your competitors' — in search, in ads, in the map pack.
Why you careYou don't need to be everywhere. You need to be ahead of the people you lose to.
- Speed to lead
How fast you respond to a new inquiry.
Why you careThe lead that waited an hour called someone else.
- UTM parameters
Tags added to the end of a link so your analytics knows where a visitor came from.
Why you careWithout them, "where did this lead come from?" becomes a guess.
Start here
Let’s talk bottom line.
Tell us what’s getting between your business and its next stage of growth. We’ll start with the right questions, a clear view of the problem, and what deserves to happen next.