3 Unsexy But Powerful Strategies That Keep Small Businesses Alive

Most small businesses don’t fail because their product sucks. They fail because they ignore the boring stuff that works.

Here are 3 simple things that will quietly make you money—90% of business owners never do them.

1. Claim Your Google My Business (GMB)

Every time I notice a business has yet to claim its GMB listing, I feel like I just got punched in the gut.

Have they never Googled their own business? Have they never typed “[business type] near me” just to see what shows up?

Let’s fix that.

Say you own a bakery. Google “bakery near me.”

What do you see? A map. Business listings. Yelp. Maybe a couple of ads.

Boom—there’s your strategy. Claim your GMB. List on Yelp.

Most people won’t even do this. But if you do, you're now showing up where your customers are already looking.

Now let’s say you’re not brick-and-mortar. Maybe you’re a Home Organization Consultant.

Search “home organization consultant near me.”

The results are the same: GMB listings dominate. Yelp shows up. Angie’s List. Then, actual business websites.

Your marketing plan just wrote itself:

• Claim your GMB
• Create a professional website
• List on review platforms (Yelp, Angie’s List, etc.)

And don’t forget to localize your pages:

• “Home Organizer in [City]”
• “Professional Organizer - Nassau County”
• “Long Island Home Organization Services”

Google will love it. Your clients will find you faster.

2. Optimize for Google AI and ChatGPT

The way people search is changing fast.

Google’s AI-generated answers are already pushing some businesses out of the top spots.

Let me show you something weird.

In classic Google, 3 local businesses might show up in the “map pack.”But in AI search mode? Sometimes only 1 gets through.

Why? Address data.

When I looked into it, the businesses that showed up in AI results had full address info listed. Those that didn’t… vanished.

So if your listing is missing key info like your address (yes, even if you work from home), you’re invisible to the robots. (Maybe that's a good thing, Skynet will come for you last 😄)

The same goes for ChatGPT’s local recommendations.

I tested it using this query: “local plant nursery”

It asked for my zip code. Then gave me a mix of:

• Yelp listings
• YellowPages results
• Business websites

The key takeaway? Listings + Professional Website = You'll show up!

3. Create a Simple, Professional Website

This is the one most people overthink.

They hire a fancy designer. Spend months tweaking it. And still don’t publish anything.

Instead, just make a basic site with:

• Who you are
• What problem do you solve
• How to contact you
• Testimonials (even if it’s just 2)
• A clear CTA (schedule a call, book now, etc.)

Want help building out the rest of your marketing system? I made a free 4-part marketing framework just for this. 👉 Download it here

Final Thought:

Most businesses won’t do these. Not because they’re hard—because they’re boring.

It's boring work, but it leads to wins. And if you handle these 3 things, you’ll be ahead of 90% of small businesses in your industry.