Small businesses getting more from digital
For owners of small businesses running digital alongside everything else. Most of it comes from the 55 digital audits I ran between January 2020 and October 2021, and the questions run from whether your problem is really a website problem to what an audit is worth.
Working out whether there is a problem
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Is my business unusual, or does everyone have these digital problems?
- What 55 audits taught meTwo years, 55 businesses, 728 pages of reports. The patterns that showed up again and again, and why small firms struggle with digital.
- The first question I always askBefore checking page speeds or meta descriptions, I ask the same question: what does this business actually need digital to do? The answer is almost never what the owner thinks.
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Is my problem really a website problem?
- Not every digital problem is about websitesOne of the 55 businesses I audited employed hundreds of people. They didn't need marketing help. They needed to replicate the creative accidents that happen when people work in the same room.
- When the website IS the businessFor some businesses I audited, the website wasn't a marketing channel. It was the entire business. Here's what changes when every page speed issue costs you actual revenue.
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What do businesses like mine get wrong?
- When manufacturers go digitalSeven of the 55 businesses I audited were manufacturers. Their digital problems weren't about social media. They were about stock systems held together with spreadsheets and quoting processes that involved printing PDFs.
- Creative businesses, creative problemsPhotographers, illustrators, theatre companies, designers. The irony: their work is stunning and their digital strategy is nonexistent. Findings from auditing creative businesses across 55 digital audits.
- The instrument maker targeting JapanA manufacturer moving production back to the UK. A cult following in Japan. Products costing thousands. The digital challenge: building an e-commerce experience worthy of the product.
- The workshop that changes livesA woodturner running commercial manufacturing alongside training for veterans and people with mental health difficulties. A website that needed to serve both. And a content strategy nobody expected.
- From networking group to the United NationsA professional networking group for women in a male-dominated industry grew into an international organisation. The digital platform was still designed for local meetups.
- Two websites, one missionAn ethical recruitment firm had two websites for two audiences. Double the maintenance, double the problems. Here's why one good site with clear navigation beats two mediocre ones.
- The company that was already winningOne of the 55 businesses I audited had grown from 8m to 30m turnover and was already number one nationally. They wanted an Amazon-style customer journey. Here's what that taught me.
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We patched things together in lockdown. Will it hold?
- The Covid digital scramble20 of the 55 businesses I audited pivoted digitally during Covid. Most of those emergency solutions were still running unchanged two years later. Sound familiar?
Weighing it up
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Why do we get visitors but not customers?
- Why your website gets visitors but not customersTraffic that doesn't convert isn't a traffic problem. Sharper pages, clearer calls to action and a working enquiry path turn visitors into enquiries.
- Your customers are dropping out somewhere. Here’s how to find whereLosing customers between interested and paid? Map the customer journey, spot the leaks and recover sales you've already paid to win, without more traffic.
- Your homepage is about your customer, not your company\"Founded in 2015, we are a leading provider of...\" I read some version of that sentence on the homepage of nearly every business I audited. 35 out of 55 | 1968 Consulting
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Does our website work on a phone?
- The mobile usability gap: why 64% of small business websites still fail on phones35 of 55 businesses I audited had mobile problems. Buttons too small to tap, text needing pinch zoom, menus that collapsed on themselves.
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Why are we not found in search, and why are clicks falling?
- SEO for small businesses: the quick wins that take an afternoon and last for years42 of 55 businesses I audited had basic SEO problems. Missing meta descriptions, generic titles, no heading structure. All fixable in an afternoon.
- Your organic rankings are fine. So why are clicks falling? part 1Something strange has been happening in search over the past year or so, and it is showing up in client conversations more often than almost anything | 1968 Consulting
- Why B2B businesses should look at their desktop search data differently – part 2Most SEO advice is written with smartphones in mind. That's understandable — mobile accounts for the majority of global search volume, most industry | 1968 Consulting
- AI Mode is coming. Here is what brands should be doing now – part 3Google is positioning AI Mode as a replacement for search as we know it. What is worth doing now, and what is just anxiety dressed as strategy.
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We have analytics. What should we actually look at?
- Google Analytics was installed but nobody looked at it32 out of 55 businesses I audited had Google Analytics on their website but weren't using it. Here's the four things to check monthly that take ten minutes.
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Our web developer has gone. What now?
- “Our web developer disappeared”11 of the 55 businesses I audited had a broken relationship with their web developer. Here's how to make sure you're never stranded if yours walks away.
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How do we compare with our competitors?
- Why I always look at the competitionCompetitor analysis was part of 32 out of 55 audits. Most businesses had never systematically looked at what their competitors do online. Here's why it's one of the most useful things I do.
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Is AI worth it for a business our size?
- AI for small businesses: what is worth it and what is just expensive noisePublishes 17 September 2026
- The boring AI wins that actually save SMEs moneySkip the hype. The AI worth having for a small business takes dull, repetitive admin off your plate, saving hours every week for a few pounds a month.
Deciding and buying
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Do we need a strategy, and what should it cost?
- A digital strategy that fits on one page and a small budgetA digital strategy is just clear decisions about what to do, what to skip and in what order. How SMEs build one on a small budget, without the big agency bill.
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What does an audit find, and is it worth £1,500?
- The £1500 audit that finds money you’re already leaving on the tableMost SMEs cannot say which digital spend makes money and which wastes it. What a focused audit finds, and what it typically pays back.
The evidence
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