Thunderstrike Marketing

04/06/2026

Q1 is in the books. Let's talk about it.

Maybe it went great. Maybe it didn't go the way you planned. Either way — the goal was never perfection. It's excellence.

And excellence is a moving target.

When I was coaching in the SEC, each weekend from around St. Patrick's Day through mid-May, you play your 30-game conference schedule.

Ten weeks.

Absolutely grueling weekends.

Against the best amateur baseball talent on the planet. 🌎

Aside from some shuffling due to ESPN programming requests, games are typically Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

And most weekends — due to the extreme parity in that league — the series almost always comes down to Sunday's Game #3.

We were always loaded on the mound, and Friday night's were usually favorable outcomes. We'd win. Our opponents would even it up Saturday. And then came the rubber match.

There's an impossibly thin line between winning and losing at that level.

Those Sunday games revealed who had the focus, the determination, and the resilience to push past 48 hours of emotional highs and lows and still execute when it mattered most.

Roster depth mattered. But ex*****on mattered more. ⚾

The wins felt incredible. The losses were equally painful.

Some LONG bus rides home.

But here's the thing — come Monday morning staff meeting, none of that mattered anymore.

We were already learning from the weekend and planning practice and game strategy for the next series based on what we just went through.

Injuries. Breakout performances. Bad at-bats. Matchup advantages. Matchup problems.

There was never a moment where you felt like you truly had it "figured out" — because the next opponent wasn't about to relent.

Business is exactly like this. ⚡

Had a great Q1?

Congrats — you earned it. Double down on what's working. But don't get comfortable, because there's always room to improve.

Q1 didn't go the way you wanted? SO WHAT!

Compensate and adjust. Pivot. Learn from your mistakes.

Maybe it's a strategy that needs rethinking. Maybe it's your pricing. Maybe it's your offer. Maybe it's your ex*****on systems. Whatever it is — zoom out, find the gaps, and go to work.

The end of Q1 doesn't mean the ballgame is over.

It's actually just getting started.

Stay the course. Be consistent. Be willing to take chances. Be willing to set your ego aside when something you think should work isn't working.

And, keep humble if things are going well.

Above all — celebrate the victories you had this quarter, no matter how big or small. 🏆

Here's to a great Q2 for all of us. 🧢

04/03/2026

Quick question: do you know what you're actually paying for Google Ads management — and how that number was determined?

Most small business owners find out the hard way that pricing in this industry is all over the place. Flat fees. Percentage-of-spend. Performance-based. Hybrid. Each model has different implications for how your manager is incentivized, and not all of them point in your direction.

I wrote a full breakdown of how Google Ads management cost works in 2026 — what the four pricing models are, how each one affects your relationship with whoever's managing your campaigns, and where the percentage-of-spend model creates a quiet conflict of interest that most agencies won't bring up on a sales call.

I also published Thunderstrike's actual rates. $499 to $1,999/month plus a percentage of ad spend. No sales call to unlock the number.

If you're currently paying for Google Ads management and not sure if it's priced fairly — or you're shopping around and don't know what's reasonable — this is worth 10 minutes.

Read it here ➡️

Google Ads management costs $500-$10,000+/month. Compare 4 pricing models, see what's included at each tier, and get real published rates from a Google Partner.

04/01/2026

Got this text from a client this week and had to share:

"You're a magician bro I never see a conversion rate like this"

"Mind has been blown"

The backstory: Shopify store owner with a Google Ads account that wasn't working. Budget disappearing into the wrong places.

Conversion tracking broken.

Shopping campaigns weren't getting the spend they needed.

Over just about 4 days, I rebuilt the website UX to tighten the funnel from product page through checkout and restructured the Google Ads account.

Campaign launched March 19th.

13 days later:

💥$18,850 in sales

📈2,200% revenue growth

📦700% more orders

🧨Average order value up 220%

But the best part? This message:

"I was expecting a slow first month few orders every week, we are sitting at few orders every day"

That's what this work is about.

Watching a business owner go from stressed to scrambling to keep up with demand.

If your Google Ads feel like they're burning money without much to show for it, I do free audits to show you what's actually happening. Just shoot me a message.

https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/free-google-ads-audit/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopify_testimonial_apr2026

03/30/2026

Last week I talked about mastering the fundamentals.

This week — what that actually looks like when a team commits to it.

About 25 years ago (gulp! 😅), I was an assistant coach on a local high school team that went 31-0 and was ranked the #1 high school baseball team in the country by both Baseball America and ESPN.

31 and 0. In a sport where randomness reigns supreme and the law of averages make losses a near certainty.

Were they talented? Absolutely. Six players were selected in the MLB Draft that June. Two were first-round picks. Pretty much everyone else on the roster wound up signing a D1 scholarship.

But talent alone doesn't go undefeated. 🏆

These kids had a maniacal commitment to excellence in everything they did — and a deep respect for the little things that most people skip over.

We weren't big on fancy drills or elaborate in-game strategies.

Just perfection with the fundamentals.

Every single day.

Doing a little a lot > doing a lot a little.

Because repetition is the mother of skill.

Same rules apply to business. ⚡

You don't need the flashiest strategy or the newest tool.

You need the discipline to show up every day and master hitting the ball off a tee before you try to go "WHAMMY!" on a 95 mph fastball.

Be committed to your commitment.

Your wins will follow. 🧢

03/28/2026

Thunderstrike Marketing’s two loyal employees — Leia & Rey — had a little bit of energy heading into the weekend which was somewhat of a surprise given what was an extremely productive week working with clients. In any event, “How It Started ➡️ How It’s Going”. Needless to say, these two are ready for a Saturday nap 🐶🚶🏞️

03/26/2026

There's no shortage of marketing advice online. The problem is most of it is written by people who make money whether your marketing works or not.

As a Google Partner and after 10+ years and $350K+ in managed ad spend, here's what I can tell you: the businesses that grow pick the right channels and commit. The ones that stall try to do everything at once on a budget that can't support it.

I put together a guide that answers the question every business owner eventually asks — where should my marketing dollars actually go?

It covers the five channels that consistently deliver, how to match strategy to your business stage, and the warning signs that your current spend is being wasted.

No 47-step frameworks.

No "you need to be on every platform" advice.

Just a straight answer backed by real experience managing real budgets.

Read the full guide here ➡️ https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/how-to-market-your-business-online/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=how-to-market-your-business-online-post

03/25/2026

60% of your website visitors are on their phones right now. Is your site actually built for them?

Here's a test I run with every new client: I ask them to pull up their own website on their phone and try to complete their most important conversion action. Fill out the contact form. Tap the phone number to call. Find their hours and location.

The reaction is almost always the same.

Squinting.

Pinching to zoom.

Frustrated sighing.

"I didn't realize it was this bad."

Your web developer showed you the desktop version in the presentation. That's what you approved. The mobile experience was an afterthought—technically "responsive," but practically unusable.

Recently, I audited a service business. Beautiful desktop site. On mobile:

🔢 Phone number was plain text, not tap-to-call
📋 Contact form required horizontal scrolling to see the submit button
⤵️ Hero image pushed all the important info below the fold
😝 Font was 12px—technically readable, practically a vision test

They were getting 400+ mobile visitors per month.

Conversion rate?

Under 0.5%.

I didn't redesign their whole site. We fixed the mobile experience specifically:

🔝 Phone number in header, clickable on every page
📲 Forms rebuilt for thumb-friendly input
⚠️ Critical info moved above the fold
👍 Touch targets sized for actual human fingers

Same traffic. Conversion rate jumped to 2.3% in 30 days.

Most "responsive" websites technically work on mobile. They resize. They don't break. But technically working and actually converting are two very different standards.

I build fast WordPress sites & landing pages that are mobile-first, then adapt for desktop.

Not because mobile is trendier—because that's how your customers actually find you.

03/23/2026

Back in my baseball coaching days in the SEC, I worked with infielders.

At the start of each practice, while I had one of our student managers pump salsa/latin music through our stadium's speaker system (to subconsciously impart a little style, rhythm, and flow to their footwork), we ran the same progression drills:

No gloves on our knees.

Then rollers at them.

Then rollers to their glove side.

Then rollers to their backhand.

Then, we added gloves.

Same progression.

Then, we graduated to standing.

Again, same progression -- ground balls at them, glove side, and backhands.

Then throwing to first.

Then turning two. 🔄

Every. Single. Day.

The guys who wanted to skip ahead to the highlight-reel plays? They're the ones who booted the routine grounder when it mattered most.

Small business works the same way. ⚡

We're all scrolling past the next tool, the next hack, the next "game-changing strategy" — and it's tempting to chase all of it.

Some experimentation is healthy.

But don't let the noise fog out the fundamentals that actually made you successful.

Master your routine grounders first.

Start barehanded if you have to.

The double plays will come⚾🧢🏆

03/20/2026

3 reasons Tampa Bay small businesses lose to bigger competitors in search results 👇

1️⃣ You're competing in a metro-wide arena on a local budget.

When someone searches "restaurant near me" or "home services Tampa Bay," Google doesn't hand you a hometown advantage. You're going head-to-head with businesses that have bigger marketing budgets and years of SEO built up. The search results don't care that you've been serving your community for 20 years.

2️⃣ Your Google Business Profile is doing the bare minimum.

For local businesses, your GBP is often the first thing customers see — map pack results, reviews, hours, photos. If it's not optimized, you're invisible in the exact searches that drive phone calls and foot traffic.

3️⃣ You're marketing like a national brand instead of a local one.

Generic keyword lists and stock photo social posts don't work for local businesses. Each community has a different business landscape, different competitive dynamics, and different customers. Your marketing should reflect that.

The good news? Hyperlocal targeting is the one advantage big-budget competitors can't replicate. They're chasing metro-wide traffic while you capture customers already in your zip code.

I built dedicated pages breaking down what businesses in each of these markets should be thinking about when it comes to getting found online:

⚡ Safety Harbor → https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/digital-marketing-safety-harbor/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=location_pages&utm_content=3_reasons_post

⚡ Oldsmar → https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/digital-marketing-oldsmar/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=location_pages&utm_content=3_reasons_post

⚡ Westchase → https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/digital-marketing-westchase/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=location_pages&utm_content=3_reasons_post

03/17/2026

Happy St. Pat's to all who celebrate 🍀

For you small business owners out there, here's a nugget of gold that the leprechaun left for you at the end of the rainbow:

Most marketing consultants won't show you their pricing until after they've had you on a sales call, built rapport, and gotten you emotionally invested.

I'm not wired that way.

New post on the Thunderstrike blog breaks down what keyword research actually costs — freelancers, agencies, DIY platforms, and independent consultants.

Real numbers.

No dancing an Irish jig around it.

My productized keyword research packages run $99–$1,499 depending on what you need.

You don't have to talk to me first.

Pick the package that fits, check out, and I go cook.

If you're a small business owner trying to figure out what keywords your site should be targeting — or if you're paying an agency and wondering if you're getting your money's worth — this post is worth 5 minutes of your time.

📖 Full pricing breakdown: https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/keyword-research-cost/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=keyword-research

03/16/2026

I spent over a decade coaching baseball. Professionally, from the perspective of pure joy & fulfillment, the best experience of my life.

One thing I told every player who stepped in the box:

"If the swing isn't working, don't swing harder. Fix the mechanics." 🔧

Same thing applies to business.

When I launched Thunderstrike, I spent two years grinding on something that wasn't connecting.

Wrong message.

Wrong audience.

Instead of pushing harder, I stopped — rebuilt the foundation from scratch — and things started clicking almost immediately. ⚡

Sometimes the bravest move isn't doing more. It's having the honesty to start over.

"You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." (James Clear, Atomic Habits)

03/14/2026

Ever searched "plumber near me" or "best tacos Safety Harbor" and noticed the same 3 businesses always showing up at the top with a little map? 🗺️

That's the Google Map Pack — and it's the most valuable real estate in local search. It sits above everything else and captures roughly 44% of all clicks.

Here's the thing: the businesses ranking there aren't always the best option. They're the ones whose Google Business Profile is optimized for the specific signals Google cares about.

I just wrote a full guide breaking down exactly how it works — including the framework I used to rank #1 in Safety Harbor and Oldsmar within two weeks of launching Thunderstrike Marketing. ⚡

Inside you'll find:

🔍 What Google's local algorithm actually weighs
📍 Why Tampa Bay's geography creates unique ranking challenges
❌ The 5 mistakes I see local businesses make constantly
✅ A step-by-step playbook to start ranking

If you're a Tampa Bay small business owner, this one's worth the read 👇

https://thunderstrikemarketing.com/google-map-pack-ranking-tampa-bay-guide/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blog_google_map_pack_ranking