Why Your Website is Currently a Ghost Town
I was sitting down with a landscaper in Chermside a few weeks ago. He’s a hard worker, runs a great crew, and his backyard transformations are second to none. He told me, "I’ve been writing a blog post every fortnight for six months because someone told me it’s good for Google. I’ve spent twenty hours on it, and I haven't had a single phone call from it. It’s a waste of time."
He showed me his site. He had a post about a new mower he bought. One about a staff BBQ. One about why plants need water.
He was making the biggest mistake I see Brisbane small business owners make: Random Acts of Content.
If you want your website to actually make you money, you can't just throw random bits of information at it and hope something sticks. Google is smart, but it’s not psychic. If you want Google to send you people looking for a "retaining wall builder in Brisbane," you have to prove you are the local authority on that specific topic.
In the marketing world, people use fancy terms like "content pillars and clusters." If I said that to my mate at the pub, he’d tell me to bugger off. What it actually means for you is quite simple: Organising your knowledge into buckets so customers find you.
The "Bucket" Method: How to Own Your Local Market
Think of your business services as big buckets. If you’re a plumber, one bucket is "Hot Water Systems." Another is "Blocked Drains." Another is "Emergency Repairs."
Most business owners just scratch the surface. They have one page that says "We do hot water." That’s not enough to beat the big guys who are taking all the leads.
To win, you need one main "Pillar" page (the big bucket) and several smaller, specific pages (the scoops) that all tie back to it. This tells Google, "Hey, these guys know everything there is to know about hot water in South East Queensland."
When you turn your knowledge into customers by answering the specific questions they ask, you stop being a salesman and start being the expert they trust.
Mistake #1: The "Jack of All Trades" Page
I see this constantly on tradie websites. One page titled "Our Services" with a bulleted list: Tiling Plastering Painting Carpentry
If someone searches for "bathroom tiler in Indooroopilly," Google looks at that list and thinks, "This guy does a bit of everything, but is he a specialist? Probably not." Then Google shows the customer a website that has an entire section dedicated just to tiling.
The Fix: Pick your most profitable service. Make that your main "Pillar." Then, write 4 or 5 short, helpful pages about specific parts of that service. For tiling, it might be: "How to choose non-slip tiles for seniors," "How much does it cost to retile a small bathroom in Brisbane?", or "Why your shower grout is cracking."
All these small pages should have a big button that says "Back to our Tiling Services" or "Get a Tiling Quote." This creates a web that traps Google’s attention and keeps customers on your site.
Mistake #2: Writing for Yourself, Not Your Customer
Nobody cares about your new office coffee machine. Nobody cares that you’ve been in business for 20 years if you can’t solve their problem today.
I worked with an electrician in Morningside who was writing about the technical specifications of circuit breakers. It was boring, dry, and used words only another sparky would know. He wasn't getting any calls.
We changed his strategy. Instead of technical jargon, we wrote about things his customers actually worry about: "Why does my power trip when I turn the kettle on?" and "Is my old Queenslander’s wiring a fire hazard?"
By focusing on what actually gets customers, he started seeing his phone ring. People weren't searching for "Amperage tolerance levels"; they were searching for "Why is my power flickering?"
How to find your "Scoops" (The Cluster Content)
If you’re stuck on what to write for your smaller pages, look at your sent folder in your emails. What questions do you answer every single day? What are the three things customers always ask about price? What’s the biggest disaster you’ve had to fix because a DIYer messed it up?
Each of those is a page. When you link them all to your main service page, Google sees a pattern of expertise. It’s like building a legal case for why you deserve to be #1 on the search results.
Mistake #3: Ignoring the "Local" in Local Business
If you are a mortgage broker in Milton, you aren't competing with every broker in Australia. You’re competing with the ones down the road.
Most "SEO experts" will tell you to write general articles like "How to get a home loan." That is a waste of money. You will never outrank the big banks for that term.
Instead, your "Pillar" should be "Home Loans for Brisbane First-Time Buyers." Your "Scoops" should be things like "Buying an apartment in Newstead vs. a house in Chermside" or "Understanding Queensland First Home Owners Grants."
This is how you get more enquiries without spending a cent on Google Ads. You’re winning by being the local expert, not the loudest spender.
The Cost of Getting This Wrong (and Right)
Let’s talk brass tacks. How much does this cost and how long does it take?
If you do it yourself, it costs your time. If you’re a business owner making $150/hour on the tools, and you spend 5 hours a week writing bad blog posts, you’re "spending" $750 a week for zero return. That’s $39,000 a year down the drain.
If you hire an agency to do it properly, you might spend $1,500 to $3,000 a month. It sounds like a lot, but here is the reality: Month 1-2: You won't see much. We’re building the foundation. Month 3-4: You’ll start seeing your website show up for weird, specific questions people ask. Month 6+: The "Snowball Effect." Your main service pages start climbing the rankings because all those smaller pages are propping them up.
I’ve seen this turn a one-man van operation into a fleet of five in less than eighteen months. It’s not magic; it’s just giving Google exactly what it wants: organised, helpful information.
A Simple 4-Step Plan You Can Start Today
Don't try to do everything at once. You have a business to run. Follow this simple plan:
1. Pick One Pillar: Choose your most profitable service. Not the one you do most, the one that puts the most profit in the bank. 2. Write the Master Page: This should be a long page (1,000+ words) that covers everything a customer needs to know about that service. Use plain English. No jargon. 3. Create 4 "Scoops": Write four shorter articles (500 words) that answer specific questions related to that service. 4. Link Them Up: Every one of those 4 articles must have a clear link back to the Master Page. And the Master Page should link out to the 4 articles.
Stop Overcomplicating It
You don’t need to understand "algorithms" or "schema" or whatever other rubbish people try to sell you. You just need to be helpful.
Google’s entire job is to find the best answer to a user’s question. If your website provides the best, most organised answers for Brisbane locals, Google will reward you with traffic. Traffic leads to phone calls. Phone calls lead to quotes. Quotes lead to money.
Most of your competitors are lazy. They’ll keep posting stock photos and 200-word updates about their Friday afternoon drinks. While they’re doing that, you can be building an information fortress that makes it impossible for Google to ignore you.
Ready to get more phone calls?
If you’re too busy running your business to spend your weekends writing articles and figuring out "buckets," we can help. At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in helping Brisbane businesses dominate their local area by being the smartest voice in the room.
We don’t do fluff, and we don’t do jargon. We just get your phone to ring.
Want to see how we can grow your business? Contact Local Marketing Group today.