What I Taught at the Business Boost Summit (And What Every Small Business Needs to Know About AI & SEO)

In addition to being the organizer, I had the privilege of being a featured speaker at the Business Boost Summit hosted by Madison Mompreneur. It was a room full of fantastic people! I walked away energized, not just from presenting, but from seeing how hungry business owners are for clear, practical guidance on showing up online.

My workshop, “From Invisible to Irresistible: Mastering Your Digital Presence in the AI Era,” covered what I believe is the most important shift happening in digital marketing right now: the rise of AI search. And if you run a small business, this directly affects whether your ideal customers can find you. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or if you have been in the game for a while.

In this post, I’m breaking down everything I covered in that workshop, the same strategies I share with my clients, so you can start applying them to your own business today.

Why AI Is Changing Everything About How Customers Find You

Not long ago, “getting found online” meant one thing: ranking on Google’s first page. But the search landscape has fundamentally shifted. Today, a growing number of your potential customers aren’t scrolling through a list of links; they’re asking AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overview a direct question and acting on the answer they get back.

Here’s the problem: if your business isn’t set up in a way that these AI systems understand and trust, you simply won’t get mentioned. You become invisible to an entire category of buyers.

The businesses winning right now are the ones that have made themselves easy for both humans and AI to discover, understand, and recommend. That’s what this workshop was all about, and it’s what the strategies below are designed to do.

5 Strategies to Transform Your Digital Presence

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile (Seriously, Do This First)

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-effort tools available to local businesses — and most owners have barely scratched the surface of what it can do.

A fully optimized GBP increases your chances of appearing in Google’s “map pack”. The top three results that show up with a map when someone searches for a local service. Here’s what actually moves the needle:

• Fill out every single field completely — including business category, services, and attributes
• Write a keyword-rich business description that clearly explains what you do and who you serve
• Post to your GBP regularly — Google treats it like a social media platform
• Actively request and respond to reviews — both positive and negative

This one step alone can dramatically improve your local visibility within weeks, not months.

2. Get Your Business Into AI Search Results

This is the piece most business owners haven’t heard yet, and it’s critical. When someone asks ChatGPT “What’s the best web designer in Madison, Alabama?” or asks Perplexity to recommend a local service provider, those answers are being pulled from structured, credible, consistent information across the web.

To show up in AI-generated answers, you need to:

• Ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is 100% consistent across every directory, social profile, and website listing
• Build authoritative content on your website that clearly establishes your expertise in your niche
• Get listed on reputable third-party site, industry directories, local chambers, and press mentions
• Write naturally conversational content that answers the specific questions your customers are asking

Think of it this way: if you want an AI to recommend your business, you need to give it clear, credible evidence that you’re the right answer.

3. Audit Your Website for Conversion Killers

Getting traffic to your website is only half the battle. If your site isn’t converting visitors into inquiries, leads, or sales, you’re leaving money on the table every single day.

During the workshop, I walked through a website audit checklist. Here are the most common issues I see:

• Slow load times — every additional second of load time costs you conversions
• No clear primary call-to-action — visitors don’t know what to do next
• Missing trust signals — testimonials, credentials, press features, and recognizable logos matter
• Confusing navigation — if people can’t find what they need in two clicks, they leave
• Not mobile-optimized — over 60% of web traffic is now on mobile devices

A beautiful website that doesn’t convert is just an expensive brochure. Your site should be your hardest-working salesperson.

4. Focus on the SEO Fundamentals That Actually Work for Small Businesses

SEO gets overcomplicated fast. But for most small businesses, a handful of fundamentals will drive the majority of results. Here’s where to focus your energy:

• Strategic keyword placement (H1, H2, H3): make sure the words your customers are searching for are naturally present in your page titles, headers, and body content
• Local relevance signals: reference your city, region, and community throughout your content
• Internal linking: connect your pages to each other to help both users and search engines navigate your site
• Topical authority: create content around the core topics your business specializes in so Google sees you as a credible expert (add FAQ to your service pages)

You do not need to do everything. You need to do the right things consistently.

5. Build a Prioritized Roadmap (Not Just Another To-Do List)

One of the biggest reasons small business owners stall on their digital marketing is that they have too many things to do and no idea which ones to tackle first. That’s not a motivation problem, it’s a prioritization problem.

At the end of the workshop, I walked attendees through a simple framework for building a personalized roadmap based on three questions:

• Where are your customers finding you right now, and where are you invisible?
• What’s the single biggest gap between where you are and where you want to be?
• What’s the highest-leverage action you can take in the next 30 days?

Start there. One focused action beats ten half-finished strategies every time.

Download the Free Workshop Worksheet

I put together a companion worksheet to help you apply these five strategies to your own business with prompts and space to map out your priorities. It will give you a clearer picture of where to focus first.

→ Download it free at pipermache.com/speaking

Ready to Stop Being Invisible Online?

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I know I need to do this, but I don’t have the time or the technical knowledge to figure it out” — that’s exactly what I help with at PiperMache Website Studio.

Whether you need a new website built for conversion, an SEO strategy that actually fits your business, or a clear plan for showing up in both traditional and AI search, let’s talk.

→ Book a free discovery call at pipermache.com — I’d love to learn about your business and show you what’s possible.