Top in Local is one person · that person is me

I’m Tony, and I do the work myself.

No account managers, no offshore team you never meet, no “we” hiding a company of one. If you hire Top in Local, the person who answers your email is the person building your site and running your campaign.

Get a free local SEO audit Send me a message

Clacton on SeaWhere I live and work

Mon–Fri, 9am–6pmReachable in normal hours

01255 442479Call, text or WhatsApp

Tony working from his Clacton on Sea office beside the seafront

The story

Why Top in Local exists

Nearly every small business I’ve helped had the same two problems, and neither was the one they thought they had.

The first: a website that looked perfectly acceptable and did nothing. Pretty homepage, buried phone number, a contact form nobody could find on a phone, and no way of knowing whether any of it produced a single enquiry. The second: they were effectively invisible in their own town. Somebody thirty miles away with a better-organised Google Business Profile was taking the calls.

Both are fixable, and neither needs a big agency retainer to fix. What they need is somebody who’ll look at the actual evidence, say plainly which half is broken, and then do that work rather than selling a package. That’s the whole reason this exists — and the name describes the aim: working towards visibility for the local searches that matter to your business, rather than chasing vanity terms that never turn into a phone call.

How I work, in five lines

I tell you which half is broken before I sell you anything
Prices are written down and agreed before work starts
You own the site, the domain and the Google Business Profile
Tracking goes on from day one so results are measured, not claimed
If I’m not the right fit, I say so and point you elsewhere

Day to day

What working with me is actually like

Small agencies vary enormously in how they run. Here’s mine, so there are no surprises.

You get one point of contact

Me. Email, phone, text or WhatsApp during Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. Nothing gets relayed through a third person, so nothing gets lost in the relay.

You see progress as it happens

Builds go up on a preview link you can open whenever you like. You’re not waiting six weeks for a grand unveiling and then discovering it’s wrong.

Plain English, always

If I use a term like canonical or citation, I explain it in the same sentence. You should never have to nod along to something you didn’t follow.

Evidence over opinion

Recommendations come from an audit of your actual site and your actual competitors, not from a generic best-practice list applied to everyone.

I use my own tools on myself

This site was rebuilt using the same audit process and the same automation platform I set up for clients. I don’t recommend anything I haven’t run on my own business first.

Local means I’ll turn up

For Clacton and Colchester clients, meeting in person is genuinely on the table. Most of the work happens remotely, but the option matters when something needs sorting properly.

Being straight with you

Small on purpose — and what that means for you

A one-person agency is the right choice for some businesses and the wrong one for others. I’d rather you knew which you are before we start.

It works well if you’re an owner-run business in Essex who wants the phone to ring more: you get senior attention on a small budget, decisions in hours rather than weeks, and somebody who knows your account without looking it up.

It’s the wrong fit if you need a national multi-channel campaign starting next Monday, a team of specialists on call, or twenty-four-hour cover. If that’s you, I’ll say so on the first call rather than take the work and stretch.

Where the proof lives

I haven’t put invented statistics or borrowed testimonials on this site — no “5 out of 5 from 127 clients” without anything behind it. Client results are being collected properly, with permission, and they’ll appear on the results page as they’re confirmed.

In the meantime, the honest proof is the free audit: you see how I work, on your own site, before spending anything.

See the results page

About the agency

Questions about who you’re dealing with

Who actually does the work?

I do. Design, build, the SEO campaign, the reporting and the emails all come from me. That’s the main reason I keep the client list short — the moment there are more accounts than I can genuinely look after, the quality goes and the whole point of hiring a local one-person agency disappears with it.

Do you subcontract anything?

Occasionally, and I’ll tell you when. Specialist bits — a photographer, a logo, an unusual piece of development — are better done by someone who does only that. Where it happens I say so up front, it’s in the quote, and I stay responsible for the result. The core work, the site and the SEO, is never handed off.

How long have you been doing this?

Long enough to have seen the fashions come round twice, and to be sceptical of anyone guaranteeing a number-one ranking. Rather than pad this page with a career timeline, I’d point you at the free audit: it shows you how I think about your site in about the time it takes to read a CV, and it’s a great deal more useful.

Why the name “Top in Local”?

Because that’s the focus. Not top for everything, not top nationally — visibility in the local searches that matter to your business, in your area. It keeps me honest about what I’m being paid to do, and it’s a fair warning that if you sell nationwide, I’m probably not your best option.

Are you a limited company, and can I see an address?

I’m based in Clacton on Sea and work across Essex; contact details, hours and the full address are on the contact page. If you need company details or an invoice made out a particular way for your accounts, just ask — it’s a normal question and I’d rather answer it than have you wonder.

What if I’m already with another agency?

That’s fine, and it doesn’t need to end badly. Take the free audit as a second opinion: if your current agency is doing good work, the report will show it and you should stay put. I’ve told people to stay where they are before now, and I’d rather do that than win a client on a misleading comparison.

Next step

Say hello

Tell me what your business does and what isn’t working. You’ll get a straight answer from me about whether I can help — and if I can’t, who might.

Get a free local SEO audit Send me a message

Call or text 01255 442479, or email Tony@topinlocal.com. Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm.