ChatGPT runs ads now, and local owners are asking if they should buy them. For most North Jersey service businesses the answer is ’not yet’ — here’s why, and the free work that actually gets you into ChatGPT’s answers.
ChatGPT now sells ads — and most guides are vague on what it actually costs and what it takes to get in. Here’s a hands-on walkthrough from inside the Ads Manager, including the EIN gate nobody warns you about.
A few weeks ago I was helping a Bergen County contractor figure out why his Google Business Profile traffic had stalled. He’d done everything right on the GBP side — categories optimized, photos uploaded, reviews coming in steadily. But conversions weren’t moving. The problem wasn’t the profile. The problem was what happened after someone clicked the website button. The site loaded slowly on a phone, the contact form was buried two pages deep, and the meta data hadn’t been touched since 2019. He’d built a beautiful storefront and pointed customers at a back door. ...
If you run a local service business — plumbing, HVAC, cleaning, landscaping, pest control, you name it — there’s a good chance you’re spending a chunk of every day doing things that have nothing to do with the actual work. Answering the same questions over and over. Chasing down leads that never respond. Typing up estimates. Following up on unpaid invoices. Playing phone tag to schedule a job. Reminding customers you exist. ...
Everything a Bergen County business owner needs to know about local SEO in 2026 — written in plain English, focused on what actually moves the needle.