Potton's one of the older market towns in this part of Bedfordshire, and that history is exactly why word of mouth has worked here for so long — and why it's starting to matter less than it used to.
There's still a monthly market in Potton, and the town centre has kept more of its original character than some of the places nearby that have grown faster. A lot of local trade still runs on reputation and people knowing people, which is a genuinely nice thing about a town this size — but it also means a fair few decent local businesses have never really needed a website, and that's starting to catch up with them.
Here's the practical bit: anyone who's moved to Potton in the last five years, or anyone in a nearby village searching for something Potton itself offers, isn't plugged into that word-of-mouth network yet. They search. And if you're not showing up — properly, with a filled-in Google listing and a site that loads fast on a phone — you're invisible to exactly the customers who'd otherwise never have found you any other way.
The easy wins
- Claim and completely fill in your Google Business Profile — hours, photos, the actual services you offer, not just a category
- Get a handful of recent reviews, since Google visibly favours recency alongside volume
- Make sure your site mentions Potton by name somewhere sensible, not just your postcode
None of that is expensive or complicated. It's the kind of thing that gets put off for years in a town where the phone still rings anyway — right up until it doesn't.