Today we’d like to introduce you to Cindy Pruitt.
Hi Cindy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
How It Started to Where I Am Now
My businesses, GBC Digital Marketing, Local Fence Marketing, and Smiley Face Records, were all born out of necessity.
I live with severe agoraphobia. That meant I needed to find a way to work from home and still support myself. There was no backup plan. I needed something real that could pay the bills. That pushed me into graphic design and web design because it was work I could do remotely.
GBC Digital Marketing
I enrolled in online web development courses through Houston Community College and completed their Web Publishing curriculum by 2008. I was doing graphic design, web design, and audio recording on the side all during this time, but I wanted a more formal education in web coding so I could provide better designs and higher quality for my clients.
In the beginning, I was focused on building websites. Clients loved them. The sites looked great, clearly explained their services, and showed the value of their businesses. But there was a problem.
Their sales were not increasing the way they expected.
The issue was simple. No traffic meant no calls.
That realization changed my entire direction. I learned quickly that my real job was not design. My job was helping small business owners get their phones to ring so they could feed their families and keep their doors open.
That’s when I shifted hard into SEO and lead generation. Web design led to SEO. SEO led to paid ads. Wanting to always do better for my clients pushed me deeper into digital marketing as a whole.
I earned certifications through Google for Ads and Analytics, Bing Ads, SEO certifications through SEMrush, and became a Certified Professional Digital Marketer. I took courses attended webinars and dug into everything I could find on SEO and Digital Marketing. I’ve been at it since 2003, and my company has held an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau for years, growing from a one-woman operation to a 12 person marketing machine.
Local Fence Marketing
As I worked with more local contractors, I started to see patterns. Contractors did not need generic marketing. Fence companies especially were being underserved and misunderstood by marketing firms that did not know their business.
So I went all in on that niche.
I built what I call the Local Juggernaut™ System to help fence contractors stand out locally and attract consistent work. I also wrote a book, Online Marketing for Fence Companies, to share simple, practical guidance without the fluff.
What I enjoy most in my marketing work, is explaining how SEO and the Search Engines really work. I want contractors to understand what is happening with their marketing, so it stops feeling like rocket science. Getting paid to help other businesses make more money never gets old.
Over the last year, SEO has changed faster than it had over the previous ten years! AI Overviews are now showing up at the top of Google and taking clicks that used to go straight to local service businesses. That’s a real issue if you depend on organic traffic to keep the phone ringing.
I went in search of answers. I needed to understand how AI reads websites, how it pulls information, and how it decides which businesses to trust. That meant changing my whole approach, not just focusing on rankings, but making sure my clients are visible inside these AI-driven results too.
My goal is simple: help my clients adapt instead of getting left behind. I spend my time testing, learning, and adjusting tactics so the businesses I work with can still get found and keep growing as search continues to change.
Local Fence Marketing is active members of the American Fence Association for 4 years running and have exhibited at several of the FENCETECH Conferences.
Smiley Face Records
Music has always been my passion in life.
I started in live music back in the late 1990s through the mid-2000s. My studio, Smiley Face Records, started as a passion project because I am a musician myself. Over time, I studied through Berklee College of Music, The Audio Institute of America, and private mentorships with experienced producers.
I spend many evenings and weekends in the studio. It’s right behind my house. Building it was a slow process, but when I am not helping businesses grow, I am out back creating music.
I was honored to serve for five years as a voting member of NARAS, “The Recording Academy”, which was an amazing experience! I have recorded and worked with several local bands along the way.
Making the Most of My Corner of the World
Travel is still hard for me. That hasn’t changed. But I try to keep it positive.
I’ve had to learn to make the most of where I am and I try not to focus too much on all the places I can’t go. From my little corner of Houston, I get to help business owners all over the country grow their companies and increase revenue. And when time allows, I get to make and record music with people who love it as much as I do.
I built everything I have from this little corner. One client at a time. One project at a time. One song at a time.
And I am still building.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Far from it. Suffering from agoraphobia that just got progressively worse over the years meant that I missed out on many opportunities and it made the journey harder for sure. But it also pushed me to be a better problem solver and a logistics ninja. If I have a phone and a computer and can arrange just about anything! (ask my friends and clients)
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My main business GBC Digital Marketing specializes in Local SEO for Contractors (like Roofers, Remodelers, Plumbers, etc.) that offer local services. What sets us apart is our deep understanding of Entity and Semantic SEO which is foundational in AEO (AI Engine Optimization). We know how to not only keep our clients dominating in the regular search results, but also in the AI results. We are Certified Partners of Google and have won the national Best of the Best Award for 9 years running. We have held an A+ rating with the BBB since 2012.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Salt Lake City, and spent most my time outdoors when I could. I was active in sports and swimming, and at school I stayed involved in band, choir, and foreign languages.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gbcdigitalmarketing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gbcdigital/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gbc-digital-marketing/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/YourSEOHouston
- Other: https://smileyfacerecords.com/ and https://localfencemarketing.com/
Image Credits
image credits: Cindy Pruitt
