An exceptional team of SEO and digital marketers who deliver RESULTS
We’re a senior digital marketing team with proven track record of getting top local and national search engine rankings.
And we are very serious about who we want to work with.
Our focus is always on delivering real, measurable results for our clients. Our careers have been nurtured from the ground up in a digital marketing and SEO agency. The three of us have worked with Fortune 500, Fortune 100, attorneys, digital marketers, nonprofits and local business owners in the US.
Online marketing through website optimization is a dynamic challenge in today’s market. There are SEO scammers out there promising results they can’t deliver. The people who work in the SEO business have been doing a great job rooting out those bad apples. But, sometimes business owners still get fooled. It’s not fair because it makes it harder for the good people in the SEO business to be trusted.
That’s why we spend time talking to our clients.
We would love to chat with you to get a better understanding of your expectations when it comes to online marketing and SEO.
We want to know what you already know, what you hope SEO will do for your website, and how soon you expect to see results.
And we’ll be honest about it. If you expect rapid gains in just weeks or a couple of months, there are better marketing options for you, not just SEO. Likewise, if your budget doesn’t align with an effective SEO strategy, we’ll let you know upfront.
Our priority is setting clear expectations and delivering what works for you.
It’s important for us to stress that SEO is part of your digital marketing plan. SEO drives traffic to your website, whether you’re in criminal defense, personal injury, construction, or running a local shop. Turning that traffic into conversions requires a well-rounded approach, taking into account a variety of factors.
We’ll help you get there. How slow or how fast, that’s all up to you.
We’ll brainstorm with you to create the right custom SEO plans for your business. Our strategy typically involves a deep dive into keyword study, unique content creation, and a backlink-building plan to help you beat your other online competitors.
Get to know us and discover how we can help you take your business to the top of Google search results.
Let’s talk about how you can bring more customers to your door with better SEO.
Stone Reuning
27+ years in digital marketing
As a seasoned entrepreneur, Stone Reuning brings a wealth of experience and innovative thinking to the table as President and Founder of MyLocalStart LLC.
With a successful track record of launching several startups, including Tampa Bay Associates (TBA), SEO Advantage and Enjuris.com, Stone has a proven ability to turn ideas into thriving businesses.
His expertise extends beyond the realm of startup ventures, as he has also made notable contributions in the field of advanced decision support and executive information systems.
Stone has collaborated with organizations such as Ernst & Young and Amherst Associates to deliver cutting-edge solutions for some of the top medical institutions in the US.
With a passion for innovation and a commitment to delivering value, Stone is poised to continue driving growth and success at MyLocalStart.
Parichatra Reuning
27+ years in search marketing
Pat started her career at Deloitte Consulting in Bangkok, Thailand after completing her MBA from Butler University, Indianapolis.
Pat ensures that every aspect of a client’s custom SEO plan is executed flawlessly, from site architecture recommendations to content marketing and beyond.
Her attention to detail and dedication to delivering exceptional results has made her an invaluable asset to our team here at My Local Start.
When she’s not working, Pat can be found whipping up delicious Thai dishes in the kitchen, running a small homestead with her family, or simply enjoying life with her husband and son.
Gaby Zapien
27+ years in creative design
Gaby is the minimalist designer who packs a big punch. She’s been working as a web designer with Stone and Pat since the duo started their first SEO business in 1999.
Combining her technical expertise with a flair for the innovative, Gaby stays ahead of the curve by continually exploring new technologies and web standards that will keep your site awesome.
When she’s not doing those creative things, Gaby paints portraits.
Her portraits have been featured in gallery exhibitions, showcasing her talent for capturing the essence of her subjects.
Despite her busy family life and love for travel, she always finds time to maintain her inner peace through Buddhist meditation.
My Local Start is a search engine optimization (SEO), website design, and AI optimization agency founded in 2023 in Clyde, North Carolina. We help small businesses across Western North Carolina get found on Google, Google Maps and AI answer tools like ChatGPT. Don’t let our age fool you. The same team also runs SEO Advantage, an SEO agency that’s been serving national and corporate clients since 1999.
The “local” in our name is really local. We know these mountains because we hike them. When we have the time, we fly fish at a secret spot far from the tourist crowds. (We won’t tell you where. Please stop asking.)
SEO is all we’ve ever done, and that shows in how our clients are handling the shift with AI answer engines. So far, knock on wood, the websites we’ve built are holding up well in AI search, because they were built to rank well in regular search from day one.
My Local Start is a small, senior team that does hands-on SEO work itself. We don’t run cookie-cutter plans or build junk backlinks, and every page we write is written for your business alone.
We’re not a corporation, and we run lean on purpose. We’re also not a sales company. We have no sales person who has to meet a monthly quota. Frankly, we’re terrible at selling ourselves, which is why most of our clients come to us as referrals from other clients.
We won’t hand you a to-do list and wish you luck. We do the work.
My Local Start is a team of four, plus an intern. Two of us have done SEO for 27 years, and everyone who touches your website has at least 15 years of web marketing experience.
- Stone Reuning, President and founder. 27 years in SEO. Stone also founded SEO Advantage and Enjuris.com.
- Pat (Parichatra) Reuning, SEO operations. 27 years in SEO, with a start at Deloitte Consulting and an MBA from Butler University.
- Gaby Zapien, web design. Gaby has designed search-friendly custom websites and graphics with Stone and Pat since 1999.
- Lexi, web and graphic design. Our youngest, if you can call 15+ years of experience young.
- Max, our intern and resident video virtuoso. Max runs video production and helps with our marketing.
Yes. My Local Start and SEO Advantage (SEOA) are run by the same team. SEO Advantage serves local, national and large companies, while My Local Start focuses on small, local businesses.
We love SEO Advantage. It’s the company we started back when we were scraping by, and everything we can do today rests on the foundation it gave us.
The difference is size. SEO Advantage clients range from local shops to big national companies. My Local Start keeps it simple, with less admin and less hand-holding, so we can dive straight into the work.
My Local Start offers SEO for a one-time fee or a monthly plan, priced for small business budgets. See our SEO pricing for current plans. If your budget won’t support an effective plan, we’ll tell you up front instead of taking your money.
SEO usually takes months, not weeks. How long depends on your location, your industry, how strong, and how far ahead your online competitors are.
If you need results this week, SEO isn’t the right tool. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads, like Google Ads, can put you in front of searchers right away while SEO builds in the background.
No, and nobody honest can. Google controls its own results.
Sure, we could say, “We guarantee a top 3 ranking for your brand name!” Your own name is about the easiest thing in the world to rank for, so that promise would be worthless. And we would sound like a giant air-hole.
What we can promise is 27 years of experience, applied to giving your site everything it needs to compete. Be wary of anyone who guarantees a #1 spot.
Yes and no. My Local Start uses AI for ideas, research and first drafts, but AI never gets the final say. A person edits and fact-checks every piece of content before it’s published. Super Intelligence is above our pay grade. Our AI helps with first drafts. The intelligence part is still on us.
Yes to AI as an assistant. It helps with topic ideas, research and first drafts.
No to giving AI a free pass. Every draft gets edited line by line, every source gets checked, and we rework it until it says what we mean, the way we’d say it.
If you’re picturing someone typing a prompt, asking an AI tool for a stack of keyword pages and pasting them straight onto a client’s site, that’s not us. We don’t do it, and we won’t, for any client. (We have AI fatigue, just like you.) Read exactly how we use AI.
You do. Your domain, website, Google Business Profile and analytics stay in your name, so you can leave anytime and take everything with you.
Some clients aren’t technical, and even after they stop working with us on SEO, they ask us to keep managing their domain or hosting. We’re happy to. Either way, these things are yours. You pay for them, and we just look after them.
If you ever want to move, we’ll help transfer ownership and hosting, no hidden agenda. (Just don’t ask us to do a full site migration for free. We have fish to catch.)
Yes. That work is called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) or Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). It starts with a well-optimized website, because AI tools lean on many of the same signals as regular search. Learn how we approach AEO.
Yes, for local, owner-run businesses. Here’s the whole story of why.
Discover a better way to market your services
Speak with Stone Reuning, President
Learn what MyLocalStart can do for you:
- Showcase your expertise
- Gain a competitive edge
- Complimentary website evaluation
Connect with Stone on Linkedin
I’m always available to answer your marketing questions!
