Anyone running a retail or distribution business in Kumasi signs commitments all the time: with suppliers, landlords, wholesalers in Adum, transporters, sometimes the bank. You already know a good contract is judged before you sign, not after. A 12-month visibility contract deserves the same discipline. Whether you run a building materials shop, an electronics and appliance store, a pharmacy-and-provisions outlet in a growing suburb or a distribution company supplying retailers across Ashanti, here are the questions to put to any provider, and the answers that should reassure or worry you.
Why a 12-month commitment needs preparation
Twelve months covers a full trading year: Christmas, back-to-school, the slower months, the festive peaks. It is also the time it takes for an online presence to build and start to accelerate. A short contract does not allow results to arrive; a long contract with the wrong provider costs you a year. That is why choosing carefully matters. Our guide on why a 12-month commitment makes sense explains the reasoning behind that length.
Questions about results
What exactly will you deliver, and by when?
Reassuring answer: a clear commitment on what will go live, with deadlines, and compensation if it does not. Worrying answer: vague phrases such as "we will boost your brand" or "we handle everything", with nothing you can verify.
Will I be the first name buyers see?
This is a trick question, and a useful one. Reassuring answer: "no, nobody controls what Google or an AI assistant decides, but we commit to what we control". Worrying answer: an enthusiastic yes. A provider who promises a position they cannot control will also tell you what you want to hear about everything else.
How will I know it is working?
Reassuring answer: a dated report at regular intervals, results you can check yourself in your own Google tools, and a measured review on a fixed date. Worrying answer: screenshots sent whenever the provider feels like it, or figures you have no way to verify.
Questions about your business
Who else do you work with in my sector in Kumasi?
For any given search, only a few positions really matter. A provider working for every shop in your category in the same city cannot honestly defend each of them. Reassuring answer: a limited number of clients per sector and area, ideally with exclusivity available. Worrying answer: "no problem, the more the merrier".
Do you understand my customers?
A Kumasi retailer may serve very different buyers: local households, traders who buy in bulk to resell in surrounding towns, contractors, institutions, and Ghanaians abroad buying for relatives at home. Reassuring answer: the provider asks about your customers, your best-selling lines, your seasonality and your margins before proposing anything. Worrying answer: a standard package sent before they know what you sell.
What do you see in my current online presence?
Reassuring answer: a precise assessment, compared with other businesses in your area, with an action plan. Worrying answer: "everything needs redoing" with no explanation, or "all looks fine" with no analysis at all.
Questions about money and the contract
How much will I pay in total over 12 months?
Reassuring answer: published prices, a setup fee clearly separated from the monthly plan, and a first-year total you can work out in one line. Worrying answer: charges that keep appearing month after month, or options you only discover after signing.
What happens if you miss your commitments?
Reassuring answer: a written remedy, such as a free month. Worrying answer: an awkward silence, or "that will not happen".
What if I stop after a year?
Reassuring answer: what was built sits on your website and in your own accounts, and it stays yours. Worrying answer: everything is hosted by the provider and vanishes with them.
For the complete list that applies to any small business, read questions to ask before signing a visibility contract, and for a decision grid applied to retail, see choosing a visibility partner as a retailer.
How Traffic Engine answers these questions
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service for making your business visible when buyers search for what you sell in Kumasi, on Google and in AI assistant answers, so that you receive qualified enquiries. Kolonell ran the approach on its own website first; the Search Console curves are on the offer page and refreshed daily. Here are its answers, plainly.
- What is guaranteed: what your plan includes is live on schedule, or the following month is free. The top spot is not promised.
- Measurement: a dated report every week, your results in your own Search Console, a measured review at three months.
- Competitors: 3 standard seats per sector and area, plus an exclusive plan while the sector is still empty.
- Price: Visibility Audit at $750, deducted from the $1,650 setup if you start within 30 days, then Presence at $1,200, Momentum at $2,100 or Flood at $3,850 a month. On Momentum, the first year comes to $26,850 including setup.
See the offer and check whether your sector is still open in Kumasi.
Before you sign anything
Run the free website score at the top of the Traffic Engine page, then try the payback calculator with what a regular customer is worth to you. Then put these questions to every provider you meet, Kolonell included, and compare the answers in writing. If anything is unclear, send a message on WhatsApp and you will hear back within 24 business hours.