Questions, Answered Plainly

Just reach out — call, text, or fill out the contact form. We'll set up a free consultation call, usually 20–30 minutes, where we talk about your business, what you're trying to accomplish, and what's standing in the way. From there, I'll give you a clear recommendation and a written proposal with exact pricing if we decide to move forward. No commitment required.

Me — Dakota, the owner. There's no sales rep, no account manager, and no work handed off to a subcontractor. You deal with one person from the first conversation through launch and beyond. That means faster responses, no miscommunication, and someone who actually knows your project inside and out.

Yes. Most of my work is done remotely — phone calls, screen shares, and email — so location isn't a barrier. I focus on Southeast Iowa because that's the market I know best, but I work with businesses throughout Iowa and beyond. If you're not in the area, reach out anyway.

Yes. No strings, no commitment. We talk, I give you my honest recommendation, and you decide if it makes sense to move forward. If it doesn't make sense for where you're at right now — wrong timing, wrong budget, wrong fit — I'll tell you that too. I'd rather give you good advice than sell you something you don't need.

Most sites are completed in 2–6 weeks depending on the package and how quickly content and feedback come back on your end. The Starter package (1–3 pages) is typically on the shorter end. The Authority package (8–15+ pages with copywriting) takes longer. I'll give you a specific timeline in your proposal so you know exactly what to expect.

Yes — 100%. I build on WordPress, which means you own the site and all its content. If you ever want to move it to a different host, work with a different developer, or take it somewhere else entirely, you can. No lock-in, no proprietary platform, no strings attached.

We can rebuild it from scratch or work with what you have. During the free consultation, I'll look at your current site and recommend the best path forward. If it's on WordPress and in reasonable shape, sometimes optimization makes more sense than a full rebuild. I'll give you an honest assessment either way.

Yes. WordPress is designed for non-technical users — you can update text, swap photos, add blog posts, and make basic changes without touching code. I'll walk you through the basics after launch. If you ever need help with something, just call. And if you'd rather not deal with updates at all, that's what the Hosting & Care plans are for.

No, and that's intentional. I build exclusively on WordPress because it gives you full ownership of your site, it's the most flexible platform available, and it's what I know how to do well. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify can work for some use cases, but for local service businesses who want to rank on Google and own their site, WordPress is the right call.

Most local businesses start seeing meaningful movement in months 3–4, with strong results by month 6. The first two months are foundation work — audit, technical fixes, tracking setup, GBP optimization, and citation building. That work doesn't show up overnight, but it's what makes everything else possible. SEO compounds over time — the longer you invest, the harder it is for competitors to catch up.

Google Ads puts you at the top of the page immediately, but you pay for every click and results stop the moment you pause the campaign. SEO takes 3–6 months to build but generates free, ongoing traffic that compounds over time. Most businesses benefit from running both — Ads fills the pipeline while SEO builds, then SEO carries the long-term load. See our Google Ads page for more detail on how they work together.

Not necessarily. We can optimize an existing site if it's on WordPress and in reasonable technical shape. During the consultation, I'll look at what you have and tell you honestly whether it's worth optimizing or whether a rebuild would get better results. Sometimes a bad technical foundation limits what SEO can accomplish — I'll flag that upfront if it's the case.

A clear summary of what we did, what moved, and what's next. Keyword rankings (where you show up on Google for your target searches), organic traffic numbers, Google Business Profile performance (impressions, clicks, calls, direction requests), a summary of work completed that month, and the plan for the month ahead. No vanity numbers, no confusing dashboards — just what matters.

After the initial 6-month commitment, SEO is month-to-month. You can cancel with 30 days' notice. We keep clients by getting results, not by locking them in. The 6-month minimum exists because SEO takes time to show results — canceling at month 2 is like pulling a plant out of the ground before it's had time to root.

No. Google Business Profile is free to create and claim. What you're paying for is the expertise to optimize it properly and the ongoing management to keep it competitive. A profile that's claimed but not optimized is barely better than no profile at all — Google rewards active, complete, well-maintained listings over ones that were set up once and forgotten.

Probably. Most business owners claim their profile and fill in the basics, but miss dozens of optimization opportunities — wrong categories, missing services, no posts, no photo strategy, unanswered reviews. We'll audit your current profile and show you exactly what's missing and what it's likely costing you in visibility.

We post at least once per week. Google rewards active profiles, and regular posts keep your listing fresh and signal to Google that your business is open and engaged. Beyond posts, we also upload new project photos, respond to reviews, update seasonal hours, and monitor the Q&A section on an ongoing basis.

Yes. We set up a review generation system — including a direct review link you can text or email to customers right after finishing a job — and help you respond to every review professionally. Reviews are one of the strongest local ranking signals Google uses for the Map Pack, and they're also the first thing most customers read before deciding whether to call you.

For most local businesses in Southeast Iowa, a starting ad budget of $500–$1,500/month in ad spend is reasonable. The right number depends on your market, how competitive your industry is, and what a new customer is worth to you. A roofer who makes $8,000 per job can justify more spend per click than a business with a $200 average sale. I'll give you a specific recommendation during the consultation — not a generic number.

Yes — and that's intentional. Ad spend goes directly to Google, never through us. You set up a Google Ads account with your own payment method, and Google charges you directly for clicks. Our management fee is for managing the campaigns. This keeps things completely transparent: you always know exactly what's going to Google versus what's going to management.

Usually within days. Once your campaign clears Google's review process (typically 24–48 hours after launch), ads start showing immediately. Leads and calls typically start within the first week, depending on your budget and market competitiveness. Unlike SEO, there's no waiting period — the results are essentially immediate once the campaign is live.

Yes. If you already have a Google Ads account, we'll audit it first — identify what's wasting money, what's working, and what needs to be rebuilt or restructured. A lot of campaigns we take over are spending significantly on irrelevant searches because the negative keyword list was never properly built out. Fixing that alone often improves results without touching the budget.

At minimum — on the Basic plan — you get the hosting itself, SSL certificate, daily backups, security monitoring, WordPress core updates, and uptime monitoring. Higher tiers add monthly plugin updates, monthly performance checks, included hours for content updates, faster response times, and quarterly site health audits. See the full breakdown on our Hosting & Care page.

We monitor uptime and security around the clock. If your site goes down, we get alerted and address it — you don't have to notice it yourself. If there's a security incident, we restore from a recent backup and investigate the cause. The response time depends on your hosting plan — Priority Support includes a same-day response guarantee.

Yes. If your site is on WordPress and in reasonable shape, we can take over hosting and ongoing care. We'll do a site health check first to flag any issues, then migrate it to our hosting environment. If it needs significant work to meet our standards for security and performance, we'll tell you what that looks like and what it costs before touching anything.

Basic ($1,000/yr) covers the essentials — hosting, SSL, backups, security, and core updates. You handle content changes yourself at $75/hr as needed. Managed Care ($2,000/yr) adds monthly plugin updates, a performance check, and 1 hour/month of included content updates. Priority Support ($3,200/yr) adds weekly monitoring, 3 hours/month of updates, a same-day response guarantee, and a quarterly site health audit.

We review pricing annually, but the price you sign up at is the price you keep for the duration of your project or contract. No surprise increases mid-project or mid-retainer. If you've been a client for a while and pricing changes, we'll notify you well in advance before any renewal.

Call us. Most small businesses fit into one of the standard packages, but if your project has specific needs — unusual scope, multiple locations, industry-specific requirements — we'll put together a custom quote. You'll get a straight answer on what it'll cost and why, not a vague estimate that grows later.

Absolutely — and most clients do. We typically start with the website build, then roll into monthly SEO once the site is live. We'll map out the full plan and total investment during your consultation so you know exactly what the timeline and combined cost looks like before committing to anything.

Web design projects are typically split: 50% upfront to start, 50% on launch. Monthly SEO and hosting are billed at the start of each billing period. SEO has a one-time setup fee paid upfront before work begins. We accept check, ACH transfer, and major credit cards. All payment terms are spelled out in the proposal before you commit to anything.