Straight Answers About Getting Found
Everything you want to know before you pick up the phone.
The Neighborhood Funnels FAQ answers common questions about website builds, pricing, timelines, ownership, support, and ongoing Google and AI visibility. It gives clear details on what projects cost, how long work takes, what clients keep after launch, and how the company handles updates and follow-through.
How Does Our Process Work?
How long does it take to build my site?
Most projects go from first conversation to live site in three to four weeks. That includes research, content, build, audit, and launch.
The exact timeline depends on your project. A straightforward site with a dozen pages moves faster than one covering twenty cities across two states. Either way, you'll get a specific timeline before you commit to anything — no vague "four to six weeks, maybe."
Every stage has a checkpoint where you review and approve before we move forward. If approvals take a few extra days on your end, that's fine. We work on your schedule, not the other way around. Rush delivery is available if you need it — typically five to seven business days for an additional fee. But we won't cut corners to hit a deadline. A delayed launch beats a broken one every time.
What does the process look like from start to finish?
It starts with research. Your market, your competitors, your customers' language — all of it gets studied before anyone writes a word. You review the findings and tell us if anything's off.
Next comes the blueprint. Every page, every section, the strategy behind each one — mapped out and approved before the build starts. Then content. Your expertise, written in your customers' words, covering the questions they actually ask. You review every page before it goes live.
Then the build. Your site gets assembled, audited for quality, and put on a private preview link you can visit anytime. When everything looks right and passes our checks, we launch. The whole thing is designed so you're involved at every step but never doing the heavy lifting. Most clients spend a few hours total across the entire project.
What do you need from me to get started?
Your business name, phone number, a list of your services, and the areas you serve. That's the minimum. If you have a website already, we'll need the URL so we can assess where you stand.
For the best results, share access to your Google Business Profile and any analytics you have. Your top competitors help too — we study them to find the gaps your site can fill. If you have content you like — service descriptions, photos, marketing copy — it becomes a starting point.
Beyond that, your main job is reviewing what we produce and making sure the details are right. You know your business better than we do. Some clients spend thirty minutes reviewing. Others dig in for a couple of hours. Either works. The heavy lifting is on our side. Your time commitment across the whole project is typically a few hours total.
What if I don't like the content you write?
You see everything before it goes live. The research. The blueprint. The content. The full working site on a private preview link. You approve each stage before the next one starts.
If something doesn't sound right, it gets fixed. If a service description misses a detail, we rewrite it. If a city page needs different local context, we adjust it. Think of it as checkpoints, not a surprise reveal at the end. You're involved the whole way — not handed a finished product and told to deal with it.
Most revision requests are small — a detail about a service, a neighborhood name, a tone adjustment. The research stage exists specifically to prevent big misalignment. When your business gets studied first, the output matches what you expect. If it doesn't, we fix it until it does. Nothing goes live until you're satisfied.
Do you build on WordPress?
No. We build on a modern platform designed for speed, security, and clean performance. WordPress powers a lot of the internet, but it comes with trade-offs — plugins that slow your site down, security patches that never end, and bloat that gets in the way of what matters.
Your site loads fast because it's built lean — no bloated plugins, no constant security patches, no monthly maintenance just to keep software updated. The pages are clean, fast, and built so search engines and AI can read them clearly.
More importantly, your site is built on open web standards. Any competent developer can read, edit, and maintain it. You're not locked into a platform. You're not dependent on a specific plugin ecosystem. The code is yours, and it works without proprietary tools or monthly subscriptions to keep it running.
How is this different from hiring a freelancer on Fiverr?
You're buying research, strategy, and technical depth — not just a website that looks fine. The deep market research, the technical foundation that helps search engines understand your business, and the content strategy that answers every question your customers ask — that's not a standard web design deliverable. It's not even on the menu at that price point.
Most freelance sites are templates with your logo swapped in. They load. They look okay. When Google or AI tries to understand your business, there's nothing useful to find. No trust signals. No local depth. No strategy behind any of it.
A $500 template and a $7,500 system that brings in calls are different products entirely — even if they both have your logo on top. The difference is what happens after launch.
What Does It Cost?
How much does it cost?
Three packages. Foundation runs $3,500 to $5,000 — a complete website you own outright, built on deep research into your market. Local Authority runs $6,000 to $9,000 — everything in Foundation plus city pages for your service area, analytics setup, and thirty days of post-launch support. Dominant Presence runs $7,500 to $10,000 or more — the most complete build, with 20+ city pages and a launch content strategy. After launch, SEO management tiers start at $500 per month if you want ongoing growth.
Every package is a one-time project fee. You pay once and own the result. Compare that to agencies charging $2,500 to $10,000 per month — where you're renting results that vanish the moment you stop paying.
No hidden fees. No surprise invoices three months in. We tell you exactly what your project costs before you commit a dime. If ongoing support makes sense after launch, that's your call — not a requirement.
Do you offer payment plans?
Yes. Foundation splits fifty-fifty — half on signing, half on delivery. Local Authority and Dominant Presence split into three payments — fifty percent on signing, twenty-five percent at content approval, and twenty-five percent at launch.
We accept bank transfers, credit cards (a small processing fee applies), and checks for local clients. No hidden fees. No surprise charges down the road.
If you add SEO management after launch, billing starts the month after your site goes live. You're not paying for ongoing work until the site is built, approved, and generating results. SEO management is month-to-month after the initial commitment — you stay because the work is worth it, not because a contract forces you. If the results aren't there, you can walk away. Your site still works whether you keep us on retainer or not.
Are there monthly fees after the site is built?
Foundation and Local Authority are one-time projects. No ongoing fees required. Your site works whether you hire us again or not. There's no mandatory maintenance contract, no required monthly fee just to keep the lights on.
If you want ongoing help — new content every month, city page expansion, AI visibility tracking, performance monitoring — our SEO management tiers start at $500 per month. See /services/seo-management for the full breakdown. But that's a choice you make after seeing what we built, not a condition of working with us.
Some clients handle their own updates after launch. The site is built so any developer can maintain it. Others prefer to hand it off. Either way works. The point is you're in control. You'll never get a call saying "your site will go dark if you don't pay this month." That's not how we operate. You own the site. Period.
What's your refund policy?
We don't do refunds after work has started — because the work starts immediately. Your market research, your content, and your technical foundation take real time to produce. That's not something we can undo or reuse for someone else.
But here's what we do instead. You approve every stage before the next one begins. If the research doesn't capture your business accurately, we fix it before writing content. If the content doesn't sound right, we rewrite it before building. If the finished site doesn't meet the standard, it doesn't go live until it does.
You're never surprised with something you didn't ask for. The entire process is designed so problems get caught early — not discovered after the invoice clears. And you own everything we produce, regardless. If you decide not to launch, the research and content are still yours.
Do you offer ongoing SEO without building a new website?
Yes. Three tiers starting at $500 per month. Built for businesses that already have a site and want active growth management. We audit your current site, identify gaps, and get to work — keyword tracking, GBP management, content, city pages, and AI visibility monitoring.
Whether we built your site or someone else did, the process is the same. If the foundation is solid, we build on it. If it needs structural fixes, we'll tell you before you spend a dime.
See the full tier comparison at /services/seo-management.
What's the difference between the site build and ongoing SEO?
The site build is the foundation — your website, your content, your technical infrastructure. That's a one-time project. You pay once. You own the result.
Ongoing SEO is what happens after — monitoring your rankings, expanding your content, adding city pages as you grow, keeping your GBP active, and tracking how AI search engines see your business. Think of it like building a house versus maintaining and improving it.
The build gives you the structure. SEO management keeps it growing. Some clients handle their own updates after launch. Others want active management. Both approaches work — it depends on your goals and how aggressively you want to grow.
Can I add SEO management after my site is built?
Yes — and since we built your site, we already know the technical foundation, your market, and how everything is structured. The onboarding is instant. There's no audit period, no discovery phase, no ramp-up time.
We built it. We know it. We pick up right where the build left off. Your keyword landscape, your competitors, your service area — all of that context carries forward into the SEO management work.
Most clients wait until their 30-day support window closes to decide. By then, you'll have early data showing which pages are gaining traction and where the growth opportunities are. That makes the decision obvious.
Is there a contract?
Yes — a straightforward project agreement that covers scope, timeline, deliverables, and payment terms. It's written in plain English, not legal jargon designed to trap you.
There's no long-term lock-in. Foundation and Local Authority are project-based — once the site is built and delivered, the agreement is complete. If you add SEO management after your build, it's month-to-month after a minimum commitment (3 months for Visibility, 6 months for Growth and Mastery). You can cancel anytime after that.
We don't need a three-year contract to keep your business. We keep your business by doing work worth paying for. If the results justify the investment, you'll stay. If they don't, you should leave — and you can, with everything you paid for in hand. The contract exists to make sure we both know what's expected. Not to make it hard for you to walk away.
What Results Can You Expect?
How quickly will I see results?
Your site is typically live within a few weeks. Meaningful traction — more visibility in search, more calls, better positioning in AI results — takes sixty to ninety days for most businesses.
How fast things move depends on your market, your competition, and where you're starting from. A business with some existing search presence will see changes sooner than one starting from scratch. Less competitive markets move faster. Highly competitive metros take longer.
We won't promise you page-one rankings in a week. Anyone who does is lying or selling you ads. What we will do is build the strongest possible foundation and give you the tools to measure progress yourself. You'll see the same data we see — through your own analytics and search tools, not a dashboard you can't access without us. If something isn't working, it'll be obvious to both of us.
Do you guarantee rankings?
No. And you should walk away from any agency that does. Search engines and AI platforms decide rankings based on hundreds of factors — nobody controls them, and anyone who claims otherwise is making a promise they can't keep.
What we do guarantee is the quality and depth of what we build. Your site will have the depth and quality that search engines and AI need to understand and recommend your business. That's the input side — and it's the only side anyone can actually control.
The output — rankings, traffic, calls — depends on your market, your competition, and how long the site has been live. We'll be honest about realistic timelines for your specific situation. If someone guarantees you a number-one ranking for a monthly fee, ask them what happens when you stop paying. The answer will tell you everything.
What if my competitor has a bigger budget?
Budget matters less than you think. Traditional advertising is pay-to-play — bigger budget, more visibility. Google and AI search work differently. Google rewards depth with higher rankings. AI rewards it with recommendations. Neither one cares about your ad budget.
A local roofing company with a thorough, well-structured website can outperform a national franchise with a generic template site — because Google and AI look for specific, verified local information, not brand recognition. The business that gives search engines the most complete picture of what it does and where it does it gets found.
That's exactly what we build. Your site won't outspend national competitors. It will out-inform them. In Google and AI search, the business that provides the best information wins — regardless of ad budget. This is one of the few areas where being local and specific is a genuine advantage over being big and generic.
What metrics do you track?
The metrics that tell you whether the phone is going to ring — not numbers designed to justify a retainer. Search visibility: how many people see your business in results. Click-through: how many of those people visit your site. Keyword positions: where you rank for the searches that matter in your market.
We also track how AI platforms recommend your business and how that changes over time. Most agencies don't measure this at all — we do because we build for it.
Everything is measured through your own analytics and search tools — not a proprietary dashboard you can't access without us. You see the same data we see. No filtered reports. No cherry-picked numbers. If something isn't working, you'll know it before we tell you. Transparency isn't a marketing promise — it's how the reporting actually works.
What happens if my site doesn't perform?
Everything we build is transparent and verifiable. You can run your site through our free tools, check your own analytics, and independently confirm the work. Nothing is hidden behind a black box.
If your site isn't performing the way we both expect, you'll be able to see exactly why — and so will we. Sometimes the fix is content. Sometimes it's expanding into new service areas. Sometimes the market is more competitive than expected and it takes longer than ninety days.
We'll work with you to adjust. And because you own everything, you're never stuck. You can take your site to any developer, make changes yourself, or go in a completely different direction. There's no lock-in. No platform that stops working when you stop paying. Your site, your code, your decision. That's the whole point of ownership — it protects you even if the relationship doesn't work out.
Who Owns the Website?
Do I own my website?
Everything. The code, the content, the design, the domain, the hosting account — all of it belongs to you. This isn't a platform you're renting. It's a finished product you own outright, the same way you own your trucks and your tools.
If you ever decide to work with a different developer, they can pick up right where we left off. The site is built on open web standards that any competent developer can read, edit, and maintain. No proprietary lock-in. No special software required. No monthly fee to access your own files.
Think of it like hiring a contractor to build a house. When the job is done, you get the keys. You can repaint, renovate, or hire someone else for future work. The house is yours. We earn your business by doing work worth paying for — not by holding your website hostage.
What if I already have a website?
Your current site stays completely live while we build the new one. Your customers won't notice anything until you're ready to switch. If you're working with another agency right now, that's fine — their work continues separately.
The new site gets built on a private preview link you can visit anytime. You'll see progress as it develops. When everything is approved and the audit is complete, switching over takes a day. Your old site stays backed up as long as you want.
If you have content you like — service descriptions, photos, marketing copy — it becomes a starting point. Nothing goes to waste. We build on what works and replace what doesn't. If your current agency manages ads or other services, that can continue independently. We're replacing the foundation of your online presence, not disrupting your whole operation. The transition is designed to be seamless.
Can I make changes to my site after it's built?
Yes. The site is built so any developer can work on it. You can hire someone locally, use a freelancer, or make simple text and image changes yourself if you're comfortable with basic web tools.
If you'd rather not touch the technical side, we offer ongoing support options. But it's never required. Your site works whether you hire us for updates or not. There's no mandatory maintenance contract. No required monthly fee just to keep things running.
For businesses that want active management — regular content updates, new city pages, performance tracking — our SEO management tiers handle all of it. Three tiers starting at $500/month. But that's a choice you make based on results, not a condition of getting your site in the first place. The entire philosophy is that you're in control. Want to add a new service page next year? Your developer can do it. Want us to handle it? We're here. Either way works.
What happens if I want to leave?
You take everything with you. The code, the content, the domain, the hosting account — it's all yours. We hand you a complete set of files and your next developer picks up right where we left off.
There's no proprietary platform that disappears when you stop paying. No "rebuilding from scratch" because the old system was locked behind a subscription. No fee to export your own website. The site lives on your hosting account under your domain from day one. It doesn't depend on us to keep running.
Most agencies build your site on their platform. Stop paying their monthly fee and your site goes dark. You start over from nothing. That model exists because it forces you to stay, not because it's better for your business. We chose a different model — one where we keep your business by doing work worth paying for, not by holding your website captive.
Do I need to handle the technical stuff?
No. We handle everything technical — the build, the structure, the search engine setup, the AI optimization. Your job is reviewing content and making sure the details about your business are accurate. That's it.
After launch, your site works without any technical maintenance on your end. It doesn't need software updates, plugin patches, or database monitoring. It's built to run cleanly without ongoing babysitting.
If you ever want to make changes, you have options. Hire any developer you trust. Use our ongoing support if you prefer hands-off management. Or, for simple changes, basic web editing tools can handle text and image updates. The technical foundation is solid — it doesn't require you to become a web developer to keep your business running online. You run your business. The site runs itself. If something needs attention, you call us or call any developer. Your choice.