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90-DAY MONEY-BACK · YOU KEEP THE SITE

The Dominance System — How We Build

Audit → Build → Wire → Grow. Four steps that take a Bergen County contractor or local business from invisible to AI-cited in 90 days. Same process every project. No "creative discovery sprints," no 6-month timelines, no design-by-committee. Jake handles strategy + SEO. Lucas handles design + dev. We start with your SERP and end with your phone ringing.

4-step methodology
2-8 week build (per tier)
~4-6 hours of your time total
90-day money-back guarantee
The Short Version

Jake & Lucas Marketing follows the same four-step Dominance System on every build — Audit, Build, Wire, Grow. Step 1 (Audit, free, 30 min before quoting): we map who ranks for your trade in your town, what schema they have, and what they leave on the table. Step 2 (Build, 2-8 weeks): Astro static site with FAQ + LocalBusiness + Service JSON-LD schema, NJ HIC + Master License footer, real local copy that names actual streets and landmarks. Step 3 (Wire, week of launch): GBP fully built out, Local Services Ads where applicable, review-collection workflow, Bing/IndexNow submission. Step 4 (Grow, optional monthly retainer): corridor-wide town-cluster expansion, original monthly content, review velocity. From kickoff to AI-cited in 90 days, backed by our written guarantee: If your new website doesn't pay for itself in 90 days, you get every dollar back — and you keep the website. Total client time investment: 4-6 hours across the whole build. We handle the rest.

The Four Steps

Audit → Build → Wire → Grow

Same process every project. Same accountability. No "discovery sprints" that bill for two months before you see anything.

01

Audit Your SERP

30 minutes (before we quote)Free

We map who ranks for your trade in your town, what schema they have, what they leave on the table.

What happens in this step
  • Pull the top 10 organic results for "[your trade] [your town] NJ" + 3-4 adjacent queries
  • Audit each competitor: word count, schema, FAQ presence, real local content vs templated, AI Overview citations
  • Identify the gaps you can own (specific streets, landmarks, demographics, fact-traps competitors get wrong)
  • Map the Map Pack — who has GBP dominance, where the entry points are
  • Verify your unique competitive geography (Pascack Valley vs Northern Valley, demographic clusters, commercial anchors)
  • Send you a 1-page brief with the SERP picture + tier recommendation BEFORE you commit to anything
What you walk away with

A 1-page SERP brief and a tier recommendation (Starter / Growth / Dominance) based on what your market actually needs — not the highest tier we can sell you.

02

Build a Locally-Grounded Site

2-8 weeks (depends on tier)

Astro static rendering. Answer-first TL;DR for AI extraction. Schema stack. Real local copy.

What happens in this step
  • 1-hour kickoff call (discovery, brand voice, conversion goals, integrations needed)
  • 30-minute content interview (your stories, your differentiators, your buyer's top objections)
  • Build on Astro for Core Web Vitals dominance (LCP <2s, CLS ~0, FID instant), deployed to Cloudflare edge
  • Answer-first TL;DR paragraph in the first viewport (AI engines extract verbatim)
  • LocalBusiness + Service + FAQPage + BreadcrumbList JSON-LD schema on every page
  • NJ HIC + Master License + insurance + bonding + NARI/NAHB/EPA RRP + manufacturer credentials in footer
  • Real local copy that names your actual streets, landmarks, demographics, and corridor (not templated content)
  • Original photography on Dominance tier (we shoot your business + job sites; Tenafly Tigers + Hillsdale 1870 depot + Closter Plaza + your real project addresses)
  • 2-3 rounds of design + copy revision (1 hour each, on your schedule)
  • HIPAA-aware build for medical practice clients (add-on)
  • Bilingual Spanish/English for Hackensack/Paramus/Lodi markets
What you walk away with

A launched, AI-optimized, conversion-tuned website on a custom domain with full schema coverage, mobile-first responsive design, and trust signals built in.

03

Wire GBP, LSA, Reviews, Schema

Week of launch + first 30 days

Google Business Profile fully built out. Reviews workflow. Schema graph. Bing/IndexNow submission.

What happens in this step
  • Google Business Profile fully populated — services + products + Q&A + weekly posts seeded for first 60 days
  • Local Services Ads (LSA) setup where applicable for your trade
  • Review collection campaign — target 25+ Google reviews in 90 days from existing happy customers (we set up the workflow)
  • Schema graph linked across the site (Organization @id → LocalBusiness @id → Service @id) so AI engines parse the entity cleanly
  • Bing Webmaster + IndexNow submission (ChatGPT Search uses Bing's index, not Google's)
  • Google Search Console setup + sitemap submission + first 30-day indexation monitoring
  • Initial backlink + citation outreach to local-business directories (Bergen County Bar, NJ NARI, NJ HIC database, manufacturer dealer locator, Chamber of Commerce, Yelp/Bing/Apple Maps)
  • AI-platform verification — Direct queries to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews testing your business name + top services
What you walk away with

GBP optimized, 25+ reviews in progress, schema validated by Google's Rich Results Test, site indexed by Google + Bing, AI engines beginning to cite you.

04

Grow the Corridor (Optional Retainer)

Monthly · month-to-month · cancel anytime

Corridor-wide town-cluster expansion. Original content. Review velocity. AI Overview compounding.

What happens in this step
  • 3 retainer tiers: Maintain $500/mo, Grow $1,500/mo, Dominate $3,500/mo (no annual contract, month-to-month)
  • GBP weekly posts every month (4 posts/month)
  • Original monthly content (1 long-form post at Grow, 4 at Dominate — all AI-Overview targeted, 1,500+ words each)
  • Town-cluster expansion (new town page + interlink graph monthly at Dominate tier — Pascack Valley, Northern Valley, or Bergen County-wide)
  • Backlink + citation campaign (Dominate tier — ongoing local-business directory outreach)
  • Quarterly Core Web Vitals + schema audit
  • Quarterly competitor SERP review + repositioning recommendations
  • Monthly strategy call with Jake (Dominate tier only)
  • Priority support + same-day fixes (Dominate tier)
What you walk away with

Compound growth — AI Overview citations spread to adjacent towns, GBP review velocity drives Map Pack dominance, monthly content keeps you fresh in the index, and the corridor-wide internal-link graph means every new town page benefits every existing page.

Typical Growth-Tier Timeline

Week-By-Week — The Build You Actually Get

Sample timeline for a Growth-tier build ($5,500, ~3-5 weeks). Starter compresses these into 2-3 weeks; Dominance expands to 5-8 weeks with photography + custom integrations.

Pre-Kickoff
30-minute SERP audit

Free. We send you the brief + tier recommendation. You decide whether to proceed.

Week 1
Kickoff call + content interview

1-hour discovery + 30-minute content interview. We draft sitemap, copy outline, and design direction. You sign engagement letter, pay 50% (or 40% for Dominance).

Week 2
Design v1 + copy v1

You see the actual home page + 2-3 key service pages designed and copied. 1-hour review call. Round 1 revisions.

Week 3
Design v2 + full content build

Revisions incorporated. Full site content drafted across all pages. Schema stack built. GBP audit begins. 1-hour review call. Round 2 revisions.

Week 4
Launch prep + GBP optimization

Final QA: Core Web Vitals tested, schema validated by Rich Results Test, mobile + tablet + desktop tested across browsers. GBP optimization in parallel. Final payment due.

Week 5
Launch day + Bing/IndexNow submission

Site deployed to Cloudflare. Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster + IndexNow submission. Schema validated live. Review-collection campaign begins.

Weeks 6-12
90-day AI-visibility window

We monitor AI Overview citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google. Optional retainer kicks in for monthly content + GBP posts. By day 90 you're cited, and the 90-day money-back guarantee stands behind it.

Agency Patterns We Skip

What You Won't Experience Working With Us

The agency tactics that waste your time and money — and why we explicitly don't do them.

Gated quotes / "Schedule a call to learn pricing"

Our pricing is at /pricing in writing. $2,500 / $5,500 / $8,500+. You see the number before you commit a minute of your time.

"Creative discovery sprints" that bill for 2 months

Our discovery is 1 hour. Our content interview is 30 minutes. We extract everything we need and start building. Discovery is not a billable phase.

Design-by-committee with 14 stakeholder review rounds

You. The owner. That's the decision-maker. 2-3 rounds of design + copy review with one decisive owner beats 14 rounds with a committee every time.

6-month timelines for a 5-page contractor website

Most Bergen contractor sites should be live within 4-6 weeks of kickoff. If an agency quotes 6 months, ask which subcontractor is doing the work and how many other clients they have.

Auto-renewing annual retainers that don't scale with your business

Our retainer is month-to-month. Pause anytime. Cancel anytime. Reactivate anytime. You don't pay for growth you didn't get.

"All your IP becomes ours" engagement letters

You own everything. Code, content, photos, domain, credentials. We don't hold anything hostage. The engagement letter is sanitized + shared before you commit.

Hidden hosting markup (charging $200/mo for $20 hosting)

Hosting is pass-through. Cloudflare runs $0-$30/mo at the platform layer depending on your traffic. We don't mark it up. You can host it yourself if you want.

Vague "results may vary" deliverables

Our guarantee is written into the engagement letter: If your new website doesn't pay for itself in 90 days, you get every dollar back — and you keep the website.

Straight from Lucas

How long until I see results?

If you already have a website with some history on Google, replacing it with ours on the same URLs moves fast; leads often within the first couple of weeks, call it 30 days to be safe. If you have no online presence at all, expect two to three months before consistent leads, because Google needs time to be confident in you.

Process FAQ

The Questions Bergen County Owners Actually Ask

Answers are FAQ schema-marked so they appear in Google AI Overviews and Perplexity citations.

How much of my time does this take? I run a contractor business.
About 4-6 hours of your time, total — split across a 1-hour discovery call (kickoff), a 30-minute content interview (your brand voice + project stories), 2-3 rounds of design + copy review (1 hour each, on your schedule), and the launch call. We handle everything else — research, writing, photography direction, schema, build, deploy. You don't need to send us drafts, mood boards, or a brief. We extract everything we need from the discovery + interview + a 30-minute SERP audit we run before kickoff.
What if my project runs longer than the 2-8 week timeline?
Then we eat the overrun, not you. The Starter ~2-3 weeks / Growth ~3-5 weeks / Dominance ~5-8 weeks timelines are our commitments — we set them at discovery and we hit them. The only valid reasons a build runs long are (1) you can't get us content/photos/credentials we need, or (2) you ask for scope expansion mid-build. Both are accounted for in the engagement letter. If WE miss the date for our own reasons, you don't pay overage.
What does the 90-day money-back guarantee actually mean?
If your new website doesn't pay for itself in 90 days, you get every dollar back — and you keep the website. The guarantee is written into the engagement letter — not a marketing line. Zero of the Bergen County web design competitors we audited offer this in writing.
Why do you do SERP research before quoting?
Because pricing without knowing the competition is guesswork — and Bergen County SERPs vary enormously. A Pascack Valley town like Hillsdale has a soft SERP that an $8,500 build will dominate. A Paramus build needs to clear 3,000+ words to compete with Briax + Wowbix who are already at 2,800. A Hackensack tri-vertical build needs three-architecture support. The 30-minute pre-quote SERP audit means we propose the right tier for YOUR market, not the highest tier we can sell you.
Do you work with businesses outside Bergen County?
Selectively. Our specialty is Bergen County NJ contractors and local businesses — that's where we have the corridor-wide internal-link graph, the schema architecture, and the day-to-day local knowledge that lets us name actual streets and landmarks in the copy. We will take projects in Passaic, Essex, and Hudson counties when they fit our specialty (contractors, medical, legal). We don't do tech startups, ecommerce stores with 1,000+ SKUs, multi-state franchise rollouts, or non-English-only builds — those need a different team.
Will you share the engagement letter / scope / contract publicly?
Yes — for prospective clients we'll send a sanitized template before you commit. It's a 5-page document covering scope, deliverables, payment milestones, the 90-day money-back guarantee in writing, the satisfaction refund policy, IP ownership (you own everything), and confidentiality. No surprise clauses, no auto-renewing retainers, no "all your IP is ours" gotchas that some agencies bury. We can also share redacted examples of past engagement letters if it helps.
What if I want to do part of this myself (write copy, take photos)?
Encouraged. If you have strong existing brand voice or great in-house photography, we incorporate it — that saves us time and saves you money. If your content is rough but the bones are good, we'll polish and structure it. If you've never written for SEO + AI engines, we'll write the entire site and pull voice from a 30-minute interview. Whatever combination works. We do reduce price for clients providing meaningful content (case-by-case discount on the proposal).
How do I know if you can actually deliver before I commit?
Two ways. (1) Look at our live builds — every town page (Emerson, Closter, Tenafly, Park Ridge, River Edge, Hillsdale, Hackensack, Paramus, etc.) ranks for its target queries within the AI Overview slot. Pull up ChatGPT or Perplexity and ask "best web designer in [town]" — see who shows up. (2) The written guarantee in the engagement letter means our money is on the line: If your new website doesn't pay for itself in 90 days, you get every dollar back — and you keep the website. No agency hides behind "results are subjective" language with us.
90-DAY MONEY-BACK · YOU KEEP THE SITE

Start with Step One.

Free 30-minute SERP audit. We'll show you who ranks for your trade in your town, what gaps they've handed you, and which tier makes sense. No pitch.

Built by Jake Borenius & Lucas Hofmeister · Emerson, NJ 07630

Try it, free

More calls. More jobs. More money. That’s the whole job.

And it’s in writing: If your new website doesn't pay for itself in 90 days, you get every dollar back — and you keep the website. Play with one of these first.

1. What does your business make a year?

2. How many customers find you online?

Moving to AI answers

$125,000

a year of your business comes through searches that are moving to AI.

If AI doesn’t name you, that goes to whoever it does name.

Make sure AI names you. Free demo

Rough math: your revenue × the share found online × 25%. The 25% is Gartner, February 2024: search engine volume predicted to drop 25% by 2026 as people switch to AI chatbots. A forecast, not a promise.

Then: Google showed 10 links

Be anywhere on page one and you still got calls.

Now: AI gives one answer

A few names. If yours isn’t one, the call goes to them. We make sure it is.

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