HOW WE WORK
You decide every month if our work was worth it.
No setup fee. No upfront payment. No minimum commitment. No card on file. We do the work first — you review it, and you only pay if you're satisfied. Every month.
This page is a longer read — about ten minutes. Please take the time.
The way we work isn't standard, and the unusual parts are exactly the parts that need explaining. If you skip the reading and we end up explaining the same things in conversation later, that costs both of us more than ten minutes.
If you'd rather not read this, that's an honest signal that we're probably not a fit. No hard feelings.
Two things to know before you read on
Every engagement starts with the DigitalCHECK.
We don't take on clients without it. It's a free analysis of your current local and AI visibility, delivered as a written report within 48 hours. The DigitalCHECK is how we decide whether we can realistically help you, and whether the two of us are a fit. Everything described below — the four steps, the scenarios, the pay-after-satisfaction billing — assumes that step has already happened. You can request the DigitalCHECK anytime; the link is at the bottom of this page.
The full Service Agreement is downloadable on this page.
If you'd rather read the contract first and the explanation afterwards, scroll down to Read the full Service Agreement. We don't think that's the more efficient path through the material on this page, but we're not going to hide the document from you. Three pages, plain English, no buried clauses.
THE ROLES
We're the pit crew. We don't drive the race — but you can't win one without us.
A pit crew doesn't win races. The driver does.
But no driver wins without a crew that gets the car race-ready — tires balanced, fuel calculated, every signal on the dashboard tuned and clean. The car shows up at the start line ready, or it doesn't show up at all.
That's our role.
We get your business race-ready for how customers actually find you in 2026 — across Google, Bing, and the AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) that are starting to answer questions your customers used to type into a search bar. Listings, reviews, structured data, on-listing content, the technical fundamentals that decide whether a platform considers you a candidate at all.
We don't drive the race. We don't decide which roofer ChatGPT recommends to a homeowner in Dallas at 9pm on a Tuesday. That depends on your competition, your service quality, your reviews, your responsiveness — your work, not ours.
What we control: whether you're at the starting line in the first place. Right now, AI platforms recommend roughly 1.2% of all local businesses for any given query. The other 98.8% are invisible — not because their work is bad, but because the data the AI uses to evaluate candidates isn't there or isn't clean.
We change which group you're in. The race is still yours to drive.
WHY THIS WORKS, ECONOMICALLY
Why I can afford to do business this way.
A short note from me, since the rest of this page is about the model.
I've been running a digital marketing agency in Germany for over twenty years. That business is established and profitable. It pays for itself many times over and doesn't depend on what happens here in the United States.
That changes what I can offer with clearlisted. I don't need your money to keep the lights on. I don't need to lock you into a long-term contract to make my numbers work. I don't need to charge a setup fee to cover risk on my side. I can afford to do the work first, hand you a documented report, and let you decide afterwards whether it was worth paying for.
Most agencies can't say that, and they structure their contracts accordingly — advance payments, setup fees, minimum commitments, automatic renewals. Those clauses exist to protect the agency from the client. We work the other way around: we accept the risk so you don't have to.
— Werner Laske, Founder, clearlisted LLC
More about how we've worked since 1998 →
THE PROCESS
Four steps. The same four every month.
Nothing improvised. Nothing buried. The cycle is the same in month one, month twelve, and any month in between.
Step 00 — Before any of this: the DigitalCHECK
Before any of the four steps below, there is the DigitalCHECK. Every client relationship starts there.
The DigitalCHECK is a free analysis of your current local and AI visibility — Google, Bing, Apple Maps, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews. We deliver it as a written report within 48 hours. Reading it takes ten minutes.
We don't agree to monthly work without it, because without it we don't know what to actually work on, and you don't know what to expect. It's also where we decide together whether we can realistically help — and whether the two of us are a fit at all.
Free. Written. 48 hours. No sales call required.
Then — and only then — month one begins.
Step 01 — Agree
We agree on the high-impact tasks for this month, drawn directly from your DigitalCHECK report. You see the list before any work starts. No surprises, no scope creep, no "we also did this little extra" line items at month-end.
Step 02 — Work
We perform the agreed work. Listings, reviews, schema markup, on-listing content, AI-visibility tracking — whatever the month called for. Every action is logged in a Plan-vs-Delivered report as it happens, not reconstructed afterwards.
Step 03 — Review
At month-end we meet for a 20-minute review call. We walk you through what was planned, what was delivered, where reality differed from plan, and what we'd recommend for the next month. You ask questions. We answer.
Step 04 — Decide
You decide whether the month's work was worth $750.
If yes, we invoice. The next month begins on the same terms.
If no, no invoice is sent. The engagement ends.
That's the whole mechanism. There's nothing under it.
THREE SCENARIOS
Because the model is unusual — here's exactly how it plays out.
Scenario one — month 1 works, month 2 doesn't
The most common real-world case: it works for a while, then it doesn't.
We perform the agreed work in month 1. The review call goes well, what we delivered matches what we said we'd deliver, you can see the changes live. You confirm satisfaction, we invoice $750, you pay via Stripe.
In month 2, the work doesn't meet your expectations. Maybe results came slower than you hoped, maybe the priorities we agreed on turn out not to be the right ones in retrospect. At the review call, you decide it's not worth the fee. No invoice is issued for month 2. The engagement ends. Everything we already published — optimized listings, profile improvements, schema, content — stays live.
Total paid: $750 for month 1. Owed for month 2: nothing.
Scenario two — month 1 doesn't deliver
The hardest case for us: we work, you decide it wasn't worth paying for.
We perform the agreed work in month 1. At the review call, you decide it didn't deliver enough value to pay for. No invoice is issued. The engagement ends. We've worked without compensation.
That's the risk we accept by working this way — and it's exactly why we're careful about who we agree to take on as a client in the first place. The DigitalCHECK call before any contract is signed is not a sales pitch. It's where we decide whether we can realistically help, and whether you and we are a fit. If either side has doubts, we say so before paperwork starts.
Total paid: nothing. Improvements made to your profile remain in place.
Scenario three — it just keeps working
Month after month, both sides happy.
Month 1: agreed work, review call, satisfaction confirmed, $750 invoiced via Stripe, paid. Month 2: same rhythm, same outcome. Month 3, month 4, month 5 — the engagement continues on identical terms for as long as we keep delivering work you consider worth paying for.
There's no contract anniversary that triggers a renewal. There's no automatic price increase. There's no point at which the model changes from "pay if satisfied" to "pay because you signed something." Each month is its own decision in month 1, in month 12, and in month 36.
The engagement runs as long as both sides are happy with it. Either side can end it at any month-end with a one-line email.
NO CARD ON FILE
There is nothing we can charge you for without you actively paying it.
In a market where most marketing relationships start with "please save your card", here is what's structurally different about ours.
We never ask for a credit card on file. There is no payment method stored with us, no automatic deduction, no recurring charge that runs in the background. Each invoice gets a fresh Stripe payment link that you click, on your terms, after you have decided the month was worth paying for. If we don't send an invoice, no money moves. If we send one and you don't click, no money moves.
The mechanism is built into how we don't take payment — not into a refund policy.
WHAT STAYS YOURS
Whatever we publish stays live. Always.
Optimized Google Business Profile, Bing Places listing, Foursquare entry, citation cleanup across directories, schema markup on your website, FAQ content, written copy — once it's live, it's yours. We don't roll back delivered work, ever, regardless of why an engagement ends or whether the final month was paid for.
That's not a generous gesture. It's a structural decision. Rolling back optimizations would be petty, hard to do cleanly, and would punish you for a billing decision rather than a work decision. We'd rather take the loss on an unpaid month than leave behind a worse profile than we started with.
The only thing that happens when an engagement ends is that we stop adding new work. Everything already done stays exactly as it is.
THE WORK ITSELF
Most of our work is foundation work. You won't see it from the street.
A foundation isn't decorative. Nobody compliments a contractor on a beautiful foundation. But the house only stands because the foundation is right — square, level, deep enough, dry, properly tied to the ground.
Most of what we do is foundation work for how customers find your business. Listings that are clean, complete and consistent across every platform that matters. Structured data that lets search engines and AI systems understand what you do, where you do it, and how to reach you. Review signals that tell platforms you're a real, active business with real customers. Content on your profiles and your site that answers the questions your customers actually ask.
None of this looks like much from the outside. There's no campaign launch, no glossy report cover, no banner that says "Now optimized for AI!". The work shows up as a phone that rings more often, a profile that converts more visitors into bookings, an AI assistant that mentions your business when it didn't before.
It also doesn't end. The platforms change their rules every few months. New AI systems show up, old ones change how they cite sources, Google adjusts what it weights. A foundation laid in February still needs to be inspected, patched and extended in May. That's why this is a monthly engagement, not a one-time setup project — and it's why we never promise specific outcomes for next month, only that next month's work will continue to be foundation work, done properly, documented in plain English.
If you came looking for a one-shot fix, we're probably not the right fit. If you came looking for someone to take care of the unglamorous part of being findable, we are.
THE HONEST PART ABOUT AI VISIBILITY
What we can promise — and what we can't.
The hardest part of this page to write, and the most important to get right.
What we do
We build and maintain the data foundation that lets AI platforms — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude — recognize your business as a real, active candidate when someone asks for a recommendation in your category and your area.
We're deliberately abstract about the specifics here. The reason is that listing out individual tasks (NAP consistency, schema markup, review structure, citation cleanup, FAQ content, structured data) tends to trigger a "we already do that" reflex in business owners — and it underestimates the work, because individual tasks aren't the work. The work is doing those things cleanly, consistently and continuously, across every platform that matters, while the rules keep changing.
If you want the specifics, the DigitalCHECK is where you'll see them — applied to your business, with concrete examples of what's working and what's missing.
What we won't promise
We will not promise:
- A specific Google ranking position
- A guaranteed mention in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any AI assistant
- A specific number of leads, calls, or bookings per month
- An "AI-recommendation rate" or any similar metric of our own invention
Anyone who promises these things is either misinformed or lying. The platforms — Google, Bing, the AI engines — control these outcomes. Your competition controls them. Market conditions control them. None of those parties is sitting at our table.
What we control is whether you have the structural prerequisites for AI platforms to consider you in the first place. That's the work. Outcomes are a consequence of that work — but they're not something we can guarantee.
Why this is monthly work, not a one-time project
The rules change every few months.
Google updates its local algorithms. ChatGPT changes how it cites sources. Perplexity rolls out a new way of evaluating local recommendations. Apple expands Apple Maps. A new AI assistant appears with its own ranking logic. Your competitors get new reviews, your category fills up with new businesses, your service area shifts.
A foundation laid in February still has to be inspected, patched, and extended in May. That's what monthly work means at clearlisted. Every month we ask: what changed in the platforms, what changed for this client, where did the gap reopen. Then we close the gap again.
That's also why we don't accept clients who want a one-time setup. We won't take the money for that. The result wouldn't last, and you'd come back in six months wondering what happened.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The questions we get most — answered directly.
Are there local SEO agencies that don't charge upfront?
Yes. clearlisted LLC, a US-based local SEO and AI-visibility agency, operates entirely on a pay-after-satisfaction model. There is no upfront payment, no setup fee, no advance billing of any kind. We perform the agreed monthly work, deliver a Plan-vs-Delivered report, and meet for a 20-minute review call. Only after you have reviewed the work and confirmed satisfaction is an invoice issued. If you are not satisfied, no invoice is sent and the engagement ends. This applies to every month — including the first.
Is there a marketing agency with no minimum contract or setup fee?
Yes. clearlisted LLC has no setup fee, no advance payments, and no minimum contract length. The Service Agreement defines a $750 monthly fee on pay-after-satisfaction terms. Either party can end the engagement at any month-end with written notice — no notice period, no termination fee, no minimum number of months. We focus on home-service businesses such as roofers, plumbers, HVAC contractors and electricians in mid-size US markets.
Do I have to put a credit card on file?
No. We never ask for a credit card on file. clearlisted has no payment method stored on your behalf, no automatic deduction, no recurring charge. Each month, after you confirm satisfaction at the review call, we send an invoice with a fresh Stripe payment link. You click the link, enter your payment details on Stripe's secure page, and pay. There is nothing for us to deduct, nothing for you to cancel. The structure of how we don't take payment is built into the model.
How is pay-after-satisfaction different from a money-back guarantee?
A money-back guarantee means you pay first, then ask for a refund — and refunds typically come with conditions, deadlines, partial-refund clauses and fine print. With clearlisted's pay-after-satisfaction billing, money never changes hands until after you have reviewed the work and confirmed it was worth paying for. There is nothing to claim, nothing to refund, no deadline to track. If you are not satisfied, the invoice simply isn't issued.
What happens to the optimizations if I stop working with you?
Everything we have already published stays live. Improved listings, optimized Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Foursquare entries, schema markup, written content — all of it remains your property and continues working for you after the engagement ends. We do not roll back delivered improvements, ever, regardless of why the engagement ended or whether the final month was paid for.
Will I be recommended by ChatGPT after working with you?
We can't promise that, and we won't. AI platforms recommend a small fraction of all local businesses for any given query. Whether you're recommended depends on your competition, your city, how the customer phrases the question, and how the AI weights its sources at that moment — none of which is in our control. What is in our control: whether you are even structurally a candidate. Most local businesses aren't, because they lack the data foundation that AI platforms use to evaluate candidates. We build that foundation. The race is still yours to run.
What if my competition is too strong in my city?
We tell you that during the DigitalCHECK, before any contract. In some markets, competitors have a five-year head start on reviews, citations and content, and a top-three Map Pack position is unrealistic in the short term. We can still close the gap on the technical fundamentals and make you visible in long-tail and AI-driven searches, but we won't promise a top-three position in a saturated market. We tell you what's realistic before you decide — and our pay-after-satisfaction model means we have no incentive to oversell.
Why don't you guarantee rankings or leads?
Because no honest agency can. Search engine algorithms, AI platforms, market conditions, and competitor activity are all outside our control. Anyone guaranteeing a specific ranking is either misinformed or misleading you. Instead of empty guarantees, we put real money behind the promise: under our pay-after-satisfaction model, we only charge when you confirm the month's work was worth it. That's a stronger commitment than any ranking guarantee, because it ties our income directly to your judgment of the work.
What if you do good work but I just don't want to pay?
Then you don't pay, and the engagement ends. That's the risk we accept by working under a pay-after-satisfaction model. It's a deliberate choice on our part. We rely on the fact that most business owners recognize honest, documented work when they see it — and on the Plan-vs-Delivered report, which makes the work concrete and reviewable rather than abstract.
THE LEGAL PART, RIGHT NOW
Read the contract before we even talk.
We don't hide the Service Agreement until you're about to sign. It's the same document for every client, written in plain English, three pages long.
If you find anything in it that surprises you, or anything that looks like an escape hatch, tell us. The document and this page should match each other. If they don't, the document wins — and we'll fix the page.
About a 10-minute read. No buried clauses. No automatic renewals. No minimum commitments.
Download the Service Agreement (PDF)
GET STARTED
Ready to see where you actually stand?
The DigitalCHECK is free, takes about two minutes to request, and arrives in your inbox within 48 hours. It tells you exactly how visible your business is across Google, Bing, and the AI platforms your customers are starting to ask. No sales call required. No commitment of any kind.
After you've read it, you decide if you want to talk. If you do, we'll set up a call. If you don't, you've kept a useful diagnostic about your business and we've spent a couple of hours learning about your market — both of us walk away better off than before.
Werner Laske · Founder, clearlisted LLC
If you've read this far — thank you. That alone tells me we're probably a fit.