How we work.
SEOD's process runs in four phases: free 3-Point Visibility Audit (Phase 1), $3,000 Sprint build (Phase 2), 30-day post-launch tracking (Phase 3), monthly Maintenance ($297 to $1,997) for the long compound (Phase 4). Operator-led. Bay Area onsite at kickoff. Published pricing. No discovery calls. No annual contracts.
Built for Bay Area businesses doing $300K to $10M in annual revenue.
By Eric Lee, founder of SEOD · Updated 2026-06-17
From "tell us what's broken" to weekly working cadence.
Intake call. You talk. We ask operator questions.
Tell us what's broken. We ask the kind of questions someone who's run a real business would ask. We tell you which service line (or none) makes sense for your situation. No deck. No sales pitch. 15 minutes.
If your situation isn't a fit for what we do, we say so and refer you somewhere that is. We'd rather lose a 15-minute call than waste a 6-month engagement.
Audit or checkup. Paid because incentives matter.
Operations starts with the $497 Ops Checkup (2-hour remote, 1-page action plan). AI starts with the $500 Quick or $1,500 Full Audit (implementation roadmap included). Marketing and Web start with a free scoping pass on your existing analytics, GBP, and current site.
Free audits are sales pitches dressed up as advice. We charge because that changes the incentive. We'll tell you when AI is the wrong call, when your site doesn't need a rebuild, or when the cheapest tier is the right one.
Custom proposal. Tier-mapped, with the number on the page.
Within 5 business days of the audit, you get a proposal that maps your situation to a specific tier across Marketing, Web Development, Operations, or AI Agents. Exact monthly or flat number against the scope. No "starting at" or "contact for quote."
If the number doesn't work for your budget, we tell you which tier to scale down to. Not which contract to sign. Floor is $497/mo across Marketing and Operations. Web Development starts at $1,497 flat. The Launch Bundle ($1,497 setup + $497/mo) ships a site plus local SEO together when you need both.
Launch and run. Bay Area onsite, real reporting cadence.
Bay Area onsite at engagement start. Weekly 1-page Monday email (what we did, what's next, the numbers). Monthly 1-page KPI scorecard, same 8 metrics. Mid-month 5-minute Loom walkthrough. Quarterly 45-minute review call with Eric.
No 30-page PDF reports nobody reads. The reporting layer is built for an operator who has 5 minutes between service. If you want deeper analytics, you can pull them yourself in your dashboards (we set those up too).
What we don't do.
Every "no" on this list is a feature. None of them came easy. All of them lose deals.
ranking guarantees.
We show the work with screenshots and reports. We do not invent numbers to close the sale.
12-month contracts.
Month to month on retainers. Flat fee on projects. Leave the day the math stops working.
platform lock-in.
You own the site, the domain, the hosting, the data, and the SOPs.
AI before the basics work.
A broken workflow does not become useful because a bot runs it faster.
ads to a broken page.
We fix the page first, then run the spend.
offshore handoffs.
Stateside team. You text Eric directly.
deck shop.
We do the work. The slides are not the product.
What we do, and what we won't.
Publish prices.
Floor is $497/mo. Web Development is $1,497-$9,997+ flat. Operations Project is $3K-$15K. Every number is on the pricing page before you call us.
Sell annual contracts.
Month-to-month on retainers. Flat fees on projects. If you ever leave SEOD, you own the site, the domain, the data, and the SOPs.
Send Eric on the call.
The first call, the kickoff, the quarterly review, and every escalation. You text the founder, not a junior account manager. Stateside team, no offshoring.
Sell decks.
We ship the SEO, the website, the SOPs, the agent. If you wanted a strategy slide deck, you'd hire a consultant. We're operators.
Show up onsite.
Bay Area onsite at kickoff for most engagements. Quarterly for Operations Retainer. Monthly for high-touch clients. We walk the floor, watch the expo line, and ask the staff what's actually broken.
Claim what we can't.
We're not HIPAA-certified, we're HIPAA-aligned. We're not Fortune 500 consultants, we're SMB to mid-size operators. We refer to compliance partners when you need full certification.
Founder-led. Stateside. One bench, one bill, one contact.
When you sign with SEOD, you're not getting a junior account manager and a Slack channel full of strangers. You get Eric and a tight US team built across the disciplines you'd otherwise hire from four different agencies.
Eric Lee
16 years F&B operations. $54M+ in annual P&L managed across BCD Tofu House, Gen Korean Barbecue, Sake2Me Sushi, and Obaba Fresh. On every call, every kickoff, every quarterly review.
Stateside team
US-based senior practitioners across SEO, paid ads, content, design, operations consulting, and AI engineering. Direct work on your account, not handed off to an offshore queue.
Vetted freelancers
Brought in when craft matters. Photographers, copywriters, brand designers, video producers. Project-scoped, not billed by the hour against your retainer.
Top-school students
Stanford, Berkeley, Cal Poly, SJSU, USC interns and recent grads on research, monitoring, and first-draft work under senior supervision. AI-fluent generation by default.
Ready to start a phase?
Pick the entry point that matches what you need first. All paths land on a real conversation with Eric.
Common questions about how SEOD works.
How long does a SEOD Sprint take from first call to launch?
Most Bay Area Sprints ship in 30 to 45 days. The first 48 hours are the free audit. The next two weeks are scoping and creative direction. The build runs 2 to 3 weeks. Maintenance starts day 31.
What's a discovery call and why doesn't SEOD do them?
A discovery call is the 45-minute sales pitch most agencies require before they will quote. SEOD publishes prices on the website, in line with Google's Search Essentials guidance on transparent business information. The first call is 15 minutes, with Eric, focused on whether SEOD is the right fit for your business and budget. The Pricing page shows every tier; the free 3-Point Visibility Audit is the no-call entry point.
Does SEOD require an annual contract?
No. Sprints are one-time flat fees. Maintenance is month-to-month with 30 days notice. Cancel any time. The site, the domain, the data, the SOPs all stay yours if you leave.
When does SEOD do onsite work and when is it remote?
Onsite at Sprint kickoff for Bay Area clients (within roughly 50 miles of San Mateo). Quarterly onsite for Operations Retainer clients. Monthly onsite for high-touch industry partners. Everything else remote with Bay Area office hours. SEOD onsite practices follow BBB Bay Area best practices for in-person business operations and trust signaling.