AI & Technology

Are you actually using AI or just claiming you do?

Actually using. See /ai-edge/ for the full stack with model names and roles. Short version: Claude Haiku 4.5 powers every client chatbot, Claude Sonnet 4.5 drafts every piece of content, AI-assisted hand-coding builds every site, and AI runs continuous SEO/accessibility/conversion analysis on every account.

How do you stay ahead on AI?

We read frontier research the day it drops, test new models the week they release, and ship them into production the moment they outperform what we had. Two-person ownership means decisions move at conversation speed. See our /changelog/ for the running record of what we have shipped recently.

Is the AI chatbot just ChatGPT?

No. We use Claude (Anthropic), specifically Claude Haiku 4.5 for chatbot deployments. Claude has stronger refusal patterns, better prompt-injection resistance, and tighter instruction-following than GPT-class models in our production testing. We will migrate to whatever is best the moment a better model ships.

Pricing

What's included in the monthly fee?

Everything. Custom website (hand-coded, sized to your tier), AI chatbot trained on your business, hosting, SSL, DNS, security hardening, accessibility widget, conversion tracking, hardened lead pipeline, and (on Grow + Scale) managed Google Search Ads and/or Local Service Ads. There are no surprise add-ons; what's on the pricing page is what you pay.

Is there a setup fee?

Yes — $500 for Launch, $1,000 for Grow, $1,500 for Scale. The setup covers initial discovery, scope definition, hosting provisioning, domain setup, and the early phases of the build. After setup you only pay the monthly fee.

Do ad spend dollars come out of the monthly fee?

No. Ad spend (what Google charges for clicks or LSA leads) is billed directly to your credit card by Google. The monthly fee covers our service and management. Typical recommended ad spend is $1,500-5,000/month depending on category and market.

Why a 12-month commitment?

SEO, ad optimization, and conversion data all need time to compound. Twelve months is the minimum window where the work actually pays back. Month-to-month is available at a 50% premium for businesses that need flexibility.

What happens after 12 months?

Month-to-month at the same rate. Cancel anytime with 30 days notice. You keep your site, your domain, your source code. We don't lock anyone in.

Can I switch tiers?

Yes, anytime. Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades take effect at the next monthly billing cycle.

Ownership & Control

Do I own the website?

Yes, completely. Your domain stays in your name. The hosting is in our account during the engagement; we transfer it to you if you ever leave. The source code is plain HTML and CSS — yours to take with you, no proprietary lock-in.

What if I want to leave after the 12-month term?

You give 30 days notice. We hand off the files, transfer hosting credentials, and provide documentation. There's no exit fee, no held-hostage routine. We'd rather have a former client who speaks well of us than a current client who feels trapped.

Can I edit content myself?

Yes — there are two ways. Either you email content updates to us and we ship them within hours (most clients prefer this), or we set up a simple staged content workflow if you genuinely want hands-on editing. For most service businesses, the email-and-ship model is faster and lower-friction.

Do you give us admin access?

There's no admin panel to give you access to — that's part of the point. The site is static HTML/CSS with no database or CMS. We push changes through Git and the file system. You don't need access to anything that doesn't exist.

Technology

Why not WordPress?

Three reasons: security (90%+ of CMS hacks are WordPress, almost all through plugins), speed (WP + plugins typically loads in 3-8 seconds vs our sub-2-second hand-coded sites), and maintenance burden (WP needs constant plugin/PHP/theme updates). Hand-coded HTML/CSS has zero attack surface, sub-2s load, and requires no ongoing patching.

Don't AI tools build websites instantly now?

Yes, and we use AI heavily — for content drafting, component generation, and accelerating the build process. The end-state is what matters: AI-generated WordPress is still slow, vulnerable WordPress. We use AI as a productivity tool while still delivering fast, secure static sites.

What about hosting downtime?

We host on enterprise-grade infrastructure with Cloudflare CDN. Typical uptime is 99.99%+. We monitor uptime continuously and respond within minutes if anything looks wrong.

Is my data secure?

Yes. We harden every form with spam filtering, geo-fencing, CSAM detection, honeypots, and TLD blocklisting. Form submissions are sent via TLS-encrypted SMTP. We do not store visitor data in any database we control beyond what's needed to deliver the lead notification.

Process & Timeline

How long until my site is live?

14 days from contract signing for Launch and Grow tiers. Scale tier (250-600+ pages) takes 21-30 days because the content production is real work. See our How It Works page for the day-by-day breakdown.

What if the 14-day window slips?

It can — usually because we're waiting on a logo, photo, or DNS access from you. If we're the bottleneck, we credit the first month. If you're the bottleneck, we pause the clock and resume when you're ready.

Can I see the site before it goes live?

Yes — you see a staging URL by day 7 and have until day 10 to request changes. After day 10 changes still happen, just on the live site.

What do I need to provide?

Logo (if you have one; we can design if not), photos of work or facilities, basic business info (hours, service area, services and pricing posture), and DNS access to flip the domain at launch. That's it.

Accessibility & Compliance

Why is accessibility a big deal?

California and Nevada both have active plaintiff bars filing ADA web accessibility lawsuits against small businesses every week. Typical settlement is $5,000-15,000 plus remediation. A non-compliant site is a real liability.

What do you do for accessibility?

We ship WCAG 2.1 AA structural conformance (semantic HTML, heading hierarchy, alt text, keyboard navigation, color contrast), install the AdaWebPro widget overlay, generate an accessibility statement page, and run an automated audit at launch. Defensible from day one.

Is this included or extra?

Included on every tier. We don't sell accessibility as an upcharge.

Ads & Marketing

What's the difference between Google Search Ads and LSA?

Search Ads bid on keywords and drive clicks to your site. Local Service Ads (LSA) show at the top with the Google Guaranteed badge and you pay per lead, not per click. LSA is generally higher-ROI for eligible categories (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc.) but more operationally intensive.

Do you manage LSA differently than other agencies?

Yes. Most agencies hand you the LSA login and a dashboard. We do the opposite — we run the entire campaign end-to-end. You never log in. We file disputes within the seven-day window, monitor response-time SLAs, manage pacing, request reviews. You just get the calls.

How much ad spend do I need?

Typical recommended spend is $1,500-5,000/month depending on category and competition. We can advise specifically once we understand your market.

About YelloPost AI

Who actually does the work?

Brandon Smith (Founder, COO/CFO) and Rob Dolke (CEO). That's it. There is no team of subcontractors behind us, no offshore agency, no white-labeled outsourcing. The two of us do the work, take the calls, and answer the emails.

Why should I trust you?

Twenty years between us across SBC, YP.com, AT&T, Superpages, and the last national platform we worked at. Eleven live builds across plumbing, electrical, construction, automotive, pet services, B2B logistics, and specialty trades. Read our story for the full background — we built YelloPost AI because we got tired of watching the alternative.

Where are you located?

US-based, operating across California and Nevada with clients across the western US. Brandon is in Fresno; Rob is in the Sacramento area.

Is anything outsourced?

No. Everything we build is built by Brandon or Rob in the United States. We don't outsource to India, Brazil, China, the Philippines, or anywhere else. If we ever can't do the work ourselves, we won't take the work.

Still have a question?

Brandon (Founder, COO/CFO) and Rob (CEO) personally answer every inquiry. No call center, no "support tier."

Ask us anything →   Call Brandon: (559) 281-1737