Resources · FAQ
The questions owners ask us.
Straight answers about how we work, what things cost, and what you can hold us to. If something isn't here, ask us directly.
What does Smart Marketing do?
We're a regional marketing firm in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and we run three things under one roof and one invoice. Strategy and planning. Websites, SEO/GEO, and paid media. And a creative shop, Creative Design Group. The website work is the anchor. Most owners come to us because the site they have is a brochure that doesn't bring in work, and they want one that does.
What towns and states do you work in?
We work the five-state region around the Missouri Bootheel. Southeast Missouri, Northeast Arkansas, Western Kentucky, Western Tennessee, and Southern Illinois. Poplar Bluff is home base, and we work actively in Cape Girardeau, Jonesboro, Paducah, Columbia, and Springfield. We built this firm for owners in towns the big-city agencies drive past, so if you run a business in a town of 5,000 to 100,000 people, you're who we built this for.
How much does a website cost?
A new website runs from $1,750 for a single-page startup site up to $10,000 and up for a large custom build, and most owners land somewhere in the middle. The price depends on how many pages you need and what the site has to do. Hosting and care runs separately, starting at $65 a month, because a site nobody maintains stops earning its keep. We'll quote you a real number for your build, not a range you have to guess inside of.
What is the Pays-Itself Promise?
Every website we build is built to pay for itself within twelve months. On day one we sit down with you and write the baseline together: the revenue, the booked jobs, the quote requests, the new patients, whatever this site is supposed to move for your business. Twelve months later we measure against that number. The point is to put marketing on a scale you can read, instead of asking you to trust a feeling.
Is the Pays-Itself Promise a money-back guarantee?
No, and we won't pretend it is one. It's a discipline, not a refund. What you get in writing is a baseline, a goal, and a review, and those three things force the honest conversation up front about whether a website can move the number you need it to move. A guarantee would be a sales trick. A written baseline you helped set is something you can hold us to.
What's the difference between SEO and GEO?
SEO is how your business gets found on Google. GEO, generative engine optimization, is how it gets found inside AI answers, the ones ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews hand people when they ask a question instead of typing keywords. More of your customers search that second way every month, and most local sites are invisible there. We work both, and we report against the keywords and the AI surfaces we set as your baseline, not against a promise of where you'll rank.
How much does SEO/GEO cost?
Our SEO/GEO plans run $150, $375, or $600 a month, depending on how much ground you need covered. We don't sell the $3,500-a-month packages you've seen torn apart on contractor forums, and we don't do the $299 bot-traffic version either. You'll know what you're paying for and what we're measuring it against. If we can't show you what a dollar did, we don't think you should spend it.
How are you different from the freelancer or agency that burned me?
Most owners we talk to have one of three stories. A freelancer who took the deposit, did some work, and went quiet. An in-house hire stretched across five jobs nobody can do well at once. An agency that sent a monthly report full of impressions and never a number that paid a bill. We answer all three the same way. A real name on your account, a written baseline you helped set, plain pricing, and reviews led by a person instead of a dashboard. You can hold a person to their word. That's the whole idea.
How long does a website take to build?
Most builds ship in 30 to 60 days, depending on the size of the site and how fast we get your content and approvals. We'll give you a target date when we scope the work, and we keep the process predictable on our end, so the only variable is how quickly you can get us what we need.
Who does my work?
A named senior, on your account, on the masthead. Matt Bedell signs the strategy and leads the reviews. Paul Jarrell runs delivery. The website team builds the sites, our development operations handles the technical side, and Creative Design Group runs the creative, photo, and video. You'll know who has your account, and you can call them. We grow this firm by adding more named seniors, not by hiding a team behind a logo.
Do you build AI websites?
We use AI to work faster and smarter, and we don't sell it as the product. There's no "AI website builder" here and no "AI marketing in a box." AI helps us research, build, and produce creative quicker, which is good for your timeline and your budget, and the website you get is still built by people who put their names on it. The thing you're buying is a site that earns its keep, not a robot that made it.
What happens if the site doesn't hit the number?
We have the conversation, not a dashboard. The baseline and goal are in writing from day one, so at the twelve-month review there's nothing to argue about. We both already know the number we were aiming at. If the site fell short, we tell you straight, we show you why, and we tell you what we'd change. Sometimes that's the site, sometimes it's the offer, sometimes it's a market that needs a different play than the one we ran. You'll get a named senior across the desk owning the result, not a report that buries it. That's the part the discipline is built to protect.
Still have a question?
Ask us directly.
A 30-minute call is faster than reading. We'll tell you exactly what makes sense for your situation.