Motion Canvas: Free Website (Gannon / Local Services)
Status: one case study in progress, no outreach system
Created: 2026-08-15
Last reviewed: 2026-08-15
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1. What we sell vs. what we deliver
| Sell (buyer language) | Deliver (what we actually build) |
|---|
| "Free website that gets you calls" | 4-page responsive site (Home, About, Services+Locations, Contact) with chatbot demo, contact form, click-to-call |
| "No cost to get started" | Zero upfront charge for the site files or basic deployment |
| "Hosting + chatbot for $67/mo each" | $67/mo hosted plan (deployment + SSL + support) + $67/mo chatbot upsell |
| "Or we deploy it for $200 flat" | One-time deployment fee if they want it on their own hosting |
Gap: the "free website" framing attracts price-sensitive tire-kickers, not serious business owners. The conversion from free to paid hasn't been tested at scale. We also don't have a repeatable outreach method — Gannon came through a personal connection, not cold outreach.
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2. Target vertical
Local service businesses with no web presence or a terrible site:
- Garage doors (Gannon's vertical — first case study)
- HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing
- Tree service, junk removal, pest control
- Locksmiths, towing, well pump, sewer/drain
Why these verticals: high urgency, high ticket, local service = geographic targeting works, owners are often non-technical and don't have time to build their own site.
What we learned from Gannon: he had no website, no GBP, no system — perfect initial case study. But he's also not a repeatable model — most businesses in the RRR verticals have at least some web presence, even if it's bad.
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3. Ideal Customer Profile
- In business 1+ years (has revenue, not just an LLC)
- Currently has no website OR a site that's >5 years old / not mobile-responsive
- Gets some calls already (GBP, word-of-mouth) but wants more
- Answers the phone during business hours
- Service area: Brighton, Thornton, Commerce City, Westminster, Northglenn, Federal Heights, Broomfield (RRR's 7 towns)
- Not already working with a marketing agency
- Owner-operated (not a corporate franchise with a marketing department)
What we DON'T want:
- Businesses under 6 months old (no proof they can close work)
- Corporate franchises (they have corporate marketing)
- Businesses that don't answer the phone
- Price-sensitive tire-kickers who won't ever upgrade to hosting
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4. List compilation
What we've done: personal connections (Gannon), Facebook group posts, local prospecting.
What we should build:
- Google Maps scrape of all local service businesses in the 7 RRR towns
- Filter by: no website, no GBP, poor GBP (few reviews, no photos)
- Prioritize: businesses with 5+ Google reviews but no website (they have demand but no conversion)
- Target list size: 200+ businesses across all 8 RRR verticals
Tools available:
- Playwright (now installed on VPS) — scrape Google Maps, GBP, business websites
- local-business-prospecting skill — existing workflow for Maps → dossier
- GHL prospecting tool — can generate audit reports
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5. The hook
What works for local services: audit-led outreach. "I took a look at your website and noticed a few places where you're losing leads — especially on mobile and after hours."
Specific hooks by situation:
- No website: "I built a free site for a garage door company in Brighton — want me to build one for you?"
- Bad website: "Your site isn't mobile-friendly — 60% of your traffic is on phones and they're bouncing"
- No GBP: "You have 15 Google reviews but no website — you're leaving money on the table"
- After-hours gap: "I called your business at 7 p.m. and got voicemail — your competitors are picking up those calls"
The free site is the lead magnet, not the product. The product is the hosted site + chatbot at $67/mo each.
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6. Outreach sequence
| Touch | Channel | Content | Timing |
|---|
| 1 | Cold email / FB DM / SMS | "I built a free site for a local garage door company — want one?" + link to Gannon demo | Day 1 |
| 2 | Follow-up email | "Here's what the site does for Gannon" + case study snippet | Day 3 |
| 3 | Voicemail / SMS | "Free site, no catch. Call me back?" | Day 7 |
| 4 | FB post / community share | "Just launched a free site for Gannon's Garage Doors in Brighton — who else wants one?" | Ongoing |
Channel priority:
- Facebook (local groups, community pages) — Rob's strength, already building this track
- Cold email — scalable, professional
- SMS — post-opt-in only (after they reply)
- Cold call — voicemail drops, don't expect to get through
- Walk-in — not recommended (same problem as Premium Line)
What we should NOT do: cold SMS to strangers. Same TCPA issue. Post-opt-in only.
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7. Conversion mechanism
The funnel:
- Outreach lands → they click through to Gannon demo site
- They see the free site offer + chatbot demo
- They fill out the "Claim Your Free Site" form in GHL
- GHL workflow sends them the site files + upsell email sequence
- They choose: self-host (free files) or hosted ($67/mo) or hosted + chatbot ($134/mo)
- If hosted → Rob deploys to GHL sub-account
The GHL funnel:
- Landing page: "Claim Your Free Site"
- Form: name, phone, email, business name, service type, town
- Workflow 1: deliver free site files (email with download link)
- Workflow 2: upsell sequence (day 3: "Want me to deploy it?" day 14: "Add AI chat?")
- Order form: $67/mo hosting, $67/mo chatbot
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8. Fulfillment
What happens after they say yes:
- Customize the 4-page template (swap business name, phone, services, colors)
- Deploy to GHL sub-account OR deliver ZIP files for self-hosting
- Set up GHL pipeline + tracking
- Send login credentials + 15-min walkthrough video
- Schedule chatbot configuration call (if they upsell)
Build time: 3–4 hours per site (template customization, not from scratch)
Ongoing: 1–2 hrs/month per hosted client (support, updates)
Cost per site:
- Build time: 3–4 hrs × $100/hr = $300–$400 opportunity cost
- GHL sub-account: $0 (confirmed free)
- Domain/hosting: $0 (they provide or we use GHL hosting)
- Chatbot: $0 until they upsell
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9. Kill criteria
- If 50 outreach touches produce <10 free site claims → the offer or the hook is wrong
- If 10 free site claims produce 0 hosting upsells → the site quality or the upsell sequence is wrong
- If hosting clients churn after 2 months → the site isn't delivering value
- If build time exceeds 6 hours per site → the template needs more work
- If we spend >20 hours on outreach with 0 responses → pivot channel or vertical
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10. Current status
What's built:
- 4-page free site template (Home, About, Services+Locations, Contact) — in `/root/.hermes/work/free-site-template/`
- GHL funnel (Claim Your Free Site) — instructions built
- Outreach templates — drafted
- Gannon's customized site — built as proof of concept
- Chatbot demo — embedded in template
What's missing:
- Outreach sequence not deployed at scale
- No case study yet (Gannon is the first, not yet completed)
- No hosting clients yet
- No upsell sequence tested
- No list compiled beyond personal connections
Where it stalled: outreach scale. We built the site and the funnel, but never built a repeatable outreach engine. Gannon came from a personal connection — we need 200+ prospects and a tested sequence to prove the model.
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11. What to do next
- Compile the local business list (200+ across 8 verticals in 7 towns) via Playwright + Maps scrape
- Build the GHL funnel live (Claim Your Free Site) and test the form submission
- Send 50 cold emails / FB DMs with the Gannon demo as the proof point
- Measure: response rate, site claims, hosting conversions
- If response rate >10% → scale to 200
- If hosting conversion >20% → the model works, build more sites