Why We Are Changing

The old website delivery model was built around human specialists: one person for project management, one for content, one for design, one for development, one for launch. Each handoff between specialists was a potential point of failure — a dropped ball, a miscommunication, a delay. The client experienced this as slow and inconsistent. Internally, it meant no single person owned the outcome.

AI tools have made the specialist model obsolete for the type of websites our trades company clients need. A well-prompted AI agent can produce a complete, high-performing, audit-passing website in hours. The human role shifts from doing the work to directing the AI, reviewing the output, and owning the client relationship.

What We Are Building Toward

A system where one Onboarding Specialist takes a client from signed contract to live website without involving any other internal team member for routine builds. Client Success Quarterbacks handle all ongoing maintenance and content updates using AI tools, without needing a developer. The hosting infrastructure is fully managed — no servers to maintain, no SSL certificates to renew, no caching layers to configure.

The Five Non-Negotiable Outcomes

• Every website we deliver passes four specific audits: W3C validation, WAVE WebAIM accessibility, PageSpeed Insights (100 on both mobile and desktop), and AI Friendliness.
• One Onboarding Specialist runs the full build-to-launch workflow independently.
• Client Success Quarterbacks handle all routine maintenance without developer involvement.
• The hosting infrastructure is zero-maintenance — no servers, no SSL management, no caching fires.
• The monthly cost of hosting and infrastructure per client site is near zero, preserving margin.

How the Stack Connects

The flow is linear and automatic: Manus builds the site files → Onboarding Specialist uploads files to GitHub → GitHub triggers Cloudflare Pages to deploy → Cloudflare Pages serves the site to visitors with automatic SSL. When a Quarterback makes an update, the same flow repeats automatically. No manual deployment step. No server to touch. No SSL to renew.

Why Plain HTML Makes These Achievable

The static HTML + Cloudflare Pages architecture is the only approach that makes all four audits achievable consistently and by default. WordPress makes PageSpeed 100 a constant battle — plugins, themes, and database queries all add weight. React and Vue frameworks render in the browser using JavaScript, which delays content appearance and tanks mobile PageSpeed scores.

On a plain HTML site built by Manus and hosted on Cloudflare Pages, PageSpeed 100 is the starting point, not something to fight for. The HTML is valid by construction. Accessibility is built into the prompt requirements. AI Friendliness files are generated automatically. The architecture works with the audits, not against them.

Business Basics

• Business name — exactly as it should appear on the site
• Primary phone number
• Primary email address
• Physical address (if applicable — some trades companies are service-area-only)
• Service area — cities, counties, or radius
• Business hours — every day of the week
• Year established (if they want to feature it)
• License numbers (if applicable and they want to display them)

Services

• Complete list of services offered — be specific. "HVAC" is not enough; we need "AC installation, AC repair, furnace installation, furnace repair, heat pump installation."
• Primary service — the one they most want to rank for and generate leads from (this goes first in the prompt)
• Any services they do NOT want featured — sometimes companies are phasing out certain work

Brand

• Logo file — PNG or SVG with transparent background preferred
• Brand colors — hex codes if known; if not, describe the colors and we will match from the logo
• Any fonts they use (if known)
• Tone preference: professional and formal, friendly and approachable, bold and confident, etc.

Content

• About the company — 2–3 paragraphs or bullet points: who they are, how long they've been in business, what makes them different
• Owner or team bio (if they want to feature the team)
• Awards, certifications, or affiliations they want to highlight
• Customer testimonials — 3–5 preferred; if they don't have them written, we pull from their Google reviews
• Photos — team photos, truck photos, job site photos, before/after photos — the more the better

Technical

• Current website URL (if they have one — we use it as a reference)
• Google Business Profile URL (if they have one)
• Social media profiles — Facebook, Instagram, etc.
• Any third-party tools that need to be integrated (booking software, review widgets, chat tools)

Goals

• Primary goal of the website — generate phone calls, form submissions, drive foot traffic, etc.
• Any specific pages they want beyond the standard set (standard: Home, Services, About, Contact)
• Anything they specifically like or dislike about their current website

Standard Build Prompt

Build a complete, production-ready website for [BUSINESS NAME],
a [TYPE OF BUSINESS] serving [SERVICE AREA].

Business details:
- Phone: [PHONE NUMBER]
- Email: [EMAIL ADDRESS]
- Address: [ADDRESS, or "service-area only — no physical storefront"]
- Hours: [BUSINESS HOURS]
- Year established: [YEAR, or omit if unknown]

Services to feature (in order of priority):
[LIST ALL SERVICES, one per line, primary service first]

Brand:
- Primary color: [HEX CODE or color description]
- Secondary color: [HEX CODE or color description]
- Tone: [e.g., "professional and trustworthy, with a friendly approachable feel"]
- Logo: [Attach the logo file, or note "no logo — create a text-based wordmark"]

Pages required:
- Home (hero, services overview, trust signals, testimonials, contact form)
- Services (section or page for each service listed above)
- About (company story, team, values, certifications)
- Contact (phone, email, address/service area, form, Google Maps embed)
- [ANY ADDITIONAL PAGES REQUESTED]

Content to include:
[PASTE ABOUT SECTION, TESTIMONIALS, AND ANY OTHER PROVIDED CONTENT]

Technical requirements — non-negotiable:
- Plain HTML5, CSS3, vanilla JavaScript only. No frameworks. No build tools.
- Must pass W3C validation with zero errors and zero warnings
- Must pass WAVE WebAIM accessibility audit with zero errors
- Must achieve a score of 100 on Google PageSpeed Insights (mobile AND desktop)
- Must pass AI Friendliness audit — include llms.txt, JSON-LD LocalBusiness
  schema, sitemap.xml, and robots.txt
- All images in WebP format with descriptive alt text
- No render-blocking scripts or stylesheets
- Contact form via Formspree (endpoint: [FORMSPREE URL or "use placeholder"])
- Fully responsive on mobile, tablet, and desktop

Reference: [CURRENT WEBSITE URL or "no existing site"]

Additional notes: [SPECIFIC REQUESTS, THINGS TO AVOID, CLIENT CONTEXT]

After the First Build: Review Checklist

When Manus delivers the first build, work through this checklist before running the audits:

Content Review

• All business information is accurate — phone, address, hours, services
• The copy sounds like the client's business, not generic
• All testimonials are included and attributed correctly
• The logo is displayed correctly in the header and footer
• Brand colors are applied consistently throughout

Visual Review

• The site looks professional and polished on a desktop browser
• The site looks professional and polished on mobile (use browser dev tools to simulate)
• Images are high quality and relevant — no generic stock photos if client provided real photos
• The contact form is visible and prominent on the home page
• The phone number is clickable on mobile (tap-to-call)

Technical Review

• Run W3C validator — must show zero errors, zero warnings
• Run WAVE WebAIM — must show zero errors
• Run PageSpeed Insights — must show 100 on both mobile and desktop
• Run AI Friendliness checker — must pass
• Confirm the llms.txt file exists and contains accurate business information
• Confirm the sitemap.xml exists and lists all pages
• Confirm the robots.txt exists and is correctly configured
• Submit the contact form — confirm it delivers to the correct email address
• Click the phone number on mobile — confirm it initiates a call

Routine Content Updates

When a client requests a content change — a new phone number, updated service area, revised copy, a new photo, a new team member — the Quarterback handles it using Manus:

1. Open Manus and provide the context: "This is the website for [CLIENT NAME]. The client has requested the following change: [DESCRIBE THE CHANGE]. Here are the current site files: [ATTACH OR REFERENCE THE FILES FROM GITHUB]."
2. Manus makes the edit and produces updated files.
3. The Quarterback reviews the change visually — does it look right? Is the information accurate?
4. Upload the updated files to the client's GitHub repository. Cloudflare Pages automatically detects the change and redeploys the live site within about 60 seconds.
5. Confirm the change is live by visiting the site. Notify the client.

Significant Updates

When a client requests a larger change — a new page, a redesigned section, a new service added, a seasonal promotion — the Quarterback follows the same process but with a more detailed prompt to Manus and a more thorough review before deploying. After deploying, re-run the four audits to confirm the update did not introduce any issues.

When to Escalate to the Tech Product Owner

The Quarterback escalates when:

• A site is down and the cause is not immediately obvious (UptimeRobot alert fired)
• A domain is not resolving correctly after a DNS change
• A form is not delivering submissions
• The client requests a feature that requires server-side logic (booking system, member portal, custom API integration)
• Any issue that the Quarterback cannot resolve within 30 minutes of investigation

The Tech Product Owner either resolves the issue directly or deploys the on-call contractor for genuinely complex technical work.

What Quarterbacks Do Not Need to Do

Accounts to Create (One-Time)

Internal Setup Tasks (One-Time)

• GitHub organization: Create a GitHub organization account for the agency. All client repositories will live inside this organization.
• Cloudflare account structure: Create a single Cloudflare account for the agency. Set up team member access so Quarterbacks can deploy updates without needing the account owner's credentials.
• Formspree account: Set up a Formspree agency account. Configure a standard form template that can be applied to each new site at launch.
• UptimeRobot account: Set up UptimeRobot and add all existing client sites as monitors. This is a one-time task the Tech Product Owner completes during initial setup.
• Standard file structure: Define and document the standard file structure for every client site so any Quarterback can pick up any client's files and understand them immediately.
• Onboarding brief template: Add the client brief template to the project management system so every new client onboarding call captures the same information in the same format.

Skills the Team Needs

Monthly Infrastructure Costs: Old vs. New

Per-Client Hosting Revenue

We charge clients a monthly hosting and maintenance fee. The recommended range for trades company clients is $75–$150/month depending on the level of support included. Our cost per site on the new infrastructure is effectively $0 (Cloudflare Pages free tier) plus a small share of the Formspree and UptimeRobot costs — approximately $0.10–$0.50 per site per month.

New Clients Going Forward

All new clients are built on the new stack from day one: Manus + GitHub + Cloudflare Pages. No exceptions for standard trades company websites. The only reason to deviate is if a client has a genuinely complex technical requirement (e-commerce, member portal, custom API integration) that requires a server-side solution.

Migration Priority Order