Our approach
Measure first. Then build.
Every Web of Trust we build starts by measuring what buyers already find without us, and holds back a group that keeps getting nothing. It makes the first quarter look slow. It is the only reason the second one means anything.
Engagement shape
When signal shows up
Typical
First placements
3wks
Readable trend
1qtr
Baseline measured
Week 0–2
Control group locked
Week 4
First written read
Week 6
Signal index across a typical engagement. Nothing is readable before the control group has run as long as the programme — which is why quarter one is quiet.
Table view
| Week | Signal |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 8 | 19 |
| 12 | 34 |
| 16 | 47 |
| 20 | 63 |
| 24 | 78 |
Minimum engagement
2qtr
Written read, every
14days
Programmes with a control
100%
Median time to first placement
3wks
The loop
Four stages, in this order, every time.
The order is the method. Run it backwards and you get a programme that cannot be evaluated, which is most of them.
01
Baseline
We measure what happens without us — mentions, referrals, advocates you already have. You get this number whether or not we continue.
02
Instrument
Tracking and the control group go in before anything launches. Deciding what counts after seeing results is how everyone ends up with a chart that means nothing.
03
Build
The Web of Trust itself: communities, voices, reviews, search and AI visibility. This is the part most agencies start with, and it is worthless without the two stages before it.
04
Read
A written read every fortnight, a full report monthly with the raw data attached, and a quarterly decision about whether to continue.
What it looks like
The first two quarters, week by week.
Six weeks before the first written read is not slowness. It is how long it takes to have something worth writing down.
Phases on a shared week axis. The open bars continue for the life of the engagement.
Table view
| Phase | What happens | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Measure what exists | Week 0 | Week 2 |
| Instrument | Tracking + control group | Week 2 | Week 4 |
| Map & seed | Trust map, first gaps closed | Week 3 | Week 8 |
| Build | The web grows and connects | Week 6 | ongoing |
| Report | Fortnightly, then monthly | Week 4 | ongoing |
How we measure
The gap is the result. Not the line.
Any line goes up in a good quarter. What we report is the distance between the group that got the programme and the group that did not — because that is the only part we can honestly claim.
Programme
Held-back group
Both groups indexed to 100 at week 0. The held-back group is matched on size and starting position and receives nothing for the duration.
Table view
| Week | Programme | Held back | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100 | 100 | +0 |
| 4 | 103 | 101 | +2 |
| 8 | 111 | 104 | +7 |
| 12 | 124 | 103 | +21 |
| 16 | 133 | 107 | +26 |
| 20 | 151 | 109 | +42 |
| 24 | 168 | 112 | +56 |
| 26 | 179 | 114 | +65 |
What you get
A reporting rhythm you can set your calendar by.
You should never have to ask how it is going.
Cadence
Reporting
Fixed
Every week
Every placement, thread, review and mention, in a shared doc you can read any time
Every fortnight
A written read — what moved, what did not, and what we are changing because of it
Every month
Full report with the raw data attached, including the parts that look bad
Every quarter
A decision: continue, change, or stop. We bring the recommendation, including when it is stop
The raw data is yours throughout, not a deliverable at the end of the contract.
Where we stop
What we will not do.
These cost us work occasionally, which is how we know they are load-bearing.
Pay per post. It turns advocacy back into advertising, and technical communities punish it.
Run sockpuppet accounts or undisclosed posts. Every relationship is disclosed.
Suppress negative coverage. It fails publicly, and anyone selling it is selling a risk.
Report vanity metrics. Impressions and follower counts are not in any report we write.
Lock you into twelve months. Two quarters is the minimum because that is what the measurement needs — after that it is quarter by quarter.
Start a second programme before the first runs without us.
Start here
Start with the baseline: your trust map.
Start with a 45-minute trust audit: where buyers look before they book a call, what they find there, and where your competitors show up and you do not. You keep the map whether or not we work together.