Weekly Call w/ Sebastian — Cordwainer Strategy

Overview

Cordwainer's owners (Tamblyn & Boda) expressed frustration after one month with no visible website changes or traffic increases. This call focused on strategies to manage their impatience, demonstrate ongoing progress, and unblock the technical work stalled by missing DNS access.

Attendees: Sebastian Gant, Mark Hope
Related client: ^[1]

Key Decisions

• Over-communicate all progress — send emails after every task completed, no matter how small, so the client feels activity rather than silence
• Remove Melissa from client meetings — she and the Cordwainer owners don't vibe well; Sebastian to run meetings solo going forward
• All edits happen in the staging site — the migration to staging is complete; the team should make all improvements there until DNS is resolved and the site goes live
• Security headers fix is post-launch only — security headers cannot be applied to a staging environment; Mark will handle this immediately after DNS is resolved and the site goes live

The Core Blocker: DNS Access

Nearly all meaningful SEO work is gated behind DNS control.

• Site has been migrated to a staging environment (not yet live)
• Mark cannot push to production, verify site ownership in Google Search Console, or add security headers until DNS is transferred
• The domain registrar is GoDaddy; two-factor auth codes are going to "Allie" at the client side
• Action: Sebastian to email Allie/Tamblyn requesting GoDaddy partner access so Mark can complete the DNS transfer

Until DNS is resolved, the team cannot:
- Push staging to production
- Verify the site in ^[2]
- Add security headers
- Begin meaningful indexing work

Quick Wins (Do Now, While Waiting on DNS)

These can be executed on the staging site or reported immediately to demonstrate momentum:

1. Security Headers Baseline

• Current rating: F (confirmed via securityheaders.com)
• Site speed is already strong (94/90, A-grade) — not a priority
• Action: Sebastian to screenshot the F rating before any fix is applied — this becomes the "before" baseline for the client
• Mark will fix security headers within ~10 minutes once the site goes live

2. Site Health Score

• Current Ahrefs health score: 68
• Yash and P-Shock are actively working on improvements (title tags, plugin updates, etc.)
• Sebastian to share Ahrefs dashboard screenshots with the client as evidence of ongoing work

3. Benchmarks Folder

• Create a dedicated benchmarks/baseline folder in the client's shared drive
• Save: SecurityHeaders screenshot, Ahrefs dashboard screenshots, domain rating, keyword count
• This enables clear before/after comparisons as work progresses

4. Blog Content

• Paul is developing blog topics targeting keywords like "luxury memory care Boston", "Alzheimer's care Boston", "memory care nursing home"
• A site map has been created and shared with the client for approval
• Sebastian to send Melissa the page-level focus keywords so she can write content aligned to SEO targets

Over-Communication Strategy

"Every time you do anything, send an email and say, hey, just want to let you know I did this." — Mark Hope

The client's frustration stems from silence, not lack of work. The fix is simple: narrate everything.

Examples of things to email about:
- Health score improved by X points
- Blog topics submitted for review
- Plugin updates completed
- Staging site edits made

This creates a background sense of activity that builds client confidence between milestone deliverables.

Action Items

• [ ] Email Allie/Tamblyn requesting GoDaddy partner access; coordinate DNS transfer with Mark (@Sebastian Gant)
• [ ] Email Melissa page-level focus keywords for Cordwainer content pages (@Sebastian Gant)
• [ ] Create Cordwainer benchmarks folder; save SecurityHeaders F-rating screenshot + Ahrefs dashboard screenshots as baseline (@Sebastian Gant)
• [ ] Remove Melissa from Cordwainer client meetings (@Sebastian Gant)
• [ ] Fix security headers post-launch (@Mark Hope)

Related Notes

• ^[3] — companion article from the same call
• ^[4] — generalizable principle surfaced in this call