Rule — Show derived dollar ranges as estimates, never point values
Created 2026-06-23
Rule
Rule: Because SMB owners think in dollars, pair every tier with concrete anchors — but as RANGES with vendor-source flags, never point estimates.
Why: Vendor variance is huge (SMB website build cost — $5,000-$40,000 (vendor-quarantined)); descriptive SMB SEO data is anchor-able (Backlinko 2019 SEO Services Report — average SMB spends $497.16/mo on SEO $497/mo) but precision varies; precision backfires when shown wrong (Pena-Marin 2019 — see sister brief Research brief: SMB widget presentation layer — tiered results without overclaiming (June 2026)).
How to apply: Website build $5K-$40K (one-time), SEO ~$500-$2,000/mo, content/tools incremental. Label these "typical market prices" and cite Backlinko + BDC. NEVER quote a single price.