Vol. CXII · Issue No. 482
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Section D · Classifieds
FUNDATA · 2019 · AETERNUM SIGNAL · PROXIMA

The Northbound Standard

An organic-search broadsheet for B2B operators · published since 2019 by Your Business
Section D · Classifieds · pages 42–46
"Receipts not rituals" — since 2019
3 retainer tiers · 8 add-ons
Section D · 3 retainer tiers · effective Q2 2026

The Classifieds

Three retainer tiers, posted in the back of the paper since 2019. No haggling, no bracket creep, no percentage of media. Month-to-month with thirty days' notice.

Tier I · "Cub"i.

Reporter

For early-stage operators with one beat, a slim editorial budget, and a year-long horizon for organic to compound.

$2,800per month · billed monthly · USD
  • Long-form briefs 4 / mo
  • Assigned editor 1 senior
  • Quarterly content audit Yes
  • Internal-linking surgery Year 1
  • Editorial readout Monthly
  • Read-out-loud check Required
  • Brief library access Yes
  • Slack channel response 1 business day
  • Min. engagement 3 months

Inquire to the desk by mail or by domain submission. We respond within two business days.

Submit a domain →
Tier II · "Featured"ii.

Editor

For mid-market operators with multiple beats, a CFO who reads contracts, and 12 months to commit to topical authority.

$5,400per month · billed monthly · USD
  • Long-form briefs 10 / mo
  • Assigned editors 2 senior
  • Topical authority programme Full
  • Technical SEO & log analysis Yes
  • Editorial readout Biweekly
  • Schema & internal-link maintenance Monthly
  • Custom brief templates Yes
  • Slack channel response 4 business hours
  • Min. engagement 6 months

The featured tier; most retainers settle here. Inquire to the desk to begin a 21-day audit.

Submit a domain →
Tier III · "Bureau"iii.

Bureau Chief

For operators running multi-domain, multi-region, or multi-property surfaces. The desk embeds; the editor stays for the year.

$10,800per month · billed monthly · USD
  • Long-form briefs 20+ / mo
  • Embedded editor & tech lead 2 senior + 1 lead
  • Multi-domain & international Yes
  • Custom editorial standard Yes
  • Editorial readout Weekly
  • Quarterly board-ready report Yes
  • On-site visits 2 / year
  • Slack channel response 1 business hour
  • Min. engagement 12 months

Limited to four bureau retainers per year. Inquire to the founder directly.

Inquire to founder →

Small Advertisements — Add-ons & one-time services

Standalone Audit

$8,400

One-time. 47-page PDF, kill list, internal-linking blueprint. 21-day turnaround.

Migration Plan

$14,000

Domain migration plan including redirect map, schema preservation, and post-migration audit.

Topical Beat Map

$6,000

One-time deliverable: a 30–60 topic map with intent classification and beat assignments.

Editorial Workshop

$4,800

2-day in-person workshop with your in-house team. We bring the editorial standard.

Crisis Recovery

$18,000

For sites that lost 30%+ traffic in a recent algorithm update. 30-day fast-track engagement.

Annual Strategy

$3,600

One-time annual planning session with kill list, brief library, and twelve-month editorial calendar.

Schema Pack

$2,400

One-time schema build: Article, Product, FAQ, HowTo, Organization. Validated and shipped.

Glossary Build

$5,800

120-term industry glossary, edited and shipped, with internal-linking integration.

Terms of Engagement

Billing terms
ACH, Net-15, billed on the first business day of each month.
Notice period
30 days written notice. We have never enforced a contract clause.
Lock-in
None for Tier I & II. Twelve-month MSA for Bureau tier only.
Off-boarding
Brief library, kill list, beat map, and standards are yours. No off-boarding fee.
NDA
Standard mutual NDA before discovery; redlines reviewed within 5 business days.
Conflict
One client per category, per geography. We turn down work to honour this rule.
Refund policy
Pro-rated to last published brief. We have refunded $48,400 in retainer fees since 2019.
Annual prepay
None offered. Predictable monthly is the entire point.

Reader Questions — Submitted to the desk

Why do you charge by month, not per piece?
Per-piece pricing rewards velocity over discipline. We are paid to kill bad briefs at the brief stage, not to ship them. A monthly retainer is the only fee structure that makes that incentive honest.
Do you ever take a percentage of revenue or pipeline?
No. Revenue-share creates pressure to ship loud content, fast. We have neither. We send invoices in plain English at flat fees.
Can I cancel after a single bad month?
Yes. 30-day written notice. We will refund the unused portion of the month's retainer pro-rated to the last published brief. We hand over the brief library and the kill list on the way out.
What happens to the content if I leave?
It is yours. Bylines were always yours. Briefs are yours. Schema is yours. We retain only our editorial standard, which is a public document anyway.
Do you have a minimum company size?
$3M ARR or $1M annual marketing budget, whichever is lower. Below that, our retainer eats too much of your runway. We refer pre-seed clients to one of two boutique partners we trust.
Can I pay annually for a discount?
No. Predictable monthly is the entire point. Annual prepay would only nudge us toward "stick around" instead of "perform monthly."
Will you sign a custom MSA?
Yes for Tier III (Bureau Chief) only. Tier I and II run on a standard mutual MSA we can email in 60 seconds.
How do you handle conflicts of interest?
One client per category, per geography. We have turned down nineteen retainers since 2022 to honour the rule. The list of categories with active retainers is on page 21.