# StoryWorks

> StoryWorks is a StoryBrand marketing agency in Waukee, Iowa, led by Tim Yates, a Certified StoryBrand Guide. We help established service businesses get clear, get found, and grow. Our core conviction: good marketing and AI search reward the same thing — clarity. We make a business the answer AI gives, not just a link it might list.

## About

- **Legal name:** StoryWorks Website Design & Marketing. Founded 2020 by Tim Yates.
- **Location:** 160 SE Dogwood Ln, Waukee, IA 50263. Serving the Des Moines metro and Iowa locally, and service-based businesses nationwide virtually.
- **What we do:** StoryBrand messaging and BrandScripts; StoryBrand website design and copy; local SEO and Google Business Profile; AI search readiness; CRM, email and lead-gen automation; fractional CMO leadership.
- **Who we serve:** Established, service-based local and regional businesses — roofing and home services, professional services, healthcare, consultants, local businesses, and nonprofits — that have already invested in marketing and want a strategic partner rather than an order taker.
- **Who we are not for:** Businesses shopping for the cheapest option, businesses needing a flood of leads next week, and businesses that want to hand off tasks without engaging in the strategy.
- **How we work:** Diagnose before prescribing. Every engagement begins with Strategy First — a 30–45 day diagnostic of message, website, and visibility that ends in a 30/60/90-day plan. We do not quote a build before we diagnose the problem.
- **The three gaps we diagnose:** (1) *Not represented* — the website shows a fraction of what the business actually does. (2) *Not found* — no local SEO foundation, citations, or structure that search engines and AI can read. (3) *Not answering* — the site never answers what buyers actually ask. All three trace to one root cause: a message that was never made clear.
- **Credentials:** Certified StoryBrand Guide since 2020. Duct Tape Marketing Certified Fractional CMO. Tim Yates has appeared as a coach and guide on 20+ StoryBrand livestreams with Donald Miller, Dr. J.J. Peterson, and April Sunshine Hawkins. Member, Waukee Area Chamber of Commerce and Greater Des Moines Partnership.

## Services

- [Services — How We Work](https://storyworks.marketing/services): The full offering across three stages — Get Clear, Get Found, Grow — and why no service is the right service until the diagnosis is done.
- [StoryBrand Website Design](https://storyworks.marketing/services/storybrand-website-design): What a StoryBrand website build or makeover includes, and how a clarified message becomes a site that converts.
- [Local SEO Services](https://storyworks.marketing/services/local-seo-services): How a local service business gets found on Google and in the map pack — local SEO, Google Business Profile, citations, keyword strategy.
- [Web Presence Snapshot — $297](https://storyworks.marketing/online-presence-snapshot): A flat-rate six-page report grading a business across its website, Google Business Profile, and AI search, with three prioritized do-it-now fixes and a 30-minute call. Delivered in about two business days.
- [Schedule a Call](https://storyworks.marketing/schedule-a-call): Book a free marketing diagnosis with Tim Yates.

## AI Search Readiness

AI engines return one or two answers, not ten links. StoryWorks scores a website against the eight signals those engines use, then builds the plan to close the gaps — so the business is named in the answer instead of skipped.

**The AI Readiness Scorecard — 100 points across 8 signals:** Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trust (20) · Entity Clarity (15) · Topical Depth & Coverage (15) · Content Extractability (15) · Question & Answer Content (10) · Technical AI Accessibility (10) · Proprietary Assets & Methodology (10) · Off-Site Presence & Mentions (5).

**The four tiers:** Invisible (0–39) · Findable (40–59) · Citable (60–79) · Authoritative (80–100).

- [The 8 Signals](https://storyworks.marketing/the-8-signals): The framework itself, defined. What each of the eight signals means, what it is worth on the 100-point scorecard, and what each of the four tiers says about a business. This is the definition page for the term.
- [AI Search Readiness Review — $2,500](https://storyworks.marketing/ai-search-readiness): What the flat-rate review includes — your score out of 100 and tier, a demonstration of what ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI actually say about you, a category-by-category breakdown, a one-hour gap interview, your AI Archive, and a prioritized 30/60/90-day roadmap. Implementation is quoted separately from the roadmap. Starts with a free AI Readiness score.
- [What Is a Total Online Presence?](https://storyworks.marketing/what-is-a-total-online-presence): Why a website, a Google Business Profile, and AI search function as one system, and what it takes to get found across all three.

## The 8 Signals — one guide per signal

Each signal on the AI Readiness Scorecard has its own in-depth guide: what it measures, why businesses fail it, and how to fix it.

- [The Proof AI Is Looking For](https://storyworks.marketing/proof-ai-is-looking-for/): Signal 1, worth 20 points. How AI decides which business to recommend, and why the proof that wins jobs is almost never published.
- [Entity Clarity: How AI Decides Who You Are](https://storyworks.marketing/entity-clarity-ai-search/): Signal 2, worth 15 points. NAP consistency, plain-language services, named service areas, and why contradictions lower an engine's confidence.
- [Why Thin Coverage Keeps You Out of AI Answers](https://storyworks.marketing/thin-coverage-ai-answers/): Signal 3, worth 15 points. How much content AI search actually needs, the three layers of coverage, and how hub-and-spoke structure builds it.
- [How to Write Content AI Can Quote](https://storyworks.marketing/write-content-ai-can-quote/): Signal 4, worth 15 points. Five before-and-after rewrites that make a passage extractable: answer-first, self-contained, question-shaped.
- [The Questions Your Buyers Are Asking AI](https://storyworks.marketing/questions-buyers-ask-ai/): Signal 5, worth 10 points. Answer engine optimization, the five topics buyers research hardest, and why the price question matters most.
- [llms.txt, Schema & the Files AI Looks For](https://storyworks.marketing/llms-txt-schema-files-ai-looks-for/): Signal 6, worth 10 points. robots.txt, JSON-LD schema and llms.txt — what each does, and an honest read on which of them is proven.
- [Why Named Frameworks Win AI Answers](https://storyworks.marketing/named-frameworks-win-ai-answers/): Signal 7, worth 10 points. How to get cited by ChatGPT: named methodologies, structured frameworks, and original data only you can publish.
- [How AI Fact-Checks You Off-Site](https://storyworks.marketing/how-ai-fact-checks-you-off-site/): Signal 8, worth 5 points. Reviews, citations, directories and the sources you do not control — and which engines lean on which.

## Proof & Case Studies

- [Advantage Roofing — 19.2X return on marketing spend](https://storyworks.marketing/case-studies/advantage-roofing): How a roofing company that was ranking but not converting went from a $2.2M plateau to $3.3M after a message rework and website rebuild.
- [Tiny Homes of Iowa — 12,000+ visitors in year one](https://storyworks.marketing/case-studies/tiny-homes-of-iowa): How a brand-new business launched with a website built to get found from day one.
- [Steps of Hope Iowa — a website that became a lifeline](https://storyworks.marketing/case-studies/steps-of-hope-iowa): How one digital hub scaled a nonprofit founder's mission across the state.
- [StoryBrand Website Examples](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-website-examples): 28+ real StoryBrand websites StoryWorks has built, each with the reasoning behind the page.

## About & Credentials

- [About Tim Yates](https://storyworks.marketing/about): Who leads the work, why clarity comes before tactics, and the criteria for whether a business is a fit.
- [Tim Yates on the StoryBrand Guide directory](https://marketingmadesimple.com/Tim-Yates): Independent verification of the Certified StoryBrand Guide credential.
- [StoryWorks on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storyworksmarketing)
- [Tim Yates on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/timayates/)

## Free Resources

- [Why Your Business Doesn't Show Up in AI Search](https://storyworks.marketing/why-your-business-doesnt-show-up-in-ai-search/): The six reasons a business that ranks on Google is never named by ChatGPT, how to tell which one applies, and a five-minute test anyone can run.
- [StoryBrand Website Wireframe](https://storyworks.marketing/storybrand-website-wireframe-881496): The free section-by-section wireframe used on paid client builds, with a filled-in example. Downloaded by 1,100+ business owners.
- [What Is StoryBrand?](https://storyworks.marketing/what-is-storybrand): A complete explanation of the StoryBrand framework, the BrandScript, and how clarifying a message grows a business.
- [The Complete Small Business Strategy Guide](https://storyworks.marketing/small-business-strategy-guide): How to build a small business marketing strategy before spending on tactics.
- [How to Get Your Google Business Profile Verified](https://storyworks.marketing/how-to-get-google-business-profile-verified): A step-by-step walkthrough of Google Business Profile verification in 2026.
- [How to Film a GBP Verification Video](https://storyworks.marketing/google-business-profile-verification-video): What Google wants to see in a verification video so it passes the first time.

## Contact

- Website: https://storyworks.marketing
- Email: tim@storyworks.marketing
- Phone: (515) 305-3096
- Address: 160 SE Dogwood Ln, Waukee, IA 50263, United States
- Book a call: https://storyworks.marketing/schedule-a-call

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