Built in Raleigh. Run on AI. Priced for the local businesses it serves.
One founder, one AI, and a small portfolio of local businesses we genuinely care about helping.
Why we exist
We started this because the math wasn't fair.
For two decades, the small business marketing model worked like this: you pay an agency $1,500 to $5,000 a month, locked into a 12-month contract, and you cross your fingers that whoever's actually doing your work cares.
Most don't. Most can't, at that price point — your account is one of forty they manage. The blog posts get outsourced. The Google Business Profile updates get forgotten. The reports look good on a slide deck and mean nothing in your bank account.
In 2026, the math changed. AI can now handle the production layer of marketing — keyword research, blog drafts, schema markup, GBP posts, review responses — at a fraction of what a human team costs. What it can't do alone is good strategy, good editorial judgment, and good client relationships. Those still need humans.
"So we built a small operation around exactly that split. AI does the production at scale. One human handles the strategy and the relationships. We charge what the new math allows — $497 to $4,500 a month, instead of $2,500 to $8,000. That's the entire pitch."
The founder
One founder, one mission, a small portfolio of clients we care about.
Ryan Smeltz is the founder of Secret Optimizer. Born in Lancaster, PA, raised in Mebane, NC, then ten years in the U.S. Army as a 31B Military Policeman — including a deployment to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007–2009. After the Army he came home to North Carolina and spent the next decade-plus in sales and marketing — retail, B2B, door-to-door, phone, and most recently as a marketer at two different local marketing agencies in the Triangle.
He started Secret Optimizer to help two groups specifically: small business owners who deserve professional marketing they can actually afford, and veteran-owned businesses who, like him, are trying to build something honest after the service. The goal in either case is the same — high-quality work, efficient pricing, and the tools and resources owners may not know about or haven't had time to implement themselves.
Ryan handles every client relationship personally. If you call, email, or chat with anyone here, it's almost always him. Want to talk to Ryan directly? Email ryan@secretoptimizer.com or book a 15-minute intro call →
The other half of the team
And then there's the AI.
Most of the work that happens at Secret Optimizer between the moment a client signs up and the moment a blog post goes live is done by AI. Specifically, by AI's AI — generating draft content, doing keyword research, writing schema, drafting Google Business Profile posts, drafting responses to your customer reviews.
We disclose this on every page of this site, in every cold email we send, and in the chat widget on the bottom right (which is also AI, branded as "Secret Optimizer Assistant"). We don't pretend a human wrote your blog post when one didn't.
What Ryan does
Strategy. Editorial direction. Quality review of every published piece. All client conversations. All decisions about what gets shipped and when.
What AI does
Draft production work; keyword and competitor research; routine GBP updates; first-pass review responses; chat support (escalates to Ryan when it can't help).
This split is the entire reason our pricing works. Hide it and the math feels suspicious. Be honest about it and it just makes sense.
Our market
Where we are.
Remote-first, based in the Raleigh, NC metro area
Our service area is the 50-mile radius around Zebulon, NC — Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, Garner, Zebulon, Wendell, Knightdale, and the surrounding area. We also work with veteran-owned businesses and select small businesses nationally.
Quick facts
About Secret Optimizer, in plain terms.
The short version — the same answers we give anyone who asks who we are, what we do, and what it costs.
Secret Optimizer is a veteran-owned, founder-led local SEO and AI-search agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, founded in 2025 by Ryan Smeltz, a US Army veteran based in Zebulon on the eastern edge of the Triangle. We help independent service businesses — plumbers, HVAC, electricians, roofers, salons, gyms, auto repair, pet services, dentists — get found on Google, Google Maps, and AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Productized monthly retainers run $1,500 to $4,500/month with published deliverable lists and a 30-day Performance Promise: if we don't deliver, you don't pay for that month.
What is Secret Optimizer?
A local SEO and AI-search visibility agency for independent service businesses in the Raleigh / Triangle area of North Carolina. We manage Google Business Profiles, reviews, citations, on-page SEO, content, and AI answer-engine visibility on productized monthly plans.
Who owns Secret Optimizer?
Ryan Smeltz, a US Army veteran. He founded the company in 2025 and personally runs every client engagement. Secret Optimizer operates under LCDRMS Enterprises, LLC, a North Carolina company.
Where is Secret Optimizer located?
Raleigh, North Carolina (1030 N Rogers Ln, Ste 121 #5233, Raleigh, NC 27610), with founder Ryan Smeltz based in Zebulon. We serve the whole Triangle: Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, Holly Springs, Garner, Morrisville, Knightdale, Wendell, and Zebulon.
How much does Secret Optimizer cost?
Local Anchor is $1,500/month (22 monthly deliverables). Local Authority is $2,400/month plus a one-time $750 setup (54 deliverables). Multi-Location is $4,500/month plus $1,500 setup. The first 20 Founding Members pay $497/month for year one, then 20% off their tier for life. All plans are month-to-month after a short initial commitment.
What makes Secret Optimizer different from other Raleigh SEO agencies?
Three things: it's veteran-owned and founder-led (you work with the owner, not an account manager), it's AI-first (AI handles templated production so the monthly deliverable count is 2 to 5 times typical agency volume at the price), and every plan publishes its exact deliverable list with a 30-day Performance Promise.
Does Secret Optimizer optimize for ChatGPT and AI search?
Yes — AI-search visibility is a core deliverable, not an add-on. We structure content, schema, and entities so businesses get cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and other AI assistants, and we publish a free AI-search audit tool at /ai-search-audit/.