Organic, social & brand marketing
Books and taxes for reputation management firms.
A monthly monitoring retainer across review sites and search results, a dispute fee when a fake review needs to be challenged, a crisis project that spins up overnight, and monitoring software billed by mention volume. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
November came in at $12,300. A negative review campaign hit Client T overnight, so I kept the crisis project fee apart from your regular monitoring retainers, this one will not repeat.
- Monitoring retainer, Client TRetainer revenue
- Crisis project, review campaignCrisis project fees
- ReviewTrackers subscriptionMonitoring software
- Review dispute filing feesDispute costs
- Freelance research contractorContractor payouts
Why your books are different
Reputation firm books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees a retainer payment and a software bill. Your business is a monitoring fee that runs steady until a crisis hits overnight, dispute costs that vary review site by review site, and monitoring tools that get billed by how many mentions they track. When the books do not know that, a quiet month and a crisis month look the same.
-
1
An emergency review crisis inflates the month
A client gets hit with a wave of fake or coordinated negative reviews and signs an emergency project on the spot, worth more than months of their usual retainer. Booked as retainer income, it makes the recurring business look like it grew when the spike was a one-time crisis.
What we doKeeps crisis project fees separate from ongoing monitoring retainers, so the recurring number stays the one you can trust. -
2
Dispute fees vary by review site with no pattern
Challenging a fake review costs something different on Google, Yelp, or a niche industry review site, and if those costs are not tracked apart from the client invoice, it is hard to tell whether a dispute campaign is actually worth what it costs to run.
What we doKeeps dispute costs in their own line, so you can see what a challenge campaign nets after the filing costs. -
3
Monitoring software billed by mention volume creeps up
Tools like Birdeye or ReviewTrackers price by how many mentions or locations they track, so a growing client roster quietly pushes the software bill up without anyone noticing until it is a lot bigger than expected.
What we doFlags when monitoring software costs jump because of mention volume, so growth in cost reads as growth in the client base, not a billing surprise. -
4
Content pushed out to build positive search results looks like a normal blog retainer
Writing and publishing content meant to build a stronger search presence for a client takes real writer hours, but it often gets billed the same as routine monitoring work, making it hard to see what that specific effort costs.
What we doKeeps content-building work in its own category, separate from monitoring, so the cost of building up a client's presence stays visible.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a reputation firm.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Retainer revenueMonthly monitoring and review response work, billed through QuickBooks or Bill.com.
- Crisis project feesShort, intense engagements when a client's reputation takes a sudden hit.
- Dispute campaign feesBilled separately when a client pays to challenge a batch of fake or unfair reviews.
- Content building feesWork meant to build a stronger search presence, billed apart from routine monitoring.
Money out
- Monitoring softwareBirdeye, Podium, and ReviewTrackers, billed by mention or location volume.
- Dispute costsFiling and review fees paid to challenge fake or fraudulent reviews.
- Contractor payoutsFreelance writers and researchers paid through Upwork or direct invoice.
- Coworking and officeShared office space or a home office setup.
- Business developmentThe firm's own outreach and proposal tools.
What we watch for you
- Retainer revenue
The steady monitoring income that predicts next month, apart from whatever a crisis project brings in.
- Dispute campaign margin
What a challenge campaign nets once filing costs are counted against the fee.
- Monitoring cost per client
What software actually costs to track one client, as mention volume grows.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month so a crisis month never throws off the real number.
Ask Gus
Things reputation firm owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
No. I kept the crisis project fee separate from your monitoring retainers, so you can still see the steady number underneath the spike.
Probably not. It looks tied to your growing client roster and mention volume, so I flagged it as growth in cost, not a billing error.
If you pay her $2,000 or more this year and she is not on payroll, she gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. I keep that list running as we go.
The tax side
The tax side of a reputation firm.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and labels. A crisis project counted like a retainer, a writer treated like an employee, and a set-aside nobody started until April.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Contractor 1099sAnyone not on payroll paid $2,000 or more in 2026, a freelance writer or researcher building out a client's search presence, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list current all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated firms can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. Once income passes roughly $200,000 single, the accountant checks how much of that survives for this kind of work.
- Self-employment taxA solo owner running the firm without payroll owes 15.3 percent in self-employment tax on top of income tax, up to the Social Security wage base.
- Quarterly estimated taxesTaxes are due as the money is made, including a crisis project fee that can land in one lump. Payments fall on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15.
Deductions reputation management firms miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Birdeye or ReviewTrackers subscription
- Review dispute filing fees
- Freelance writer payments
- Business liability insurance
- Coworking space
- Business phone and internet
- Conference tickets and travel
- Website hosting for the firm
- Accounting and legal fees
- Proposal and outreach software
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A reputation firm's year, kept every month.
A crisis can start with one bad review going viral on any day of the year, but tax deadlines do not move. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Get the year moving
Last year's return gets started, the writer and researcher 1099 list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed and closed out
Your return is filed and signed. Crisis month or quiet month, the set-aside already had it covered.
- July
Midyear check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether crisis project work this year has changed the number.
- October
Before holiday reviews
Holiday shopping and travel bring a wave of new reviews. Gus looks at monitoring capacity and anything worth doing before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for reputation management firms. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions reputation firm owners ask first.
A crisis project brought in far more than a normal retainer month. Will that make my books look inflated?
No. Gus keeps crisis project fees separate from monitoring retainer income, so your recurring revenue stays the number you can trust from month to month.
Dispute fees vary a lot by review site. Can Gus show me if a challenge campaign is actually worth running?
Yes. Dispute costs sit in their own category apart from the client fee, so you can see what a campaign nets once filing costs are counted.
Our monitoring software bill keeps growing. Is that normal or a mistake?
Often it tracks your growing client roster and mention volume. Gus flags a jump so it reads as growth in cost, not a billing error you need to chase down.
Do I need paperwork for the freelance writers I use to build out a client's search presence?
Yes, once you cross $2,000 paid to any one writer this year who is not on payroll. Gus tracks that total for every writer and researcher so the 1099-NEC is ready by January 31.
My books mix monitoring retainers, dispute fees, and crisis projects with no real system. Can that get sorted out?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus untangles the recurring monitoring fees from the one-time dispute and crisis charges, the accountant checks it, and most owners know where they stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever