Review mode This panel only appears when ?notes is in the URL. Brian never sees it by default.
What this is Internal concept for the morning call. Not live, noindex, no real checkout. Delete this panel before anything ships.
SEO and AEO built in One page per section, unique title and meta description each. Quick-answer block at the top of every page, question-style headings, and a visible FAQ whose text matches the FAQPage schema. JSON-LD: Organization, WebSite, WebPage, BreadcrumbList, Product, HowTo, Article, FAQPage. sitemap.xml, robots.txt, canonical and Open Graph tags. Saga chapters are plain HTML, so crawlers and AI engines can read them without JavaScript. Launch switch (build.py) Pages are set to noindex and use a placeholder domain. At launch: set the real domain, set NOINDEX to False, rebuild. Then submit the sitemap in Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. No rankings exist yet, so none are claimed.
Placeholders that need Brian No price is shown anywhere, and none is in the schema. Add it once Brian confirms. Scent name and whether fragrance is in the formula. Container, size, label, carton. Mockups are guesses. Ritual steps and drop guidance. The 25-person founding tester program is a plan, not a commitment. Confirm the spelling and the Orr naming story. Women's mark (Valkyrie idea) and whether the waitlist goes live. Logo vector file and trademark serial number. The mark is his artwork as sent, from a low-res JPEG. Beard sequence The six portraits on the saga page are AI-generated images of one fictional man, generated from a text prompt, then edited stage by stage from that first AI image (no real person's photo was used). He is not Harald and not a real person. Labeled as concept renders on the page.
Bottle imagery The four Viking-setting bottle photos are AI-generated scenes (blank black label), with the real logo and text composited on by script. They are concept renders, labeled as such on the page. The bottle shape, glass, and cap are not a real supplier product. Replace with real photography once samples exist.
Lore is history, not product claims Sources: Heimskringla, Grimnismal, Harbardsljod, and archaeology at Birka, Hedeby, York. Verify specifics once before publishing. Harald's oath is a legend and is labeled one.
Guardrails No peptides, no hair-loss or skin claims. No reviews exist. Do not add fake ones, and no AggregateRating in schema. Viking direction means landscape, craft, boats. No horned helmets or war paint. LIVE-LOOK ASSUMPTIONS (Oct 7). Every one of these was invented for the demo. Change here, rebuild. Prices: $26 for 30 ml, $42 for 60 ml (PRICE30, PRICE60 in build.py). Refill subscription saves 10%. Scent: Still Fjord. Notes: bergamot and sea air, juniper and birch, cedar and smoke. Avoid Norse Winter, which Beardbrand sells. Shipping: ships within 3 business days, US $6, free over $50. 30-day returns, free fragrance swaps. Dose: 3 to 6 drops. 30 ml lasts 6 to 8 weeks. Wholesale: 50% of retail, 12-unit opening order, free trade shipping over $300, oak counter display and tester with first order, ships in 5 business days. Stockists: copy says select barbershops and boutiques carry it. None do yet. Carton: plain kraft. Founding testers: 25 free bottles for honest reviews. Forms (waitlist, testers, trade, checkout) show a success message but store and send nothing. Checkout stops at the email step and never charges. Do not let a real customer use this build. Imagery: bottle scenes and portraits are AI renders. The only remaining on-page disclosure is the footer line about rendered imagery. Runes and glass (Oct 7, later) Runes are Elder Futhark drawn as SVG strokes, used letter for letter as decoration (a transliteration, not Old Norse spelling, and the Viking age mostly used the Younger Futhark). Rune names and meanings shown on hover are the conventional reconstructed ones. Easter egg: type the word rune on any page and every heading gains its runic line; type it again to turn it off. Glass panels use backdrop blur and degrade to solid tints where unsupported.
Elevation pass (Oct 7, late) Rendered in headless Chrome at 1440 and 390 wide, all 12 pages. Fixed: footer links overflowing on phones, scrolling nav strip replaced by a full-screen menu under 1240px. Added: scroll progress hairline, route fade in the one-file version, image lightbox on bottle renders, animated accordions, image fade-in, keyboard focus trap on dialogs.
Competitor research (Oct 7) Studied Beardbrand, Viking Revolution, Seven Potions, Jack Black, and Beard Club. Borrowed patterns: a quiz or finder (Beard Club, Beardbrand), a visible assurance block (Beardbrand), free samples and gifting (Jack Black), blog hubs (Viking Revolution, Seven Potions), and retailer pages (Seven Potions, Jack Black). Not borrowed: countdown timers, flash-sale pop-ups, a growth guarantee (Beard Club), and discounts. Beardbrand already sells a scent called Norse Winter, so avoid that scent name. Every term here (returns, wholesale, refill timing) is a placeholder for Brian.
Photo credits (Unsplash license) Longship wide shot and fjord: Unsplash contributors, IDs on file. Planks: Patrick Robert Doyle. Turf house: Gigi.
