Set it all up for you
Webbify handles the whole sequence as part of a first website project, with every account in the business’s name and a short document of what is where.
Getting started online
How to get your business online, in the right order
A new business needs more than a website: a domain, email, a Google Business Profile, a few listings, and the accounts behind them, all in your name. This is the order that avoids the usual problems, whether you do it yourself or hand it to Webbify.
The setup, step by step
Eight steps, and why the order matters.
Each step depends on the one before it. A profile created before the name and phone are settled, or a site built on a domain you do not own, is work you end up doing twice.
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Register the domain in the business’s name
Use a registrar account the business owns, with an email address you will still control in five years, and turn on auto-renew. A domain registered by a former web designer or a relative is the most common thing owners lose access to.
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Set up email on that domain
Business email on your own domain, through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, rather than a free address. It looks established, and it keeps working if staff change or you switch website providers.
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Decide exactly how you write your name, phone, and area
One spelling of the business name, one phone number, and one description of where you work. Every listing, profile, and page should match it word for word, because search engines compare them.
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Create and verify a Google Business Profile
Choose the most accurate primary category, add services and hours, and if you work at customers’ locations rather than your own, list it as a service-area business with the address hidden. This is often what a local customer sees first.
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Launch a small first website
A page for each service you actually sell, a phone number that can be tapped, and a short contact form. Five clear pages beat twenty thin ones, and the site can grow once it is working.
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Connect Search Console and analytics
Both set up under the business’s own account, so you can see which searches the site appears for and whether anyone is getting in touch. Without them, every later decision is a guess.
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Add a few listings that matter
Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, and the directories your customers actually use for your trade, each matching the details from step three. A handful of accurate listings is worth more than a hundred automated ones.
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Start asking customers for reviews
Ask every customer once the work is done, not only the happy ones, and never in exchange for a discount or gift. Reply to each review, critical ones included.
Ownership
Accounts that should be in the business’s name from day one
Whoever sets these up, the business should own them and be able to hand access to anyone later. Getting control back after a falling-out with a provider is slow, and sometimes impossible.
- The domain and the registrar account it sits in
- The hosting account and the website files
- Business email and the admin login for it
- The Google Business Profile, with you as owner and others as managers
- Search Console and analytics
- Any social profiles, booking, or payment accounts tied to the business
Where Webbify helps
Do it yourself, or hand some of it over.
Owners can do more of this than they expect. Help is most useful where a mistake is expensive to undo.
Check what you have done
You do the setup yourself, then a consulting review checks it: matching details, the right categories, ownership, and anything that will cause trouble later.
Untangle what already exists
Duplicate profiles, a domain in someone else’s name, an old site nobody can log into. Common, fixable, and best fixed before anything new is built on top.
Further reading
Guides for each step
Questions
What new business owners ask.
Can I do all of this myself?
Most of it, yes. Steps one to four and seven to eight are within reach of any owner willing to spend an afternoon on each. The website and the search setup are where most owners bring in help, and having the earlier steps done properly makes that work faster and cheaper.
Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
The profile puts the business on the map; the website is where a customer learns whether you do the specific thing they need. A profile with no site, or one that links to a thin page, loses customers at that second step. The two do different jobs and work best together.
I work from home. Do I have to show my address?
No. Google lets a business that serves customers at their locations list itself as a service-area business and hide its address. Your website does not need a street address either; the area you serve and a phone number do the job.
How long does it take to show up on Google?
The profile can appear once it is verified. The website has to be found and indexed before it can rank, and earning visibility for competitive searches is measured in months. No one can promise a date or a position.
What does it cost to have Webbify set this up?
The setup is part of a first website project, and the pricing page publishes the ranges and what moves a project within them. A review of what you have set up yourself is scoped as consulting.
Starting a business, or starting over online?
Tell Webbify what you have so far. You will hear which steps are done, which need fixing, and which are worth handing over.