Guides to getting your business online
Clear answers before you buy, written by someone who has sold domains since 2000. Every guide shows real prices from our storefront.
Getting your business online
What a small business actually needs to get online, what it costs, and what you can skip.
- What you need for a business website
A checklist of what is required, recommended and optional, with what each item costs.
- LLC, EIN and domain name: what has to match
What must match your LLC exactly (the EIN), what doesn't (your domain), domain modifiers that leave the legal name alone, and the order to register.
- Is a Facebook page enough for your business?
Why a Facebook page alone puts your business at risk, and how a domain, a simple website and business email give you a base you control.
- What a small business website costs
The real monthly and yearly cost of a small business website: domain, email, builder or WordPress, optional add-ons, and DIY vs. hiring a designer.
Website design guides
Everything a website needs to bring in customers, step by step, and when it makes sense to hire help.
- What a website needs to bring in customers
The nine steps that turn a small-business website into calls, quotes and sales, with honest DIY time for each and which matter most.
- Step 1: Competitor research in Google and AI answers
Step 1: a practical way to see who wins your searches and AI recommendations, and turn their gaps into your website plan.
- Step 2: Content strategy and topic clusters
Step 2: turn keywords and the questions people ask AI assistants into a page plan, with one page per topic and clusters that sell.
- Step 3: SEO and GEO on every page
Step 3: the page-by-page checklist for titles, headings, answer-first writing, structured data, Core Web Vitals and mobile.
- Step 4: User journey and high-value actions
Step 4: choose your high-value action, map the path to it and fix calls, forms and proof to get more customers from the same traffic.
- Step 5: Google Search Console
How to verify your domain in Google Search Console, submit a sitemap, and read the four reports that show whether customers find you.
- Step 6: Google Business Profile
Who qualifies for a Google Business Profile, the name and category rules, review policy, photos, and how to link your site with UTM tags.
- Step 7: Microsoft Clarity and GA4
How to set up GA4 key events for calls, quotes and bookings, use Microsoft Clarity recordings and heatmaps, mask sensitive fields and handle consent.
- Step 8: Bing Webmaster Tools
Import your site from Google Search Console, submit sitemaps, turn on IndexNow and use Bing's AI Performance report to see Copilot citations.
- Step 9: After launch, the monthly checklist
A one-hour monthly routine: Search Console, GA4 key events, Clarity sessions, AI assistant mentions, one page refresh and one small test.
Domain names
How to pick a domain name people remember, what to do when yours is taken, and how renewals and transfers work.
- When the domain name you want is taken
Nine ways to find a name that still works, which modifiers to add, and the mistakes that make a domain hard to remember.
- Move your domain from Squarespace or Wix
Step by step: unlock your domain at Squarespace or Wix, get the authorization code, avoid 60-day locks and keep your website and email working.
Business email guides
Email at your own domain: switching from a free address, setup and staying out of spam.
- Switch from Gmail to business email
A safe order for leaving @gmail.com: new inbox and DNS records first, forwarding and an auto-reply next, then every place your email appears.
Guides by industry
Domain name ideas and first steps online for specific trades, with examples you can adapt to your own business name.
- What a cleaning business website needs
Pages, quote form, standard vs deep clean lists, bonded and insured proof, online booking and three cost paths for cleaning company websites.
- What a tax preparer website needs
Launch timing, pages, PTIN and credential wording, IRS e-file logo rules, the FTC Safeguards Rule, secure uploads, OV/EV SSL and costs for tax pros.
- What an auto repair website needs
The pages, booking action, trust signals and three cost paths for an auto repair shop or mobile mechanic website.
- What an event business website needs
Pages, galleries, packages, a date-first inquiry form, bilingual tips and three cost paths for event businesses.
- What a salon or barbershop website needs
Online booking, a service menu with price ranges, stylist pages and real photos: what a salon or barbershop website needs and what it costs.
- What a roofing website needs (and what it costs)
Pages, license display rules, storm-chaser trust signals, an insurance-claim help page and three cost paths for a roofing website.
- Domain names for landscaping businesses
Name patterns, examples and the truck-door test for landscaping and lawn care businesses.
- Domain names for home improvement contractors
How remodelers, roofers and other contractors pick a domain that matches their license and earns a homeowner’s trust.
- See all industry guides
Fourteen trades, each with a naming guide and a website guide.