You have a name, maybe a logo, maybe your first customer. Now people want to know: where's your website, your Google listing, a business email?
Most new owners do this in a weekend, on whatever account they have open. Six months later the domain is under a freelancer's email, the Google profile is unverified, and nobody remembers who set up the booking page.
This checklist puts the pieces in order, so you only do it once. It's the starting point for the AI implementation for small business series, because the AI tools only work once these basics are right.
The rule that prevents most problems: you own every account
Before the steps, one rule. Every account is created with a business email you control, and you hold the login. Domain, Google profile, website host, email, booking tool. If a web designer or helper sets something up, they set it up under your account, or they hand you full ownership.
If the account lives under somebody else's name, you don't own your own business's front door.
Keep a simple sheet: what the account is, the login email, who has access, the renewal date. Don't put passwords in it. Use a password manager for that.
Step 1: Lock in your business name
Before you buy anything online, make sure the name is settled: your legal business name, the name on your sign, the name you'll use everywhere. Everything below should match it exactly, because Google compares your profile to the real world.
Check whether you need to register the name with your state, and talk to an accountant or attorney about your structure. That's outside this checklist, and the rules depend on where you operate.
Step 2: Buy your domain
Your domain is your web address, like yourbusiness.com. It also becomes the ending of your business email.
- Choose a name that matches your business. Short, easy to spell out loud over the phone.
- Register it in your name or your company's name. Not a helper's.
- Turn on auto-renew, and put the renewal date on your calendar. Losing a domain is painful and avoidable.
- Protect the registration login with two-step verification.
Buy the domain before you print anything: cards, signs, a van wrap.
Step 3: Set up business email
Use an email at your domain (you@yourbusiness.com), not a free personal address. It looks more credible, and it stays with the business if people change.
Google Workspace is one common option. Its Gemini AI features (summarizing threads, drafting replies) come under its Workspace plans. Source: Google Workspace, as of November 2026. Microsoft and others offer business email too. Pick the one your team will actually use, and decide before you start whether you want AI features included, because it affects which plan you buy.
Set up a shared address for customers (info@ or hello@) so inquiries don't live in one person's inbox.
Step 4: Claim your Google Business Profile
This is the free listing on Google Search and Maps. Google's help page says adding or claiming a business is free, and that you have to complete verification. Only businesses eligible for a Business Profile can add or claim a location. Source: Google.
Do these things, in this order:
- Add the business with your real name, exactly as it appears on your signage. Google's guidelines say not to put taglines, hours, phone numbers or service details in the name, and that doing so can lead to suspension. Source: Google.
- Choose the right address type. If customers visit you, give the full address. If you travel to customers and have no storefront, Google's guidelines say to use a service-area profile and hide your street address. A P.O. box or a mailbox at a remote location isn't acceptable, and virtual offices don't qualify.
- Pick one category that describes what you are.
- Write a description. Under 750 characters, no URLs, focused on the business and not on promotions. Source: Google.
- Add regular hours. Real customer-facing hours, holidays included.
- Add photos of your own work, your space and your team.
- Verify. Don't skip it. You can't reply to reviews until you do.
Edits to your profile are reviewed by Google before they go live, so expect a short delay. For the full set of rules, and where AI helps and doesn't, read AI and your Google Business Profile.
Step 5: Build the website
A small business website needs to do five things, and none of them is "look fancy":
- Say what you do and where, in the first line.
- Show a phone number or a button before anyone scrolls.
- Give people a way to book or ask for a quote.
- Load fast on a phone.
- Match your Google profile: same name, same hours, same phone.
Pages most businesses need: Home, Services, About, Contact. A page per service if you want to be found for each one.
Check your own site on your phone before you launch. Then check it again with someone who has never seen it. Can they tell what you do in five seconds?
Your site should be on your domain, on a host you control, with a security certificate (the padlock in the browser). Ask any builder who sets it up for the logins on day one.
Step 6: Make it easy to book
If a customer has to call during business hours to schedule, some won't. Put a booking or request form on the site and the Google profile.
What matters:
- One clear path. Not three booking buttons that go to different places.
- A confirmation sent to the customer right away.
- A reminder before the appointment, which cuts no-shows.
- A notification to you, so a request never sits unseen overnight.
Test it yourself: book an appointment on your own phone, end to end.
Step 7: Plan for reviews from day one
Don't wait until you have a problem to think about reviews. Google lets you share a review request link or QR code. Source: Google. Put the QR code on your receipts, invoices or counter card.
Google's policy on reviews has rules you should know before you start asking. Merchants may ask customers who had a genuine experience, as long as they offer no incentive and don't try to influence the rating or content. You may not selectively solicit only positive reviews, and you may not discourage negative ones. Source: Google. So: ask everybody, the same way. No discounts for reviews.
Reply to every review. It takes two minutes. Use AI to draft if it helps, but send it in your own voice.
Step 8: Add tools slowly
Once the basics work, add tools one at a time. Typical order:
- A general AI assistant for writing and summaries.
- A simple customer list and a follow-up message after each job.
- Automatic reminders and review requests.
- A phone or chat assistant, only if calls are getting missed.
AI tools for small business in 2026 walks through which tool type fits which job. Write a one-page rule for what staff can paste into AI, and keep it with your account sheet. If you'd like a head start, use the free AI use policy generator.
Step 9: Check your work
Once everything's live, run through this list.
- [ ] Name, address (or service area), phone and hours match everywhere.
- [ ] The domain is registered to you and set to auto-renew.
- [ ] Email works, including on your phone.
- [ ] The Google profile is verified.
- [ ] The website loads fast on a phone and has a clear call or booking button.
- [ ] A test booking works end to end.
- [ ] You have a review link and you've used it.
- [ ] You have a sheet of every account, owner and renewal date.
For a quick score on all of this, use the free online presence scorecard. It's fifteen yes or no questions, and it tells you the first three things to fix.
Step 10: Keep it up
The setup isn't the end. Hours change. Staff leave. A plugin goes out of date. A domain renewal gets missed. Put a monthly 20-minute check on the calendar: hours, reviews, site loading, who has access.
If you'd rather hand it off, that's what Di-Hy's Digital Setup is for. It's built for new and small businesses, and takes a few weeks. Ongoing upkeep (website, domain, Google profile, access cleanup, a monthly report) is on our maintenance page.
What this costs you if you skip it
Nothing, at first. Later: a domain you can't get back, a Google profile suspended over a name that breaks the rules, a website nobody can edit, customers who can't find you or can't book. Getting these right at the start takes days. Fixing them later takes months.
The next step
Pick the one step on this list you haven't done, and do it today. If you'd like a person to walk through it with you, book a free strategy call, or start with the free AI audit.
This is general information based on Google's help pages as of November 2026. Business registration, licensing and tax rules vary by state and by business type. Talk to an accountant or attorney for your situation.