In 2018, I wrote my guide- 21 steps to help you establish your small business and today in 2022 I reviewed it in order to get ready to write a new one. So I’m going to share it with you, and go over some of what’s changed in the past 4 years. Here’s a start…
Pick a short domain name for your website (It is key to remember to make it easy to recall and type!)
I wouldn’t change this for #1 as it’s still 100% true. Today, it’s harder than ever to find a good domain that works. I have found that if you can use your name- do it! Especially if you are a coach or interacting with clients directly. They will remember your name, more than they will remember your business or tagline. If you have a common name, put Coach-so-and-so or exactly what you do so that for SEO you have both your name and what you do in there. Still keep it short, and if possible still stick with .com.
I wish I could do it for myself, Llc made my domain longer and harder for my clients to remember, and I’ve missed many emails because someone forgot that LLC.com.
Purchase website, email, and domain names in one place for sanity’s sake later on!
This again is still true, however, there are some caveats to this rule. If you can get a cheaper, better hosting move, it’s worth it. We started with Godaddy in 2013, by 2018 we had to move because they were nickel and diming us over every little thing we needed to run our business and website up to the amount of $400 for the year for emails, website, and SSL’s for 2 sites. Now we use Bluehost which covered most of that in a much cheaper affordable package. We like their service and what we’ve had with them so much that we became an affiliate of them. We have moved many sites to them over the years, but we know there are better and possibly cheaper options out there- we just haven’t found one yet that works well for us. So far their only downfall is we don’t like their free email service and feel that most of our clients do need a paid service, simply to get off the shared email servers to stop getting spam flagged. (see more below)
Set up a business email with your hosting plan, this way you can have name@busness.com and look professional! An email can be set up on any mail server so you can send and receive it all in one place!
This one has to go. The free email was great, but now too many people are destroying this option and free email servers as a whole are getting spam flagged. This means those bouncebacks on google, the emails not going through to specific email addresses, and more. Hosting has paid options that are better or find another 3rd party (google suite, SendGrid). Our goal this year is to move to a ticketing/one inbox system, not separate emails.
Set up a Google account to link to your business email. (You don’t have to take your email there, but then EVERYTHING is connected and it’s not tied to your personal accounts.)
This is still a priority! Google needs to know you are active and a business. Your business page, business YouTube, analytics, ads, and webmaster tools should all be together in one account. This can be separate from your personal account but managing multiple accounts does get tricky. (If you have a google icon on your site, take it off as that no longer exists, but make sure you do share your business page with potential customers and past customers for reviews and more!)
As always, these are all tasks we do on a daily basis, so if you are ready to get started we are ready to help! Reach out and schedule a short call with us here!
