Most customers look you up before they call. Set up a domain, a website and email at that domain, and a Google Business Profile if you serve customers in person.
Do this
- Register a domain. A close variation of your name works if the exact one is taken. Register it in your name or your business’s, so it stays yours whoever builds the site. We recommend Cloudflare or Vercel, which pair best with Surmado Sites, or ask us: a Surmado Sites membership includes a domain if you need one.
- Put up a website with the basics. One page can be enough: what you do, where, your hours, how to contact you and how to buy or book. Prices and real photos earn trust faster than any slogan. How to create a website for your small business compares the options and costs.
- Set up email at your domain, like hello@yourbusiness.com. Use it on your paperwork, bank account and listings.
- Get a business phone number you’ll keep. Customers save the number they first call. List it the same way everywhere.
- Create or claim a Google Business Profile if you qualify. Google requires in-person contact with customers during your stated hours, so online-only businesses aren’t eligible. If you visit customers rather than serve them at your address, hide the address and list a service area.
- Check it all from your phone. Search your name, tap through to your site and try to contact yourself. Fix whatever made you hesitate.
Who builds the website
Build it yourself, hire a freelancer or agency, or have a service build and run it. Before you pay anyone, ask who owns the domain and who can make changes; six questions to ask a website company covers the rest. Surmado Sites is our version of the third: describe your business and it builds the site, with a domain if you need one.
What you get back
A domain you own, a website, matching email and phone, and, if you qualify, a Google Business Profile that points to all of it.
Common questions
Does my domain have to match my business name?
No. Pick something close that people can spell after hearing it once.
Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
The profile helps people find you on Google Search and Maps. The website is the page you control, and it's what the profile and every other listing link to.
Should I use a free email address for my business?
It works, but an address at your own domain looks like a business and stays yours if you switch providers.
What should be on a small business website?
What you do, where, how to reach you and how to buy or book. Add prices and a few real photos if you can. Everything else can wait.
Sources
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