Part 13: Website and Digital Infrastructure

This part of the guide has 32 pages so far. Each page answers one question, shows what to do, and ends with an audit check you can use on your own business.

13.1 Register and Control the Domain

• 13.1.1 Domain Selection: Pick a domain that matches your public business name, is easy to say and spell, and doesn’t copy a trademark. Learn which endings work and what to check.
• 13.1.2 Registrar Ownership: Register your domain in an account your business controls, with the business as registrant. Learn why it matters and how to take back a domain.
• 13.1.3 Domain Renewal: Turn on auto-renew, keep your payment card current, and set your own reminders. Learn what happens when a domain expires and how long you have to get it back.
• 13.1.4 DNS Access: Your DNS settings decide where your website and email go. Learn who should control them, how to find where they live, and how to record every change you make.
• 13.1.6 Domain Transfer Lock: A transfer lock stops your domain from being moved to another registrar without you. Learn how it works, when to turn it off, and the 60-day rules to know.
• 13.1.7 Domain Expiration Plan: A written plan for an expired domain or a lost registrar login. Learn the recovery windows, who to call, and the steps to get your website and email back fast.

13.2 Set Up Website Infrastructure

• 13.2.1 Website Hosting: Pick a web host on reliability, security, speed, who owns the account, and whether you can take your site with you. Includes the questions to ask before you sign up.
• 13.2.2 HTTPS: Yes. HTTPS protects what visitors send your site, and Chrome now warns people before they open many sites without it. Learn how to turn it on and check it.
• 13.2.3 Staging and Production Sites: A staging site is a private copy where you test changes before customers see them. Learn when you need one, how to keep it out of Google, and how to protect the live site.
• 13.2.6 Uptime Monitoring: Uptime monitoring checks your website every few minutes and alerts you when it’s down or slow. Learn what to watch, who gets the alert, and what to do next.
• 13.2.7 Website Security Updates: Keep your website software, plugins, and themes updated, and clean up who has admin access. Learn who should do updates, how often, and what to check after.
• 13.2.8 Form Delivery: Website forms fail quietly. Learn how to route every form to the right person and record, keep notices out of spam, and test that leads arrive every week.

13.3 Plan the Website

• 13.3.1 Website Objective and Audience: Decide the one main job your website must do and who each page is for before you build. Learn how to write a simple website goal and audience list.
• 13.3.3 Website Navigation: Build a simple menu that gets people to your services, areas served, proof, policies, and contact in one or two clicks. Learn what to include and what to leave out.
• 13.3.4 Service Architecture: Give each main service its own page, group related ones together, and link supporting pages like pricing and FAQs. Learn a simple way to map out your services.
• 13.3.5 Conversion Paths: Pick one main action for every important page and make the path to it short and clear. Learn how to map conversion paths for calls, quotes, and bookings.
• 13.3.6 Trust Content: Plan the proof people look for before they call: licenses, real reviews, past jobs, your process, real photos, and clear policies. Learn what to gather and what to avoid.
• 13.3.8 Content Ownership: Paying for a website doesn’t always mean you own it. Learn how copyright works for text, photos, video, code, and design, and how to record who owns each piece.

13.4 Build the Website

• 13.4.1 Home Page: Your home page should say what you do, who you serve, where you work, and how to start. Learn what to put at the top, what to leave out, and how to test it.
• 13.4.2 Service Pages: Give each main service its own page that explains what’s included, what isn’t, how it works, where you offer it, proof, and the next step. Here’s how to write one.
• 13.4.3 About Page: Your About page should show the real people behind the business, their experience and credentials, and how you work. Learn what to include and what to avoid.
• 13.4.4 Contact Page: Your contact page should list your phone, form, email, hours, and address or service area, and say how fast you reply. Learn what to include and how to test it.
• 13.4.5 Booking or Estimate Page: A booking or estimate page should explain what happens, ask only what you need, confirm the request, and be tested end to end. Here’s how to build one that works.
• 13.4.6 Location Pages: Make location pages only for real locations or areas you truly serve, and give each one useful local details. Learn how to avoid copy-paste city pages Google flags.
• 13.4.7 Policy Pages: Most small business sites need a privacy policy, and many need terms, refund, cancellation, and accessibility pages. Learn what each is for and when the law steps in.
• 13.4.8 Proof Page: A proof page shows real reviews, project photos, case studies, and credentials. Learn what to include, what the FTC review rule bans, and how to keep it honest.

13.5 Build Forms, Surveys, and Quizzes

• 13.5 Website Forms: Give every form a clear purpose, the right consent notices, a helpful confirmation, fair spam controls, clear errors, and a plan for keeping and deleting messages.

13.6 Build Landing Pages and Funnels

• 13.6 Landing Pages and Funnels: A landing page speaks to one audience from one traffic source with one offer. Learn how to plan the offer, proof, form, thank-you page, follow-up, and tracking.

13.7 Set Up Analytics and Tracking

• 13.7.1 Analytics Setup and Measurement Plan: Start with the questions your data must answer, then set up analytics to track useful visits by source, respect privacy rules, and make sure you own the data.
• 13.7.3 Form Tracking: Track how many people start your forms, hit errors, give up, and submit, then match each submission to what happened next. Here’s how to set it up and check it.
• 13.7.5 Appointment and Sales Tracking: Track bookings, shows, cancellations, estimates, closed jobs, revenue, and margin for every lead, so you know which marketing really pays. Here’s a simple setup.

13.8 Test and Launch the Website

• 13.8 Website Launch Checklist: Before your site goes live, check content, links, phones, accessibility, forms, payments, and analytics, then record who approved launch. A checklist that works.