DebutBoard / Guides
Guides for new small-business websites
You've launched. Now what? These guides cover the first few weeks of a small-business website, written for the owner rather than the developer.
Each one sticks to what the companies and agencies that set the rules actually say: Google, Microsoft, Apple, the FTC and the groups that write web standards. Every guide lists its sources at the bottom, so you can check them yourself and see the full details.
- The launch-week checklistWhat to check the day a small-business site goes live, and in the week after.
- How Google finds a brand-new websiteSearch Console, sitemaps, Request indexing, and why it takes a while.
- Google Business Profile basicsWho qualifies, how verification works, and the rules that get profiles suspended.
- Bing, IndexNow and the other search enginesBing Webmaster Tools, IndexNow, Bing Places and Apple Business.
- The pages a small-business site needsHome, services, about, contact and privacy, and what goes on each.
- Email at your own domain that doesn't land in spamSPF, DKIM and DMARC in plain words, and how to check them.
- Your first visitors, without spamming anyoneWhere early traffic comes from, and the review and email rules to know.
- Speed and phone screens: the basicsCore Web Vitals in plain words, and the fixes that matter most.
Where to start
If you launched this week, read the launch-week checklist first. It catches the problems that are cheapest to fix early. Then set up search with the Google guide, and if you meet customers in person, work through Google Business Profile basics.
How these guides are made
We use AI tools to help find sources, summarize them and draft these guides. AI tools make mistakes. So before a guide goes up, each factual claim is checked against the official page it comes from, and separate reviewers (also AI-assisted) go over the facts, the wording and the advice again. The official pages are linked at the bottom of every guide so you can check them yourself.
Rules and products change. Each guide shows the date it was last checked. If you find something wrong or out of date, email hello@debutboard.com and say which guide.
These guides are general information, not legal advice. Nothing here is sponsored, and no company mentioned paid to be included.