🔐 Building Your Business Online — Member Resources
Your Website, Domain, Email & Digital Presence
Welcome to the member resource for Building Your Business Online.
This section is designed to help you create or improve the online side of your business without feeling like you have to become a computer expert.
Whether you're starting from scratch or already have a website, work through the resources that apply to you.
Remember:
You don't have to redo something that's already working.
Instead:
REVIEW IT.
IMPROVE IT IF NEEDED.
THEN KEEP MOVING.
🧭 YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS ROAD MAP
We'll work through this section in order.
Each page will explain:
✔️ What you're doing
✔️ Why it matters
✔️ What you may be able to do yourself
✔️ What may cost money
✔️ Things you don't necessarily need
✔️ Common mistakes to avoid
✔️ What to check before moving forward
At the end, you'll have a final checklist to review your complete online business setup.
🌐 PAGE 1 — CHOOSING & BUYING A DOMAIN NAME
Your Online Address
Before building a website, understand domains.
We'll cover:
✔️ What a domain actually is
✔️ Domain vs. website
✔️ How to choose a good domain
✔️ .com and other extensions
✔️ Where domains can be purchased
✔️ Domain privacy
✔️ Auto-renewal
✔️ What happens if your domain expires
✔️ Buying a domain before you're ready for a website
🌐 PAGE 1: CHOOSING & BUYING A DOMAIN NAME
📧 PAGE 2 — CREATING A PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS EMAIL
Should You Use Your Domain for Email?
We'll cover:
✔️ Free email vs. domain-based email
✔️ you@gmail.com vs. you@yourbusiness.com
✔️ Different email addresses you may want
✔️ Keeping personal and business email separate
✔️ Email security
✔️ Professional email signatures
✔️ What you actually need when starting out
📧 PAGE 2: CREATING A PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS EMAIL
🖥️ PAGE 3 — DO YOU REALLY NEED A WEBSITE?
Let's Decide Before You Spend Money
We'll discuss:
✔️ Which businesses benefit from a website
✔️ When a simple online presence may be enough
✔️ Website vs. social media
✔️ Website vs. marketplace
✔️ Selling products
✔️ Booking services
✔️ Providing information
✔️ Collecting leads
✔️ When NOT to spend thousands on a website
🖥️ PAGE 3: DO YOU REALLY NEED A WEBSITE?
📝 PAGE 4 — PLANNING YOUR WEBSITE BEFORE YOU BUILD IT
Don't Start Clicking Yet
Before building anything, we'll plan:
✔️ Your website's purpose
✔️ Your customer
✔️ Pages you actually need
✔️ Navigation
✔️ Calls to action
✔️ Contact information
✔️ Policies
✔️ Products/services
✔️ Photos and graphics
✔️ Mobile visitors
📝 PAGE 4: PLANNING YOUR WEBSITE
🛍️ PAGE 5 — SHOPIFY: GETTING STARTED
Building an Online Store
We'll cover the basics of:
✔️ Shopify accounts
✔️ Themes
✔️ Products
✔️ Collections
✔️ Navigation
✔️ Payments
✔️ Shipping
✔️ Pickup
✔️ Policies
✔️ Apps
✔️ Customer accounts
✔️ Basic store organization
You don't have to use Shopify.
This section uses it as one example of a platform available to businesses that need online selling capabilities.
🛍️ PAGE 5: SHOPIFY — GETTING STARTED
🔗 PAGE 6 — CONNECTING YOUR DOMAIN
Give Your Website Its Own Address
We'll cover:
✔️ Connecting a domain
✔️ Buying through your website provider vs. elsewhere
✔️ Primary domains
✔️ Redirects
✔️ www vs. non-www
✔️ Why you shouldn't cancel a domain just because you changed website platforms
✔️ Domain renewal
🔗 PAGE 6: CONNECTING YOUR DOMAIN
🎨 PAGE 7 — BUSINESS BRANDING BASICS
More Than a Logo
We'll talk about:
✔️ Business names
✔️ Logos
✔️ Colors
✔️ Fonts
✔️ Brand consistency
✔️ Your voice
✔️ Customer experience
✔️ Personal branding
✔️ When it's okay to rebrand
🎨 PAGE 7: BUSINESS BRANDING BASICS
📸 PAGE 8 — BUSINESS PHOTOS, GRAPHICS & CONTENT
You Can Start With What You Have
We'll cover:
✔️ Smartphone photography
✔️ Product photos
✔️ Backgrounds
✔️ Lighting
✔️ Website images
✔️ Graphics
✔️ Canva-type design tools
✔️ Social-media content
✔️ Keeping your visuals consistent
✔️ When professional photography may be worth it
📸 PAGE 8: BUSINESS PHOTOS, GRAPHICS & CONTENT
🤖 PAGE 9 — USING AI TO HELP BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
Work Smarter — But Check the Work
We'll explore using AI for:
✔️ Website copy
✔️ Product descriptions
✔️ Emails
✔️ Social-media captions
✔️ Brainstorming
✔️ FAQs
✔️ Business organization
✔️ Research
✔️ SEO assistance
✔️ Customer-service drafts
And we'll talk about what you shouldn't blindly trust AI to do.
🤖 PAGE 9: USING AI FOR YOUR BUSINESS
🔍 PAGE 10 — GOOGLE, SEO & GETTING FOUND ONLINE
Help People Find What You Built
We'll simplify:
✔️ What SEO means
✔️ Page titles
✔️ Meta descriptions
✔️ Keywords
✔️ Google Search
✔️ Google Business Profile basics
✔️ Local businesses
✔️ Website content
✔️ Search visibility
✔️ Why SEO takes time
🔍 PAGE 10: GOOGLE, SEO & GETTING FOUND ONLINE
📱 PAGE 11 — SOCIAL MEDIA VS. YOUR OWN WEBSITE
You Don't Have to Choose Just One
We'll discuss:
✔️ Facebook
✔️ Instagram
✔️ TikTok
✔️ YouTube
✔️ Marketplaces
✔️ Your website
✔️ Driving traffic between platforms
✔️ Building an audience you can reach
✔️ Why followers don't equal customers
✔️ Why you shouldn't build your entire business around one platform
📱 PAGE 11: SOCIAL MEDIA VS. YOUR OWN WEBSITE
✅ PAGE 12 — ONLINE BUSINESS SETUP CHECKLIST
Let's Put Everything Together
Your final review will include:
☐ Domain
☐ Business email
☐ Website
☐ Mobile appearance
☐ Navigation
☐ Contact information
☐ Products/services
☐ Policies
☐ Branding
☐ Photos
☐ Social media
☐ Google presence
☐ SEO basics
☐ Security
☐ Renewals
☐ Important account information
At the end, you'll identify:
🟢 What's complete
🟡 What you're working on
🔴 What you still need help with
✅ PAGE 12: ONLINE BUSINESS SETUP CHECKLIST
🚦WHERE SHOULD I START?
If you're starting from scratch:
Begin with:
🌐 PAGE 1 — CHOOSING & BUYING A DOMAIN NAME
Then work through the pages in order.
If you already have an online business:
You don't necessarily need to start over.
Use this section as an online business checkup.
Maybe your website is great but your business email needs work.
Maybe your branding is established but nobody can find you on Google.
Maybe you have thousands of social-media followers but no website.
Maybe you bought a domain three years ago and don't remember where it's registered. 😳
That's exactly why we're reviewing everything.
💰 DON'T TURN THIS INTO A SHOPPING LIST
This section will introduce you to different services, platforms and tools.
That does NOT mean you need to purchase all of them.
Before spending money, ask:
Do I already have something that does this?
Does my business actually need this?
Will this save me time or make me money?
Is there a free or less expensive option?
Can I upgrade later?
Starting a business can become unnecessarily expensive when you start buying tools before you actually need them.
🔐 PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS ACCOUNTS
As we create your online presence, we're also going to pay attention to security.
That includes things such as:
🔐 Strong passwords
📱 Two-factor authentication
📧 Recovery email addresses
📞 Recovery phone numbers
🌐 Domain ownership
👤 Account ownership
💳 Billing information
Your business shouldn't lose its website, domain or social-media account simply because nobody knows how to access it.
We'll organize that too.
❤️ THE GOAL
By the time you finish this section, I don't expect you to become a:
Web developer.
Graphic designer.
SEO expert.
Professional photographer.
or IT specialist.
That's not the goal.
I want you to understand enough to manage your business intelligently.
So when someone tells you:
“You need this.”
you can ask:
“WHY?”
And when you hire someone to help you, you'll understand enough to know what you're paying them to do.
That's a very different position from simply handing someone money because you don't understand the technology.
🌐 READY TO BEGIN?
Start with:
🌐 PAGE 1 — CHOOSING & BUYING A DOMAIN NAME
Then work through the resources at your own pace.
⚠️ IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER
This resource is provided for general educational purposes only.
Technology, online platforms, pricing, features, policies, search-engine requirements and business tools change frequently. Always verify current information directly with the applicable provider before purchasing a product or service or making important business decisions.
References to particular platforms, products or services are for educational purposes and do not mean every business needs or should purchase them.