Guides
Guides for small business owners
Plain answers to the questions owners ask before a build, from what a site costs to how AI search picks its sources.
Updated October 28, 2026
In short
These guides answer the questions owners ask us before a build. Each one opens with a short answer, then explains the details in plain words, with its public sources and their dates listed at the end. When a guide describes another company's pricing, it names the source and the day it was read, and the written plan for your own project gives its price.
A guide never names a client or quotes a result. A number from elsewhere carries its source, and the source list at the end says when each page was published or read.
Search and AI answers
How search engines and AI answer engines find a business, and which parts of that an owner can control.
- What is GEO?What GEO, generative engine optimization, changes on a website, and what it can never promise a small business.
- How does AI search pick its sources?Which crawlers feed ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google, and how much of an engine's choice of sources a small business can influence.
- Local SEO or GEO?How local SEO and GEO differ, and where the two overlap for a business that serves one area.
What things cost
What moves the price of a site, an app, a care plan or an AI job, and how other companies price theirs, each source dated.
- What does a custom CRM cost?What a custom CRM costs to build and run, next to paying for every seat on an off-the-shelf CRM, and how the market prices each, from dated sources.
- What does a care plan cover?What a website care plan includes each month and what it leaves out, with what each of our three plans covers and how its monthly price is set.
- What does a small business website cost in 2026?What a small business website costs in 2026: how builder plans and the people you could hire are priced, with dated sources, and what moves the price.
- What does a med spa website cost in 2026?What a med spa website costs in 2026: how the build and the software behind it are priced, from dated sources, and what moves the price.
- What an AI receptionist costs in 2026What an AI receptionist costs in 2026: how the plans and the answering services bill, from their own pages, next to a build of your own.
Deciding what to build
The choices owners weigh before a build, with the case for each side and the point where the answer changes.
- Wix or Squarespace, or a custom site?When a site builder like Wix or Squarespace is enough, and when a custom site you can take anywhere is worth its price.
- When should a small business build an app?The signs that a small business is ready for its own app, and why the first one is often a web app rather than an App Store listing.
- Your own ordering system, or the delivery apps?What the delivery apps charge on each order, and how a food business can use them beside its own ordering without paying commission on its regulars.
- Automation, or another hire?How to tell whether a busy small business needs automation or another person, and which tasks belong to software rather than to a new hire.
- HubSpot or a custom CRM for a five-person business?When HubSpot is the right CRM for a team of five, how its seats add up, and when a CRM built around your own process is the better buy.
- Booking software for a med spa, or your own booking site?What Vagaro, Boulevard, Mindbody and GlossGenius give a med spa, what their fees are tied to, and when a booking site of your own is worth building.
- Mindbody, or your own booking site?Mindbody builds a website into every plan. What that site leaves out for a gym or studio, how Mindbody charges, and where a site of your own fits.
- AI receptionist vs answering service vs virtual receptionistHow an AI receptionist, an answering service and a virtual receptionist differ: who picks up, how each one bills, and when each fits a small business.
- What to hand to AI firstWhich jobs a small business can hand to AI first, and the order we would build the nine AI jobs in, from the phone to AI inside your own software.
- Smith.ai, Goodcall and My AI Front Desk vs a custom buildHow a custom AI receptionist compares with Smith.ai, Goodcall and My AI Front Desk on how each bills and what it connects to, from their own pricing pages.
How a project runs
How a project runs from the first call to launch, and what holds once it is live: who owns what, and the rules the work has to follow.
- How long does a website take?What decides how long a small business website takes, and how long search engines then take to find the new pages.
- What does owning the code mean?What owning the code of your website or app covers, from the copyright to the accounts the code runs on.
- How do you choose a web agency in Los Angeles?Six things to check before you hire a web agency in Los Angeles, from who owns the code and the accounts to what a written quote has to list.
- How do online intake and consent forms work for a med spa?How online intake and consent forms work for a med spa: what the software must do, where each signed form is kept, and what stays with the practice.
- Is an AI receptionist legal in California?The California laws that reach an AI receptionist's calls, read from their own text, and the questions for your lawyer. General information, not legal advice.
- AI calls to opted-in contacts: consent, disclosure, opt-outsThe rules for AI voice calls to people who agreed to hear from a business, from the FCC rules and the California code. General information, not legal advice.
Words these guides use
Each of these terms has a one-paragraph definition in the glossary and a page of its own that says where it shows up.
- Answer engine
- GEO
- AEO
- llms.txt
- Structured data
- FAQ markup
- Sitemap
- IndexNow
- CRM
- Client portal
- Ordering system
- Automation
- Webhook
- Care plan
- Change order
- Consent form
- Intake form
- Membership
- Before-and-after gallery
- Deposit
- Large language model
- AI hallucination
- Human handoff
- Call transcript
- Two-party consent
- TCPA
- 10DLC
- Bot disclosure
- API
- BAA
- Every term in the glossary
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.