Side Gig Wire is published by Byte Foundry, which also makes SendingRight, one of the tools mentioned in this checklist.
You don’t need a marketing budget to look like a real business online. You need a handful of basics, set up once and kept tidy. Here’s the checklist we’d give a friend starting out, in the order we’d do it.
1. A consistent name and a business email address
Use one name everywhere, and get an email address that matches it. “hello@maplestreetdogs.com” looks more trustworthy on an invoice than a nickname at a free webmail service. A domain name costs about the same as a takeaway lunch per year, and many hosts include email with it.
Free option: a free webmail address that uses your business name. Worth paying for: your own domain, as soon as you’re sure of the name.
2. A Google Business Profile (for local work)
If you serve customers in an area, this is the listing that puts you on Google Maps and in “near me” searches. Service-area businesses can hide their home address.
Cost: free.
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3. A one-page website
One page with what you do, where, a few photos, prices or a starting price, reviews, and how to book or contact you. That’s enough. Website builders make this a weekend job.
Free option: a free plan on a site builder, or a well-filled-in profile page. Worth paying for: your own domain on the site, so the address you print on cards never changes.
4. Reviews
Ask every happy customer, with a direct link to where you’d like the review. Reply to every review politely, including the bad ones; future customers read the replies too.
Cost: free, but only if you ask.
5. One social profile you keep up
Choose the one platform your customers use and post about the work itself. Before-and-after photos, the making-of, a quick tip. Regular and real beats frequent and forced.
Cost: free. Scheduling tools help you batch a month of posts in one sitting.
6. An email list and a newsletter
This is the one that compounds. Your list is the only audience no platform can throttle or take away, and a short, useful email now and then turns one-off customers into regulars. You need a signup form, double opt-in (people confirm with one click), an easy unsubscribe, and your postal address in the footer, which US law requires for commercial email.
Tools: Mailchimp, Kit and beehiiv are popular. SendingRight (made by our publisher, and what Side Gig Wire runs on) charges a flat fee with no per-subscriber pricing, sends from your own domain, and can deliver each email in the reader’s own language. Compare a few against what you’ll need in a year, not just this month: pricing that grows with your list adds up.
7. A simple way to get paid and booked
An online booking page or a payment link removes the back-and-forth that loses customers. Many payment apps and booking tools have free tiers; their fees come out of each payment, so check them.
The order matters less than starting
If you only do two things this week, make them the Google profile (for local work) and the email list. The first gets you found. The second makes sure that once someone finds you, you can find them again.
Want more like this? Why the money is in the list goes deeper on step 6, and how to get your side gig found online covers the rest.
Sources
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