Starting a business
The small business startup checklist.
Everything a new UK business needs to sort out, in the order it is worth doing it: the legal and money side first, then the online side that brings customers in. Tick things off as you go. The page remembers on this device.
- Covers
- Sole traders and limited companies
- Checked against
- GOV.UK and the ICO
- Last checked
- 7 November 2026
- Costs
- Nothing to use
01 / The parts the law and HMRC care about.
Set up the business
-
A sole trader is quick and simple: you and the business are the same thing in law. A limited company is separate from you, which protects your own money, but brings more paperwork. Most one-person businesses start as sole traders and change later.
-
Search Companies House, the trade mark register and the .co.uk domain before you pay for a logo. A name you cannot get the domain for will cost you customers for years.
-
Sole trader: register for Self Assessment if you earn more than £1,000 in a tax year, by 5 October after the end of the tax year you started. Limited company: register with Companies House, £100 online and usually done within 24 hours, then register for Corporation Tax.
-
A limited company needs its own account, because the money is the company’s, not yours. For a sole trader it is not required, but it makes your tax return an afternoon rather than a week.
-
Every invoice, receipt and payment, from day one. A spreadsheet is fine to start with; what matters is doing it weekly rather than in a panic in January.
-
You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in the last 12 months, or you expect it to in the next 30 days. Below that it is optional.
-
Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement as soon as you employ someone. Public liability and professional indemnity are not required by law, but many customers will ask for them.
-
Food, alcohol, street trading, childcare, taxis, music and more all need permission first. The finder takes two minutes.
-
If you keep customers’ details on a computer or phone, you probably need to pay it: £52 a year for most small businesses, £5 less by Direct Debit. Some businesses are exempt, and the ICO’s short questionnaire tells you which you are.
02 / Cheap now, expensive to fix later.
Claim your name online
-
Your .co.uk (and the .com if you can). Register it to you, not to whoever builds your website, so you can always take it with you.
-
hello@yourbusiness.co.uk reads as a real business; a free webmail address reads as a side project. It also lets you set up the records that keep your emails out of spam.
-
Only the one or two your customers are actually on. One active page beats five empty ones.
03 / Where most local customers look first.
Get found
-
Free, and for a local business often worth more than the website. Pick the most specific category, add your hours, area, services and real photos, then verify it.
-
Bing can import your Google profile in a few minutes. Bing feeds Copilot and ChatGPT search; Apple feeds Apple Maps and Siri.
-
What you do, where, roughly what it costs, and how to get in touch, all in plain words and quick on a phone. Build it yourself or have it built; either can work if those four are clear.
-
A privacy notice if you collect any personal details. A cookie banner if you use analytics or advertising tracking. And if you are a limited company, your registered name, number and office on the site and in your emails.
-
Add it to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, both free. They show you what people searched to find you, and warn you when something breaks.
-
More than forty tests in about a minute: whether Google can list it, whether ChatGPT can read it, whether it is quick on a phone, and the legal bits. You get a plain-English task list by email.
04 / What turns a visit into a phone call.
Earn trust
-
Send your review link the day the job is done. Ten honest reviews early on do more than fifty later, and reply to every one.
-
You, your van, your work, your premises. Stock photos are the quickest way to look like everyone else.
-
A phone number that dials when tapped, a short form, and WhatsApp if your customers use it. Test them all from your own phone.
05 / A little, often.
Keep it growing
-
Write down where every enquiry came from. It tells you what to do more of far better than any analytics chart.
-
An update on your Google profile, a short note on your site answering a question customers ask. Steady beats bursts.
-
Most small businesses grow by word of mouth. Give people something to forward: a link, a card, a reason.
-
The weekly SEO & GEO email: what changed in Google and AI that week, what a small business website needs, and what it can ignore.
06 / Questions
The things people worry about asking.
What should I do first when starting a business?
Decide between sole trader and limited company, check your name is free (including the domain), then register with HMRC or Companies House. The online side comes next, and the Google Business Profile is usually the first thing worth doing there, because it is free and it is where local customers look.
Do I need a website to start a business?
Not on day one. A Google Business Profile will bring the first local enquiries on its own. But a website is what people check before they ring, and it is the only place online you own, so most businesses want one within the first few months.
Can I build my own website?
Yes, and plenty of people do it well. The builders make the design easy; what usually gets missed is the part Google and the AI assistants read: titles, descriptions, saying where you are, and being connected to your Google profile. The free report checks exactly those.
Do I need to pay the ICO as a small business?
Often, yes. If you keep customers’ details electronically you probably need to pay the data protection fee, which is £52 a year for most small businesses. Some are exempt, and the ICO’s online questionnaire tells you in a few minutes.
How much does it cost to start a business online?
The legal setup can cost nothing as a sole trader, or £100 to register a limited company online. A domain is a few pounds a year, the Google profile is free, and a website ranges from a DIY builder subscription to a one-off build. The website costs page compares them over five years.
The weekly email
What changed in Google and AI this week, in five minutes.
Once a week: one change in search or AI worth knowing about, one thing a small business website actually needs, and one thing it can safely ignore. Plain English, written by me, never sold on.
Tell me what you are thinking.
Two fields are required and you are not committing to anything. Even if you are only half sure, send it. I would rather talk you out of something than sell you the wrong thing.