Launching a new Coquitlam company online, step by step

The short answer: boring first, visible last

Do the steps customers and search engines check before the ones that look exciting. In practice, that means: confirm licence and legal details, settle one name and one contact set, create the Google Business Profile, build a lean website, start collecting reviews, and only then run a small ad test. Logos, van wraps and social campaigns can wait a few weeks.

The sections below explain each step and the most common mistake at each stage.

Step 1: Paperwork you handle yourself

Marketing should never run ahead of your legal set-up. The City of Coquitlam states that its business licence bylaw requires anyone carrying on a business in the city to hold a valid licence, and that licences run for a year. Home-based businesses apply through a separate home occupation process, and mobile operators must carry their licence while working in the city, according to the same page.

For trades that move between customers, the city also describes a Tri-Cities intermunicipal business licence for mobile businesses based in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam or Port Moody, listed at $175 a year as of October 2026. Businesses based outside those cities need a non-resident licence from each city they work in, according to the same page. Check eligibility and current fees with the city before relying on any of this.

Your checklist for this step:

• ☐ Legal name confirmed and registered as required
• ☐ City of Coquitlam licence applied for or held
• ☐ Any provincial or trade-specific permits your work requires, confirmed with the relevant body
• ☐ Insurance in place, if you plan to mention it publicly

We are not licensing or legal advisers, and this list is a reminder, not advice. The point is simple: do not publish a service area or an address before you know you can legally trade there.

Step 2: One name, one number, one email

Pick the public details you will use everywhere and write them down exactly. Customers and search engines both notice inconsistency.

1. Business name: the real-world name on your invoices and signage. Google's guidelines say your profile name should match the name you use in the real world, and that adding unnecessary information to the name is not permitted, so no "Best Plumber Coquitlam" stuffing.
2. Phone number: a business line you will keep for years. Changing numbers later scatters old ones across directories.
3. Email: one address on your own domain if possible.
4. Website address: register the domain in your own name, with your own login.

Write these four lines in a note on your phone. Every time you set up a new account, copy from the note, never from memory.

Step 3: The Google Business Profile

For most new trades and local shops, the Google Business Profile will bring the first enquiries. Set it up carefully once.

• Storefront or service area? If customers come to you during staffed hours, show the address. If you go to them, Google says service-area businesses should hide the address and set a service area, generally within about two hours' drive of the base.
• Categories: choose the primary category that describes your main service, not every service you could ever offer.
• Service area: start with the parts of Coquitlam and nearby cities you really serve. Our areas page describes how districts differ.
• Photos: real ones only. Your van, your tools, your team and your work.
• Verification: start early. It can take time and is outside your control.

Google lists relevance, distance and prominence as the main factors in local ranking. A new profile is short on prominence, which is why steps 5 and 6 matter.

Step 4: A lean first website

You do not need 30 pages on day one. You need a small, honest site that turns visitors into calls.

A lean first site contains:

1. Home page: what you do, where, and how to reach you.
2. One page per main service, written in plain language with what the customer can expect.
3. One service-area page describing the Coquitlam districts and nearby cities you cover.
4. About page: who you are, your licence and insurance if you choose to share them, and real photos.
5. Contact page: tap-to-call, text and email on every page, working well on phones.

Keep it fast and simple. Add pages as you complete jobs and learn what customers ask. If you would rather we build and run it, see websites built and kept running.

Step 5: The review routine

Reviews are where a new company catches up with older rivals. Start the routine from your very first job.

• Ask every satisfied customer, right after the job, with a direct link.
• Ask steadily, not in bursts. Ten reviews spread over three months look more natural and more current than ten in one week.
• Reply to every review, including critical ones, briefly and specifically.
• Never buy reviews or write them yourself.

A simple template, to adapt in your own words:

Hi [Customer name], thanks for having [Business name] out to [job type] in [neighbourhood]. If you were happy with the work, a short Google review would really help a new local company: [review link]. Thanks, [Your name].

Step 6: A small ad test, last

Ads come last because they magnify whatever comes before them. A strong profile and a clear page turn paid clicks into calls; a missing page or a wrong phone number wastes them.

Run a short test with a modest monthly ceiling, aimed only at your main service and your core districts. The goal is to learn one number: your real cost per enquiry. Our ads management page shows how to set a ceiling from your job value.

Common mistakes, in order of cost

1. Wrapping vans and printing cards before the name is final.
2. Using a personal mobile number you may later change.
3. Creating two Google profiles for the same business, or letting a web person create one under their account.
4. Claiming a service area far bigger than you can serve.
5. Running ads to a social page or to a home page that does not mention the service.
6. Skipping reviews in the first three months, when each one counts most.

A 60-day timeline

If you would rather hand this sequence over, our launch service for new Coquitlam companies does the marketing parts for you, with a checklist for the paperwork you keep. Either way, call, text or email us if a step is unclear. We market new companies; we never do their trade work.