================================================================================ BUSINESS LAUNCH URL MAP Every link you need to observe a market, form the entity, protect the name, build the site, claim the listings, and find free help. Compiled by J.A. Watte · https://jwatte.com/ Verified: 6 August 2026 Companion post: https://jwatte.com/blog/observe-evaluate-launch-brand-playbook/ ================================================================================ HOW TO USE THIS FILE Work top to bottom. Sections 1 through 4 are sequential and each one depends on the last. Sections 5 onward can run in parallel. Lines marked [VERIFIED] were loaded and read on the date above. Lines marked [UNVERIFIED] are included because they are the correct known address but the page did not load for machine reading in this pass. Confirm those yourself before relying on them. US-centric. Prices, fees, and program rules change. Every figure quoted here carries the date it was read. ================================================================================ SECTION 1: OBSERVE THE MARKET (before you spend anything) ================================================================================ Keyword and demand research https://jwatte.com/tools/keyword-inspection/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://trends.google.com/trends/ [UNVERIFIED] https://search.google.com/search-console/about [UNVERIFIED] https://www.bing.com/webmasters/about [UNVERIFIED] Competitor and brand-SERP observation https://jwatte.com/tools/brand-serp-audit/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/tools/serp-features/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/tools/competitor-contrast/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/tools/local-pack-triangulation/ [VERIFIED] free tool Check whether a competitor or vendor is a real registered entity https://jwatte.com/tools/state-business-lookup/ [VERIFIED] free tool every state's official entity search in one place ================================================================================ SECTION 2: CLEAR THE NAME (before business cards, before the LLC) ================================================================================ Federal trademark search https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/ [VERIFIED] loads Current USPTO search system. TESS was retired in 2023. Federal trademark filing https://trademarkcenter.uspto.gov/ [VERIFIED via uspto.gov As of 18 January 2025 this is where new applications are filed. Some TEAS forms remain available. Fees (effective 18 January 2025) [VERIFIED] https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/trademark-fee-information Base application ......................... $350 per class Insufficient information surcharge ....... $100 per class Free-form text box instead of ID Manual .. $200 per class Each extra 1,000+ characters ............. $200 per affected class Amendment to allege use / statement of use $150 per class Extension request (intent-to-use) ........ $125 per class Section 8/71 five-year declaration ....... $325 per class Section 8/71 + 15 ........................ $575 per class Section 8/71 + 9 (10-year renewal) ....... $650 per class Section 15 declaration ................... $250 per class Grace period surcharge ................... $100 TRAP: the $200 free-form surcharge attaches to the INPUT METHOD, not the wording. Copying ID Manual text into the free-form box still triggers it, and it charges for EVERY class in the application, including clean ones. Pre-screen the name yourself first (20 minutes, free) https://jwatte.com/tools/trademark-prescreen/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/blog/how-to-trademark-a-logo-uspto-cost/ [VERIFIED] Copyright (a different regime from trademark) https://www.copyright.gov/ [UNVERIFIED] https://www.copyright.gov/ai/ [VERIFIED] Human authorship is required. Purely AI-generated material is not registrable. Part 2 report on copyrightability published 29 Jan 2025. Domain and handle availability Check the exact-match domain and the social handles at the same time as the trademark search. A cleared mark with no available handle anywhere is a problem you want to know about on day one, not day ninety. ================================================================================ SECTION 3: FORM THE ENTITY ================================================================================ Choose a structure and register https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/choose-business-structure [UNVERIFIED] https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/register-your-business [VERIFIED] "If you conduct business as yourself using your legal name, you won't need to register anywhere." But: no registration means no personal liability protection. A DBA (trade name / fictitious name / assumed name) is a NAME, not a shield. Most states require registering it if you use one. A registered agent is required for an LLC, corporation, partnership, or nonprofit corporation, and must be located in the state of registration. State filing is done at the state level. There is no single national URL. Find your state's office through the entity-search tool above. EIN: FREE, from the IRS, never from a paid service https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online [VERIFIED] "Beware of websites that charge for an EIN. You never have to pay a fee for an EIN." Hours (Eastern): Mon-Fri 6:00am-1:00am, Sat 6:00am-9:00pm, Sun 6:00pm-midnight Limit: 1 EIN per responsible party per day Session expires after 15 minutes of inactivity and cannot be saved Principal place of business must be in the US or a US territory Beneficial ownership (BOI): THIS REVERSED, CHECK IT https://www.fincen.gov/boi [VERIFIED source, see note] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/03/26/2025-05199/beneficial-ownership-information-reporting-requirement-revision-and-deadline-extension [VERIFIED] FinCEN announced 21 March 2025, published 26 March 2025: an INTERIM final rule exempting all entities created in the United States, and their beneficial owners, from BOI reporting. It is an INTERIM rule. Check fincen.gov/boi directly before acting. Entities formed outside the US that register to do business in the US were treated differently. Do not read this as "nobody files." Taxes and employer obligations https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed [UNVERIFIED] Business bank account Bring: formation documents, EIN letter, operating agreement or bylaws, and government ID for every beneficial owner. ================================================================================ SECTION 4: BUILD AND SHIP THE SITE ================================================================================ Hosting (numbers read 6 August 2026) https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/platform/pricing/ [VERIFIED] Free: 100,000 requests/day, 10ms CPU per invocation Paid: $5/month minimum, 10M requests included, $0.30/additional million 30M CPU-ms included, $0.02/additional million CPU-ms "Requests to static assets are free and unlimited." https://www.netlify.com/pricing/ [VERIFIED] Free $0 / 300 credits · Personal $9 / 1,000 · Pro $20 / 3,000 Credits: deploy 15 · compute 10/GB-hr · bandwidth 20/GB · 2 per 10k requests https://vercel.com/pricing [VERIFIED] Hobby free: 1M edge requests, 100GB transfer, 1M invocations, 4hr CPU Pro $20/user/month + $20 usage credit included Generate a correct build from the start https://jwatte.com/tools/single-site-gen/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/tools/monoclone-generator/ [VERIFIED] free tool Brand assets https://jwatte.com/tools/image-prompt-gen/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/blog/blog-ai-image-generation-brand-assets/ [VERIFIED] https://jwatte.com/blog/blog-imagemagick-favicon-brand-creation/ [VERIFIED] Legal pages https://jwatte.com/tools/legal-pages-generator/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/tools/legal-pages-audit/ [VERIFIED] free tool Email authentication (do this before you send a single email) https://jwatte.com/tools/dns-records-generator/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://jwatte.com/tools/dns-email-audit/ [VERIFIED] free tool https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7489.html DMARC https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7208.html SPF https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6376.html DKIM The pre-launch audit (eight dimensions, all free) https://jwatte.com/blog/pre-launch-web-audit-loop/ [VERIFIED] https://jwatte.com/tools/mega-analyzer/ one URL, ten panels https://jwatte.com/tools/sitemap-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/index-coverage-delta/ https://jwatte.com/tools/schema-validator/ https://jwatte.com/tools/wcag-accessibility-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/security-headers-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/ai-crawler-access-auditor/ https://jwatte.com/tools/predeploy-check/ https://jwatte.com/methodology/ the scoring rubric ================================================================================ SECTION 5: CLAIM THE LISTINGS (all free) ================================================================================ TIER 1: the map surfaces. Do all four. Google Business Profile [VERIFIED] https://business.google.com/add "You can add or claim your business at no charge." Verification required. Fix the address BEFORE verifying. sameAs form: https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:YOUR_PLACE_ID Bing Places for Business [VERIFIED redirect] https://www.bingplaces.com/ -> redirects 301 to bing.com/forbusiness Free. Feeds Bing and Microsoft Copilot local answers. A Google Business Profile import path is widely documented; I could not confirm it from a Microsoft-owned page. Verify in the interface. Apple Business Connect [VERIFIED] https://businessconnect.apple.com/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/01/introducing-apple-business-connect/ Free, launched January 2023, replaced Apple Maps Connect. Appears across Apple Maps, Messages, Wallet, Siri. Verification required before you can manage the place card. Yelp [VERIFIED] https://biz.yelp.com/claim "It's free to be on Yelp." Free tier covers business info, review replies, messages, and photos. Yelp Ads is a separate paid layer. TIER 2: social and professional identity https://www.facebook.com/pages/create [UNVERIFIED] https://www.linkedin.com/company/setup/new/ [UNVERIFIED] https://business.nextdoor.com/ [VERIFIED] free 4.1M businesses claimed Instagram professional account: convert in the app YouTube channel: if you have any video at all TIER 3: reference and data layer https://www.wikidata.org/ [UNVERIFIED] schema.org's own canonical example of a sameAs target. Has notability requirements. Do not create an entry you cannot justify. https://www.openstreetmap.org/ [UNVERIFIED] https://www.bbb.org/ [UNVERIFIED] https://www.crunchbase.com/ [UNVERIFIED] https://gravatar.com/ [UNVERIFIED] For the FOUNDER, not the company. High yield per minute. TIER 4: industry-specific (only where real customers actually shop) Trades / home services ... Angi, Thumbtack, Houzz Hospitality / travel ..... TripAdvisor Professional services .... Clutch, industry associations Reviews generally ........ Trustpilot Find the ones that matter for your category: https://jwatte.com/tools/local-directories/ https://jwatte.com/tools/local-citation-coverage/ Audit what you claimed https://jwatte.com/tools/gbp-review-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/bing-places-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/apple-business-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/yelp-audit/ https://jwatte.com/tools/nap-consistency/ ================================================================================ SECTION 6: WIRE IT TOGETHER (the step everyone skips) ================================================================================ https://schema.org/sameAs [VERIFIED] "URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity. E.g. the URL of the item's Wikipedia page, Wikidata entry, or official website." Publish ONE Organization node with an explicit @id, listing every official profile URL in sameAs. Canonical profile URLs only, never short links. Name, address, and phone identical everywhere. https://jwatte.com/blog/business-listing-sameas-url-map/ [VERIFIED] https://jwatte.com/tools/schema-validator/ https://jwatte.com/tools/cross-domain-entity-consistency/ https://jwatte.com/tools/entity-consistency-checker/ https://jwatte.com/tools/schema-graph-visualizer/ Tell the engines something changed https://www.indexnow.org/ [VERIFIED] Participating engines: Microsoft Bing, Naver, Seznam.cz, Yandex, Yep. GOOGLE IS NOT ON THAT LIST. Google consumes neither IndexNow nor any remaining ping endpoint. It finds your sitemap via robots.txt, and manual submission goes through Search Console. https://jwatte.com/tools/search-console-importer/ ================================================================================ SECTION 7: FREE US SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE ================================================================================ The four SBA resource-partner networks [VERIFIED] https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance "SBA and our network of partners offer free or low-cost counseling and training in your area." Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) - planning, financials, loans SCORE - mentoring, matched to domain experience Women's Business Centers (WBC) - not restricted to women Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOC) - veterans, service members, military spouses Financing [VERIFIED] https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans 7(a) ....... primary long-term financing program 504 ........ long-term fixed-rate via Certified Development Companies Microloan .. $50,000 or less COVID-era program funding is no longer available. Selling to the government [VERIFIED] https://sam.gov/ register here, FREE https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-guide/basic-requirements Unique Entity ID: 12-character alphanumeric, assigned during registration "To participate in government contracting, you must register your business in the federal government's System for Award Management." Match your products/services to a NAICS code. DoD contracting adds a CMMC level requirement. SCAM WARNING: registration is free and you do it yourself. Paid intermediaries send official-looking mail. SAM's own site names the free alternative: APEX Accelerators. Set-aside certifications, one portal [VERIFIED] https://certifications.sba.gov/ 8(a) Business Development · HUBZone · WOSB and EDWOSB · VOSB and SDVOSB Phone 1-866-443-4110 · certifications@sba.gov ================================================================================ SECTION 8: VETERANS AND SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS ================================================================================ Certification (moved from VA to SBA effective 1 January 2023) https://certifications.sba.gov/ [VERIFIED] https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/veteran-contracting-assistance-programs [VERIFIED] Certified VOSBs "have additional opportunities to pursue sole-source and set-aside contracts across the federal government." VOSB = veteran-owned small business SDVOSB = service-disabled veteran-owned. Apply at the broader level if you qualify for it. Transition-stage training [VERIFIED] https://www.sba.gov/sba-learning-platform/boots-business Boots to Business: SBA program inside the DoD Transition Assistance Program. Service members incl. National Guard and Reserve, plus military spouses. No cost at participating installations. Boots to Business Reboot: same content, no installation needed. Delivered by SBA district offices and VBOCs, with SBDC/SCORE/WBC support. boots-to-business@sba.gov · 202-205-8381 Standing local resource [VERIFIED] https://www.sba.gov/counseling/local-assistance/resource-partners/#veterans-business-outreach-centers ================================================================================ SECTION 9: APEX ACCELERATORS AND NAPEX ================================================================================ WHAT THEY ARE More than 250 offices nationwide whose job is helping businesses find, win, and perform on government contracts. Free. Formerly Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs). Renamed effective December 2022, when the program moved from the Defense Logistics Agency to the DoD Office of Small Business Programs under the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. FIND YOUR LOCAL ONE: this is the one you actually call https://www.apexaccelerators.us/ [VERIFIED] DoD program page (note the URL still says "formerly PTACs") https://business.defense.gov/Programs/APEX-Accelerators-formerly-PTACs/ [UNVERIFIED: 403 to automated fetch] https://business.defense.gov/ [VERIFIED via search] NAPEX = NATIONAL APEX ACCELERATOR ALLIANCE [VERIFIED] https://www.napex.us/ The national membership alliance that supports the accelerator network with guidance, professional development, and advocacy. Formerly APTAC (Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers). NOT "National Association of APEX Accelerators." It is an ALLIANCE. You call an APEX Accelerator. NAPEX supports them. If someone tells you to "use NAPEX services," what they mean in practice is: find your local APEX Accelerator. CAUTION: the acronym collides with unrelated commercial products. Navigate from apexaccelerators.us or napex.us directly, not from a search result or an ad. WHAT THEY DO, AT NO COST SAM.gov registration help · government contracting training solicitation review · bid matching · market research matchmaking events with government and industry buyers CMMC readiness guidance for defense suppliers SAM.gov's own entity registration page describes APEX Accelerators as "an official government contracting assistance resource for small business" offering "free help completing registration in SAM.gov." ================================================================================ SECTION 10: THE AI STACK ================================================================================ https://claude.com/pricing [VERIFIED 6 Aug 2026] Free $0 · Pro $17/mo annual ($20 monthly) · Max from $100/mo Team standard $20/seat annual ($25 monthly) Team premium $100/seat annual ($125 monthly) Claude Code is included from the Pro tier upward. https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/pricing API token rates Terminal setup, runnable scripts https://jwatte.com/blog/blog-ai-terminal-kickstart/ https://jwatte.com/downloads/start-ai-terminal-kickstart.sh Linux https://jwatte.com/downloads/start-ai-terminal-kickstart-macos.sh macOS https://jwatte.com/downloads/Start-AITerminalKickstart.ps1 Windows https://jwatte.com/blog/ai-quick-start-for-launching-a-business/ I did not verify OpenAI, Google, or Ideogram pricing in this pass. Check the vendor directly. AI-GENERATED LOGOS: the US Copyright Office requires human authorship. Purely AI-generated material is not registrable. Trademark is a separate regime with a different test, but I could not find a primary USPTO source on how AI generation affects mark registrability. Treat it as an open question and ask a trademark attorney if the mark matters. ================================================================================ THE WHOLE SEQUENCE, IN ORDER ================================================================================ 1. Research the market and the competitors. Section 1 2. Clear the name. Trademark search first. Section 2 3. Choose a structure and register. Section 3 4. Get the EIN. Free. From the IRS. Section 3 5. Check the current BOI rule. Section 3 6. Buy the domain at a neutral registrar. 7. Set up email authentication BEFORE sending. Section 4 8. Build the site. Section 4 9. Run the eight-dimension audit. Fix. Re-run. Section 4 10. Write down one canonical name/address/phone. 11. Claim tier-1 listings. Verify each. Section 5 12. Claim tier-2 and tier-3. Section 5 13. Publish the Organization node with sameAs. Section 6 14. Submit via IndexNow. Sitemap in robots.txt. Section 6 15. Book an SBDC or SCORE appointment. Section 7 16. If selling to government: SAM, UEI, NAICS. Section 7 17. If veteran: VetCert, VBOC, Boots to Business. Section 8 18. If selling to government: call your APEX Accelerator before doing anything else. Section 9 19. Re-run the audit after every deploy. Section 4 20. Re-check listing consistency every six months. Section 5 ================================================================================ Every jwatte.com tool linked here is free, runs in your browser, requires no signup, and stores no data. Facts verified 6 August 2026 against the pages cited. Fees, program rules, platform features, and prices change. This file is informational, not legal, tax, or contracting advice. Third-party names are nominative fair use; no affiliation or endorsement is implied. ================================================================================