What a Whole Online Presence Plan Covers

Before you hire anyone to manage your online presence, ask them to walk through a customer's visit. Someone finds your restaurant, checks the menu, reads the reviews, and decides whether to book, call or order. Who looks after each step?

A list of platforms is a starting point. What matters is what gets checked, what gets changed, and how you know it is done. Use this as a scope to discuss with any provider. For a local service business, swap menus and reservations for services, appointments and coverage areas.

Who owns the accounts?

Ask for an inventory of your website, domain, business profiles, social pages and ordering or booking accounts, with who controls each one.

Your business should stay in control. Google's policy for third parties says end customers must keep ownership or co-ownership of their Business Profile at all times. Then approve a baseline: name, location, phone, hours, website and service links, plus the current menu and the systems that carry it.

Ask which problems the provider found at the start, which they can fix, and which need a decision from you.

What happens to the website each month?

Put website upkeep in writing: menu, contact details, location pages, main buttons and forms, reviewed on a phone as well as a desktop. Agree who supplies a new menu, who approves a changed description, and who checks the right version went live.

Ask separately about backups, software updates and recovery, and who is responsible for what. For SEO and AI search, ask for specific tasks and the problem each one solves. Google says its AI search features build on ordinary SEO and do not require special AI files.

How are listings kept matching?

Include Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook and your website, and add reservation, review and delivery pages where they apply. Check hours, phone numbers and the links behind customer buttons. Plan holiday changes before the date arrives.

Google may update a Business Profile using other sources, so a finished setup still needs ongoing checks. Ask for a short change log: platform, correction, date submitted, and whether someone checked the public result.

Who replies to reviews?

Decide who watches reviews and who approves replies. Give the provider enough context to write accurately, and a clear way to hand off complaints that need you or your manager, such as an order dispute or a serious concern about a meal.

Google says an approved reply appears publicly as a reply from your business, and that businesses can flag reviews they think break its policies. A provider should know the difference between writing a reply and reporting a review. Replies should be calm and specific, and never reveal private details.

How do menus stay connected?

Put the POS menu at the center. Define who approves items, descriptions, extras, prices and availability, and keep approved photos tied to the same items. Each destination, like your website and each delivery app, needs a named source, a responsible person and a check after changes.

A connection is not the whole job. DoorDash lists incorrect availability and outdated prices as signs of integration problems, and Grubhub's documentation for its Deliverect connection shows item images and header images can be handled differently. Ask the provider what updates automatically and what needs manual attention, including temporary shortages.

What should the monthly summary say?

Four things: what changed, what was checked, what is still open, and what decision you need to make.

Keep completed work apart from results. A fixed menu link is completed work. A website visit is an interaction. A confirmed order or appointment is a business outcome. Ask to see the evidence for each.

Check how numbers are defined. Google's Calls metric counts clicks on the call button, so it is not a count of completed calls or new customers. Google also notes that available metrics vary by business. Ask for the date range and source beside every figure, and for unavailable numbers to be marked unavailable.

How do I judge a provider?

• Which platforms and locations are included?
• What happens routinely, and what triggers an extra update?
• Who approves facts, menu changes and review replies?
• How fast are urgent errors looked into?
• What shows that corrections are visible?
• Who deals with platform rejections or access problems?
• How are accounts and records handed back if the work ends?

Pick a scope you can understand and verify. Be wary of guaranteed rankings, promised review removals, or reports that swap activity counts for customer outcomes.

Quick answers

Does monthly mean everything waits a month?

It should not. Agree on how urgent changes, like a closure or a broken ordering link, get handled, and how quickly.

Is social posting included?

Ask. Spell out the channels, the content, who approves it and who posts, instead of assuming it comes with listing management.

How do I know the work happened?

Ask for public links, dated checks and a change log, plus an explanation of anything still open.

If you'd like us to look at yours, reply or reach out at delvixo.com.