At the start of September I met the owner of a new laundry and pick-up business. They weren't trading yet. They'd take a job if one came along, but they weren't chasing work, and the real start was planned for the new year. They wanted to know whether to get a website up now.
My advice was to hold off. As much as I build websites for a living, this one could wait.
A live website says you're open
When a site goes live, anyone who finds it assumes you're ready to take their job. Say someone rings or fills in the form and finds out you can't help them for months. They trust you a little less, and some of them won't think of you again when you do open.
A site that goes live a few weeks before you start trading doesn't have that problem. For a January start, I'd build the site in November or December. That gives you time to write the pages, take some real photos and fix anything that's wrong, and it goes live close to the day you can take bookings.
You might not need a full website yet
For a business this early, I suggested looking at a booking and invoicing app before paying anyone to build a website. The kind I had in mind handles per-item pricing, which suits laundry, and comes with a basic site builder. That may be plenty to take the first bookings. It also shows you what customers ask for before you spend money on a proper site.
Once you're trading and you know what people book, a website built around that is a better use of the money. Our guide to what a website costs in Geelong goes through what to expect when you get there.
When the launch date isn't yours to pick
Some businesses can't open until someone else says so. In late August I worked through this with a new home care business that can't trade until its registration is approved, and the approval date isn't in their hands.
So the plan there is to build the site now, get the pages written and checked, and keep it switched off. When the approval comes through, it can be live within hours.
The Google profile has to wait
A Google Business Profile works differently. You can't build it ahead of time and leave it switched off the way you can with a website. For the home care business, the profile gets set up once they're open.
That makes the first week after opening a busy one. I'd plan for it and have your photos, your description and your list of services ready to paste in on the day.
If you're opening soon, the easy first step is to write down the date you can actually take your first job and work back a few weeks from there. If you want the site ready for that day, that's the kind of web design work we do, and getting found covers the Google profile side.