WILMINGTON, Del. - For most local service businesses, the website used to be something an agency built once and then billed for every month. A cleaner, a dog groomer, a tutor or a plumber paid for the design, paid for hosting and upkeep, and then sent an email every time a price, a service area or an opening time changed. Many of those sites ended up out of date, or showed little more than a phone number.

That is changing as the way customers find local services changes. People now find a groomer through a neighbour's post, a tutor through a local group, or a cleaner through the website link on their Google Maps listing. When they arrive, they want three things fast: what the business offers, when it is free, and an answer to the one question they have. A brochure site with a contact form does not do that well.

So more owners are building the site themselves. Modern tools let a business owner set up a page in an afternoon, change it from their phone, and point every link they have, from social media to Google Maps, at the same place. The money that went to an agency each month stays in the business.

Keepp, a tool that is getting popular with creators and small businesses, is one of them. Keepp turns a link in bio into a page that works as a full website and brings everything a local business needs into one place: selling, bookings, forms and chat. Clients pick a time slot and pay when they book, or send an enquiry through a form. A chat on the page answers common questions from what the page says and hands the conversation to the owner when a person is needed. The page can run on the business's own domain, and Keepp looks after hosting and security.

The Google Maps link matters most for many of these businesses, because it is the click from someone already looking for the service nearby. A guide to what that link should lead to is at keepp.link/blog/google-maps-website-link-for-local-businesses.

"A local business website has one job: show what you offer, when you are free and how to book," said Vas, founder of Keepp. "When the owner can change it in a minute and customers can book from it, the monthly agency bill stops making sense."

More about Keepp is at keepp.link.

About Keepp
Keepp is a link in bio and website builder for creators and small businesses, made by Thinslate Labs LLC. It brings a link in bio, a website, selling, bookings, forms and chat into one place.