Questions
Questions owners ask.
What local owners ask us most, answered.
Money
What does it cost?
Clear, up-front pricing, shared when you reply by email or get a free preview. Website and setup fee: one up-front charge that covers building your site and setting up your Google profile (a basics check on Starter, the full Tune-Up on Care and Pro). Plans then continue monthly.
See Services for exactly what each plan includes.
Is Google Care available without a new website?
Yes. We check your profile for free first, and the Google Care card explains what happens if it needs attention.
Is anything due before you see your website?
No. Your preview is free, and you only pay once you’ve approved your finished site.
When and how do payments work?
- Website and setup fee: due when you approve your finished site, before it goes live. We don’t connect your web address until it’s paid.
- Split into 2 payments? The Care and Pro website plans can be split in two. The first half is due at approval (same as above). When you pay it, Stripe safely saves your card or bank account. The second half is charged automatically to the same card or bank account 30 days after your site goes live. We’ll email you a reminder a few days before. You agree to this in your agreement and on the payment page.
- Monthly fee: charged automatically each month, starting on launch day.
- You pay through a secure link from Stripe, a well-known payment company, by card or bank transfer. Never send card numbers by email or phone.
Are there any hidden fees?
No. The extras that cost money are listed up front: added pages or additional rounds of changes, each at a set price shared with your preview. Your web address is a small yearly cost you pay directly to the company it’s registered with. We never add a charge without your OK in writing (email counts).
Do you offer refunds?
No. Once you’ve approved your finished site, paid, and we’ve launched it, the website and setup fee isn’t refundable, and monthly fees already charged aren’t refunded either.
What if you miss something you promised?
Every plan lists its work in detail. If something slips, the make-up promise under On every plan applies.
Can the monthly price go up?
Only with 30 days’ written notice.
What if a payment fails?
Stripe sends reminders, and we’ll email you. If a payment is more than 30 days late, we may pause your site (it shows a “temporarily offline” page) until it’s paid. Your domain always stays yours.
Contracts and cancelling
Is there a contract?
Yes, a short plain-English agreement you sign online. It lists what we do, the price, and how to cancel.
- Site + Google Care, Pro and Starter (pay-once option): 6-month minimum, then monthly.
- Starter (nothing down): 12-month minimum, then monthly.
- Google Care: 3-month minimum, then monthly.
- Google Tune-Up: one-time, no contract term.
How does cancelling work?
After your minimum time is up, just email us with 30 days’ notice. No phone call is needed.
What if you need to cancel before the minimum is up?
You can, but the rest of your minimum is still owed under your agreement. For example, leaving Site + Google Care 4 months into a 6-month minimum means 2 more payments are due.
- Starter (nothing down): the remaining months of your 12-month minimum, because we built your site with nothing paid up front.
- All other monthly plans: the remaining months of your minimum.
- Email us first. If something has changed for your business, let us know. We can waive what’s left, and we’ll tell you in writing.
What happens to your website if you leave?
Within 10 business days, we:
- send you a zip file of your website with simple instructions for a new host;
- help point your domain to the new host;
- remove our access to your accounts;
- stop billing.
Ownership
Who owns the website?
You do, once the website and setup fee is paid in full. The finished site’s design and files are yours, and we hand them over whenever you ask. On the Starter nothing-down option, that happens once the minimum time is done or the early-cancel amount is paid.
Who owns the domain (web address)?
You do. It’s registered to you, in your account. We only get the access you give us, and you can take it back whenever you like.
Who owns the photos, words and logo?
They stay yours. That includes anything you give us, and your reviews.
Can Golden Hive Digital show the website as an example?
We may show your site as an example of our work, unless you tell us in writing not to. Using your name, numbers or quotes in a story about results needs your separate written OK.
What you do
Are passwords ever needed?
Never. We’ll never ask for them. On your Google profile we’re added as a helper with “Manager” access, which you can take away whenever you like.
What if computers aren’t your thing?
That’s fine. Most of the owners we work with aren’t tech people. We handle everything by email, and if something needs clicking, we send step-by-step instructions with pictures.
How long does it take?
- Your preview: about 5 business days after you send your info (roughly 7 for Site + Google Pro).
- Live: usually within about 10 business days after you approve it and pay.
- Google work (Care and Pro website plans): the Google Tune-Up takes 4 weeks, and monthly care starts in week 5.
If your info takes longer than 10 business days to reach us, the timeline moves.
Domains, Google and AI
What’s a domain, and does every business need one?
A domain is your web address, like yourbusiness.com. If you already have one, we use it. If not, we help you register it in your own name (a small yearly fee for a .com, paid by you to the domain company).
What is “Google AI search”?
It’s the answer written by AI that Google often shows at the top of search results. Apps such as ChatGPT work the same way when someone asks “Who’s a good roofer nearby?” Both draw on your website, your Google listing and review sites like Yelp. Services shows how we keep those sources accurate.
Can you get a business to the top of Google?
Google and AI tools decide what they show, so no one can honestly promise you a top ranking or a mention, and we won’t. What we can do is the work Google itself recommends: researching what customers look for and building it into your website, comparing you with the businesses ranked above you, keeping your profile complete and accurate, and answering reviews. Then we show you plainly what changed.
What is a Google post?
A short update with a photo (a finished job, a seasonal offer, a neighborhood you serve) that shows on your Google profile. We write them from your real work, and you approve each one.
Reviews
Do you help with reviews?
Yes, within Google’s rules.
- On the Care and Pro plans, we answer each new Google review for you, and you approve every reply.
- We set you up with an easy way to request reviews from all your customers, including a QR card.
- We never post fake reviews, offer rewards, ask only happy customers, or tell anyone what to write. Google and the FTC (the U.S. consumer protection agency) don’t allow those things, and they can put your profile at risk.
What happens with a bad review?
On plans that include review replies, we write a calm, polite reply, and we check with you first if it needs your input. We can’t remove honest reviews.
Changes and help
Can the site change after launch?
Yes. Every plan includes some change time each month, listed on its card. Just email what you’d like changed.
What’s NOT included in any plan?
Each plan has its own “Not included” list on the Services page, along with the things none of them cover.