ApptOnly's setup is built to get you to a usable booking page fast, then expand from there. This guide walks the five steps the onboarding wizard takes you through, plus what is worth coming back to after launch.
1. Business info
Pick a business name, choose your booking page URL, and set your time zone and default language. A few things to know going in:
- The URL slug shows up everywhere clients see your business. Pick it with care. (booking page URL explainer)
- Time zone anchors your hours and your calendar. (time zone explainer)
- Language is your default; clients can switch on the booking page. (locale explainer)
This takes about two minutes.
2. Availability
Set your weekly hours. The wizard starts you on Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, which most solo pros end up tweaking. You can:
- Block out specific days or hours.
- Add lead time (minimum hours notice required).
- Set a lookahead window (how far in advance clients can book).
- Add buffer time between appointments.
Refining availability later as your schedule changes is normal. The wizard's job is to get you to "bookable" today.
3. Services
Add the services you offer. For each one:
- Name, duration, price.
- Whether to require a deposit (deposits explainer).
- Whether to attach an intake form.
- Whether it can be booked recurring.
Start with the two or three services you book most often. You can add more later. Service descriptions are worth a few sentences each; they are what clients read when deciding.
4. Payments (Stripe)
Connect Stripe so you can accept card payments. The connect flow opens Stripe's onboarding in a new tab. Have your government-issued ID and a tax number (SSN or EIN) handy. The whole thing takes about five minutes.
You can skip this step and finish onboarding without it, but your booking page will run in "payment optional" mode until Stripe is connected. (what is Stripe)
5. Branding and review
Upload a logo, pick a brand color, and preview your booking page in a side-by-side view. This is the part where you see what a client will see.
When the preview looks right, you launch. Your booking page goes live at your chosen URL and starts accepting bookings.
What to come back to
Onboarding ships you a working page. These are the next-week refinements most practitioners make:
- Customize your reminder schedule (Settings, Notifications).
- Add a cancellation policy (Settings, Booking).
- Import your existing client list (CSV import guide).
- Build your first intake form (intake forms guide).
- Set up gift certificates if you sell them (gift certificates explainer).