What every pay run includes, said once and plainly
A buyer wants one page that says what happens each pay period: who enters hours, how direct deposit works, and which filings and deposits you handle. It should also say what reports come back and what year-end looks like. The builder writes that page from your answers, in the order a pay period actually runs.
The home page carries the short version near the top, an answer capsule a business owner can read between meetings. You see the planned pages and what the build costs before anything runs, and you approve the plan.
- How hours get to you: time tracking, a spreadsheet, or a portal you name
- Direct deposit and paper checks, and what a new hire fills in
- Filings and deposits you take on, as you describe them
- Year-end forms and who receives what
Switching mid-year is its own page
Most new payroll clients are leaving someone. The question they have is whether moving in the middle of a year is a mess. A switching page walks through it: what you collect from the old provider, what the client gathers, when the first run happens, and what the client never has to touch.
It also says when you prefer clients to switch, if you have a preference, and what a client should not cancel until the first run is done. The in-app assistant writes it as a calm list of steps, not a sales page.
Industries with payroll of their own
Restaurants with tips, contractors with certified payroll, nonprofits, farms, practices with shift differentials. If you serve one of these, an industry page names its particular rules and chores as you describe them, and the clients you already serve in it.
The uniqueness check strips industry names before it measures, so one page reworded per industry would fail. Each page has to say something true about that trade's payroll, or the assistant asks more questions instead of padding it.
No promises about penalties and deadlines
A payroll site is where owners look for reassurance, and that is exactly where the wording has to be careful. The builder says what you file and deposit and what you take responsibility for, in your words. It does not say a client will never face a penalty or miss a deadline, and it does not describe how any tax should be handled.
A plain line on the page says the site is general information and not tax, legal or financial advice. Rates, thresholds and due dates change, so the assistant leaves a figure out unless you supply it and say it is current.
A quote request that asks the right questions
Payroll is priced on a few facts: how many people, how often they are paid, how many states, and what add-ons the client wants. The form on every page asks those in plain words, so the first call starts with a number instead of a questionnaire.
Each submission is delivered to your CRM, Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, a text message or any webhook, and every delivery is signed. If you demo the service on a call, add a booking link and the site gets a book-a-time section that loads only when a visitor opens it.
Client login kept apart from the sales form
Existing clients log in to run payroll. They should never land on a sales page looking for the button. The site puts a Client login link in the header that goes to the portal you use, and the contact page says support requests go there too.
The site does not host the portal or handle any pay data. It links to it and says so.
What the interview asks a payroll firm
Expect questions about what a pay run includes, which filings you handle, how clients submit hours, the industries you serve, your switching process, and where clients log in. It also asks about certifications, memberships and any partner software you name.
Every page is written from a conversation and passes a check that runs before anything publishes. The FAQ is written from the questions owners ask before they switch, which is what makes it genuinely useful. The AI answer engines like ChatGPT and Google's AI answers read the same plain answers an owner does.
The payroll services trade, in Census numbers
Figures are from the source named beside each one, as published. They describe the area or the trade, not this product.