How to Set Up Your Kajabi Account: A Getting Started Checklist

Getting Set Up Right From the Start

A few hours invested in proper Kajabi setup at the beginning saves days of troubleshooting later. Many creators dive straight into building products before their foundational settings are configured, which leads to fragmented branding, missed email deliverability setup, and payment processing issues at launch. This checklist covers everything you should complete before you start building.

1. Configure Your Business Settings

In Settings, complete your business name, logo, and favicon. These appear across your student portal, emails, and checkout pages. Setting them correctly at the start means every piece of your Kajabi presence is consistently branded from day one rather than showing default Kajabi branding while you get started.

2. Connect Your Custom Domain

Connect your own domain (yourbrand.com) in Settings under Domains. A custom domain is essential for professional credibility and SEO. The process involves adding CNAME or A records to your domain's DNS settings and takes 15 to 30 minutes plus up to 48 hours for DNS propagation. Start this early because you can't control the DNS propagation timeline.

3. Set Up Payment Processing

Connect Stripe (and optionally PayPal) in Settings under Payments. Without payment processing connected, you can build everything in Kajabi but can't collect real money. This setup takes about 10 minutes if you have an existing Stripe account. If you don't, create one first as Stripe has its own verification process that can take a day or two.

4. Configure Email Settings

In Settings under Email, configure your sending name and email address. Set up a custom sending domain if possible, as it significantly improves email deliverability by authenticating your emails against your domain. Kajabi provides instructions for this within the email settings panel.

5. Set Up Your Website Basics

Choose a theme and configure your homepage, navigation, and footer. You don't need every page complete before launch, but having a functional homepage and navigation structure means that any traffic you drive to your domain lands on something professional rather than a blank template.

6. Create at Least One Form and Pipeline

Create a basic opt-in form and a simple pipeline, even before you have a lead magnet ready. Having the mechanics in place means you can start collecting subscribers from day one rather than losing early traffic while you're still building.

7. Test Everything End-to-End

Before directing any real traffic to your Kajabi site, run a complete end-to-end test: visit your website, opt in to a form, check that the welcome email arrives, attempt a test purchase using Stripe's test mode, and verify the post-purchase experience. Testing before launch is the difference between a professional first impression and an embarrassing one.