Getting started with ContentForge

ContentForge is where your agency keeps its clients, builds their websites in Mount Olympus, writes content with Zeus and tracks their SEO. This article covers signing up, the setup Zeus walks you through, the Getting Started checklist and the sidebar.

Joining someone else's agency? You don't sign up. Use the link in your invite email instead: see How to accept a team invite.

How to sign up

1. Open the sign-up page (Start a 14-day free trial on the sign-in page). Pick a plan and Monthly or Annual (annual shows how many months you get free). Compare plans at the bottom opens the full plan list.
2. Enter your Agency name, Work email and a password, then click Create account. The password rules tick off as you type: At least 10 characters, A letter, A number and Not your email address.
3. You go straight to a secure payment page to add your card. Nothing is charged today; the page shows the date and amount of your first charge. Publishing hosted sites is free during the trial.
4. Once the card is saved you see "Setting up your account…" and then Zeus starts your setup.

Left the payment page without adding a card? Nothing was set up or charged. Sign in again and you land on Choose your plan and add a card, where you can change the plan and click Add card & start free trial.

Confirm your email

We also send "Confirm your ContentForge email". It doesn't stop you getting started, so click Confirm my email whenever you're ready (the link works for 7 days). Until you do, a short line on the setup screen and on Settings → Profile says "Confirm your email — we sent a link to …", with Resend confirmation link. Nothing there after a few minutes? Check spam or promotions, and always use the newest email.

A few things wait until your email is confirmed, because they send email to other people from your account:

• Inviting team members.
• Inviting client contacts to the client portal, and emailing the onboarding form.
• Emailing domain setup steps.
• In the business app: inviting people, emailing invoices and emailing the chat install steps.
• Changing your sign-in email. If you typed it wrong at sign-up, enter the right address under Account Security on Settings → Profile and the confirmation link goes there.

Try one of these first and you see "Confirm your email to …" with the same Resend confirmation link.

What the trial includes:

• 14 days free. "You won't be charged until . Cancel anytime before then." We email you 3 days before the trial ends.
• A one-time set of trial credits, the same number as the Starter plan's monthly credits. Your plan's monthly credits start with your first paid invoice. See How credits work.
• One trial per card. If your card already had a trial, you can use a different card or start your plan straight away without a trial.

We also send a short welcome email with links to good first steps: add a client, start a site, connect Google and invite your team.

Invited to a trial by ContentForge? Your invitation link signs you up without a card. See the invitation trial section of Plans and hosted sites.

Setup with Zeus

Right after the card step, Zeus takes you through four steps. Every step has Skip for now, and progress is saved, so you can stop with I'll finish later (top right) and pick up where you left off. Until setup is finished or put off, opening the dashboard brings you back here. The setup uses the whole window: the steps are listed down the left side (a row across the top on a phone) and the current step fills the rest.

1. Your agency brand: Agency name, Logo (Upload logo, PNG, JPG, WebP or SVG, up to 2 MB), Main color, Accent color and Time zone. The time zone starts as your browser's; billing dates are shown in it, and you can change it later on Billing & credits. A preview shows how the client portal will look. Click Save & continue. On Growth and Agency your clients see this brand in the portal, reports and site editor; on Starter it's saved to your profile only. More options are in Settings → Branding.
2. Connect Google: click Connect Google to give read-only access to Search Console, Analytics and Business Profile for reports and audits. It's the same connection as Settings → Google Connection. When it's done you see "Google is connected" and Continue.
3. Add your first client: choose Add their details (Business name, Website, Services, Service area, then Add client & continue) or Send the onboarding form (Copy link, send it, then I've sent it — continue). Services go one per line or separated by commas, up to 9.
4. Build their site: open Create with Zeus for that client. Nothing runs until you choose it there. Building a site uses credits, and you see the cost before anything runs.

The last screen lists each step as done or "Skipped — finish it any time from Getting Started". Click Go to your dashboard.

Only the agency Owner or an Admin can change these settings. Anyone else who opens the setup sees "Only the agency owner or an admin can change these settings — you can look around and skip ahead."

The Getting Started checklist

Until setup is finished, Getting Started sits at the top of the sidebar. It opens a page with Tell us about your agency first, then the same four steps.

Tell us about your agency opens the same onboarding form your clients fill in (Business Basics, Brand Identity, Your Story, About & Team, Services, Additional Info, Online Presence, Review & Submit) in a window, already filled in with what we know. It saves into My Agency, your agency's own record on the Clients list, so Zeus builds your brand voice and writes in it the way he does for any client. Click Save and finish later to keep your answers and close it; it opens again on the step you were on. Click Save on the last step to finish: you see "Thanks — your agency's details are saved." and Zeus builds your brand voice. Until then the step shows as to do (and Getting Started stays in the sidebar). Once done it shows Review. Photos go in with the uploaders; add videos on My Agency → Media.

The four steps:

• A progress bar with "X done · Y skipped of 4".
• Each step shows as done, skipped or still to do, with Open (to do or skipped) or Review (done). Both open that step in Setup with Zeus.
• Resume setup with Zeus opens the wizard where you left off. Go to dashboard goes back to the dashboard.

Steps tick themselves off when ContentForge sees them done elsewhere: brand once your agency has a name and a logo, Google once it's connected, client once you have a client (My Agency doesn't count), and site once you have any site. Tell us about your agency ticks itself off when My Agency already has its "What do you do?" answer or a brand voice.

Setup counts as finished when every step is done or skipped (or you click Go to your dashboard on the last screen) and Tell us about your agency is done. Then the Getting Started item leaves the sidebar. You can still open the page at /dashboard/getting-started.

The sidebar

Next to the ContentForge name at the top is the bell, with a red count of unread notifications (on a phone it's at the top right). See Notifications (the bell).

From top to bottom (each person only sees the tools they've been given):

• Getting Started: only until setup is finished.
• Dashboard: what needs you today. See Your dashboard.
• Client Management: Clients, Client Onboarding, Prospect Tool and Prospects.
• Websites: your Mount Olympus sites.
• Custom Assets: Templates and Widget Builder.
• SEO Tools: Local SEO Audit, Local Map Ranking, Backlink Analysis, GBP Optimization, Keyword Forge, Competitor Analysis and Schema Generator. Keyword rank tracking is on each client's SEO → Keywords.
• Content: Content Generator and Image Generation. Every tool keeps what you've made or run on its own Past tab (for example Past content or Past audits).
• Settings: Profile for everyone. Owners and Admins also see Team Members, Google Connection, ContentForge Writing, Blog Writing Rules, Olympus, Branding, Integrations and Notifications. Everyone sees API & MCP and Billing & credits (read-only for Members).
• Help: the Knowledge Base and Submit a Ticket.

At the bottom: your credit balance (click it for Billing & credits), the Light Mode / Dark Mode switch (new accounts start in Light Mode) and Sign out.

Owners and Admins see every tool. Members only see the tools the Owner or an Admin switched on for them in Settings → Team Members, so a whole group (for example SEO Tools) disappears if none of its tools are on. See Team members and roles.

Ask Zeus

The Zeus bubble in the corner of every dashboard page answers questions, looks up client data and can run tasks for you. See Using Zeus chat.

Examples

• Solo agency owner, first day: sign up, upload your logo and colors, connect Google, add your first client from their website and services, then open Create with Zeus to draft their site.
• Busy week: click I'll finish later after the brand step. Come back through Getting Started in the sidebar and click Resume setup with Zeus.
• Client fills in their own details: on step 3 choose Send the onboarding form, copy the link into an email, and click I've sent it — continue. They appear in Clients when they submit it.

Limits and what it can't do

• One free trial per card, and 14 days long. Nothing is charged until the trial ends.
• Sign-ups are limited to 5 an hour from the same network.
• Agency name: 2 to 120 characters. Password: 10 to 128 characters.
• Logo: PNG, JPG, WebP or SVG, up to 2 MB. SVGs with scripts or links are refused.
• Services in the wizard: up to 9 (add more later on the client's page).
• Only the Owner or an Admin can save the brand, connect Google, add the client or start the site from the wizard.

Credits

Signing up and setup are free. Building the site in step 4 uses credits (you see the price before anything runs). Publishing is free during the trial. See What costs credits.

Who can use it

Anyone can create a new agency account. In Setup with Zeus and Getting Started, only the Owner or an Admin can make changes; Members can look around.

Troubleshooting

• "An account with this email already exists. Sign in instead.": that email already has a ContentForge login. Sign in, or use Forgot password? on the sign-in page. See Signing in and passwords.
• "That confirmation link has expired or was already used.": if you already confirmed, just sign in. Otherwise sign up again with the same email to get a new link.
• "Check your email to confirm your account before signing in.": you haven't clicked the confirmation link yet. Click Need a new link? next to the message.
• "Too many attempts — try again later." or "Too many sign-ups from this network — try again later.": too many tries from your network in a short time. Wait an hour and try again.
• "We couldn't send the confirmation email. Please try again.": try again in a minute. If it keeps happening, check the address for typos.
• "No card was added": you closed the card page before saving a card. Nothing was set up or charged. Click Add card & start free trial whenever you're ready. If you signed out, sign in again and you come back to this step.
• "Your card wasn't accepted": the card couldn't be saved ("Your card couldn't be saved. Try again or use another card."). Try again or use another card.
• "This card already had a free trial": each card gets one trial. Click Use a different card, or Start today without a trial to be charged for the plan now.
• " isn't available to start yet — choose another option.": pick another plan or switch between Monthly and Annual.
• "Couldn't save your progress." in Setup with Zeus: your choices still work, but the wizard may not remember where you were. Check your connection and try again.
• "Google wasn't connected": Google sign-in didn't finish. Click Connect Google again and pick the right Google account, or skip and connect later in Settings → Google Connection.
• Logo errors ("Use PNG, JPG, JPEG, WEBP, SVG", "The file is too large", "This SVG contains scripts or links…"): use a PNG under 2 MB.
• The dashboard keeps sending me to setup: setup isn't finished. Click I'll finish later, or skip the remaining steps.