Lewis SelbyCo-Founder, Maxme11 min read
To get customers online in Ghana, work in this order: claim a free Google Business Profile, set up WhatsApp Business with a catalog and quick replies, post real products with cedi prices on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok, then pay for ads once your posts already bring paid orders. Add an online store when order volume or buyer trust needs one, and record every paid order from day one.
What is the best order to market a small business online in Ghana?
Start with the free channels that catch people already looking for you, then build the place where they ask and pay, and only then pay to reach strangers. Each stage feeds the next. Ads multiply whatever your page and your replies already do, good or bad, and a store built before anyone is buying is a cost with no return.
The audience is there. DataReportal counted 26.3 million internet users in Ghana in October 2025, 74.6% of the population. In late 2025, Meta's ad tools put Facebook's audience at 8.4 million and Instagram's at 2.3 million, and Google's put YouTube's at 8.59 million. Statcounter puts Google at 97.12% of search engine use in Ghana in August 2026, so Search and Maps are where people look you up.
The table is the whole plan on one page. The sections below give the reason for each step and name the guide that covers it in depth, so this page stays about sequence: what to do first, what it costs, and the signal that tells you it is time for the next step.
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| Stage | What to do | What it costs | Move on when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Google Business Profile | Claim and verify your listing; add hours, photos and your phone number; ask buyers for reviews | Free | It is verified and shows your hours, photos and first reviews |
| 2. WhatsApp Business | Business profile, a catalog of best sellers with cedi prices, quick replies, labels and an order record | Free app | You reply within minutes and every order is written down |
| 3. Posts on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok | Real products, the price in the caption, short videos, a WhatsApp link on the profile | Free to post | Posts bring chats that turn into paid orders most weeks |
| 4. Paid ads | Meta ads that open a WhatsApp chat; Google Search if people search for what you sell | The budget you set, plus 20% VAT and levies on Meta ads | Your ad cost per paid order stays below your profit per order |
| 5. Online store | Shopify or WooCommerce with MoMo checkout and delivery fees shown upfront | A one-off build plus yearly running costs; 1.95% per local Paystack payment | Checkout works on every MoMo network and its sales are tracked |
| 6. Track paid orders | An order record, WhatsApp purchase labels, the Meta Pixel on your store | Free tools | Never: start it at stage 2 and keep it running |
How do I put my business on Google Maps in Ghana?
Create a Business Profile at business.google.com. Google says creating one and listing your business is free. The profile puts you on Google Search and Maps with your hours, photos, phone number, directions and reviews, so a buyer who types your name, or "phone repairs Madina", finds you and can call or come straight away.
Check eligibility first. Google's rule is that a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. A shop, office, salon, workshop or clinic qualifies. So does a business that travels to customers, such as a caterer or a mobile mechanic, which Google asks to hide its address and list the areas it serves. Brands and other online-only businesses are not eligible.
Then verify. Google picks the method from your business type, public information and region: a video recording, a phone call or text, email, a live video call or a postcard. On video you show your location, your business or equipment, and proof that you manage it, such as a storeroom or till. Google says its review of what you submit takes up to 5 business days.
Use your real name as it appears on your signboard, with no extra keywords, and ask every happy buyer for a review using the link or QR code Google gives you. Google treats reviews bought with discounts or free items as fake content. If you sell only online and never meet buyers, skip this stage and come back when you open a shop or showroom.
How do you set up WhatsApp Business to take orders?
Do this before you post more, because posts create chats and chats that wait lose the sale. The WhatsApp Business app is free on Android and iPhone. Fill in the business profile with your hours, address or delivery areas and a short description, so a buyer who taps your name sees what you sell and when you answer.
Then build the catalog, a small shop window inside the chat. WhatsApp lets you upload up to 500 items, each with up to 10 photos or videos. Put the cedi price on every item. Buyers can add several items to a cart and send them as one order, and you can share a link to the whole catalog or one item on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
Save quick replies for the questions you answer all day: price, delivery fee by area, how to pay and how long delivery takes. Set a greeting message for first chats and an away message that says when you will reply. Use labels such as Pending payment and Paid to sort chats. Our guide 'Click-to-WhatsApp ads in Ghana' gives a first reply that closes.
Settle payment now too. A MoMo wallet in your business name, or a payment link, shows buyers a name they can check. Paystack Payment Pages need no website and charge 1.95% per local payment at the time of writing (September 2026); 'Paystack vs Hubtel vs expressPay' compares the options. Start an order record today: date, item, amount, how they paid and where they found you.
Where should you post: Instagram, Facebook or TikTok?
Post where your buyers already scroll, and start with one main platform you can keep up with. Of the three, Facebook has the biggest audience in Ghana, going by the ad reach figures above. Instagram is smaller but strong for fashion, beauty, food and gifts. TikTok suits products that show well in a short video, and posting there is free.
What to post is the same everywhere: real products shot in daylight, the cedi price in the caption, a short video that shows size and finish, and proof you deliver, such as parcels leaving your shop. Put your wa.me WhatsApp link on every profile. 'How to sell on Instagram in Ghana' and 'How to sell clothes online in Ghana' cover content in detail.
One platform fact shapes the plan. At the time of writing, Ghana is not on TikTok's list of countries where businesses can open an ad account themselves in TikTok Business Center, and TikTok's help page sends anyone who has trouble creating one to TikTok Support. DataReportal's 2026 Ghana report has no TikTok ad audience figure either. So treat TikTok as free reach, and plan your first ad budget on Meta.
Move on when posts bring chats most weeks and some of those chats pay. If posts get likes but no orders, fix the product, the price or the photos before you spend; 'What sells fast online in Ghana?' shows how to test demand before you stock up.
When should a small business in Ghana start paying for ads?
Start ads when three things are true: your profile answers price, delivery and how to order without a DM; someone replies within minutes during business hours; and your free posts already bring some paid orders. Ads buy more people for the journey you already have. If that journey leaks, paying for more traffic makes the loss bigger, not smaller.
Before you spend, work out the most an order can cost you in ads: the selling price, minus product cost, any delivery you pay for and the payment fee. An illustration, not an average: a GHS 250 dress that cost you GHS 120, with the buyer paying delivery and a 1.95% Paystack fee of about GHS 5, leaves about GHS 125. Meta adds 20% VAT and levies, so above about GHS 104 of ad budget per order, that sale loses money.
For most shops the first campaign is a Meta ad that opens a WhatsApp chat, judged by cost per paid order, not cost per chat. 'Boost post or Ads Manager?' and 'Click-to-WhatsApp ads in Ghana' walk through the setup, 'How to pay for Facebook and Instagram ads from Ghana' covers cards, and 'VAT on Facebook ads in Ghana (2026)' explains the tax.
Google Search comes first instead when people already search for what you sell: a clinic, a school, a mechanic, a supplier, or a product people look up by model name. 'How much do Google Ads cost in Ghana?' shows how to check search demand in Keyword Planner. If ads run but orders do not come, read 'Facebook ads not converting in Ghana?' before you raise the budget.
When do you need an online store instead of WhatsApp?
Later than most owners think. A WhatsApp catalog and a payment link can carry a small business a long way, and they cost nothing to set up. Build a store when chats become the bottleneck, or when buyers who do not know you need more proof before they pay. These are the signs:
Cost and platform have their own guides: 'How much does an online store cost in Ghana?' gives build and first-year budgets, 'Shopify vs WooCommerce in Ghana' and 'Does Shopify work in Ghana?' help you choose, and 'Cash on delivery in Ghana without the fake orders' covers buyers who pay at the door. Keep WhatsApp running beside the store, because many buyers will still ask first.
- You answer the same price and stock questions many times a day, and slow replies are losing orders.
- You sell more products than a chat can show well, or more than the catalog's 500 items.
- Buyers outside your circle, in Kumasi, Takoradi or Tamale, ask for a website before they pay.
- You want ads to optimise for purchases on a checkout, with the Meta Pixel counting real orders.
- You want delivery fees, returns and payment options shown once, not typed into every chat.
How do you know which marketing brings paid orders?
Count paid orders, not likes, chats or clicks. Your order record from stage 2 is the base: for every paid order, note the date, item, amount, how the buyer paid and where they found you. Asking "Where did you see us?" takes seconds. After a month you know whether Google, Instagram, a WhatsApp Status or an ad brings the buyers, and where the next cedi should go.
Then let the ad platforms learn from the same money. In the WhatsApp Business app, with event sharing switched on, Meta counts a chat from an ad that clicks to WhatsApp as a purchase when you label it New order, Pending payment, Paid or Order complete within 7 days of the ad click. After 10 or more purchase events in 30 days, you can ask Meta to find buyers, not chatters.
On a store, the Meta Pixel does that job, and it has to count real orders. When we audit Ghanaian businesses, broken tracking is one of the costliest gaps we find, because the ads keep learning from the wrong people. In one Ghana fashion store we worked on, fixing a Paystack configuration error, putting MoMo first and repairing the Pixel took checkout conversion from 5.88% to 20.35%, and completed checkouts from 4 to 23, across two 30-day windows.
If you want a second pair of eyes before you spend, Maxme's free Ads & Store Audit reviews your Instagram, website or ads and sends a short video on WhatsApp within 2 working days, with the three fixes that matter most.
