Would Your Business Benefit From a Website?
A guide to help you decide if your business would benefit enough from a website to invest in one
Which businesses might not need a website?
Businesses that can potentially thrive with just social media:
- Hyper-local service businesses or well established business that get customers from word of mouth.
- Appointment-based professionals who book through platforms.
- Food businesses that primarily use delivery apps.
- Businesses that only sell on marketplaces (Etsy, Ebay ect).
- B2B companies that land clients through relationships.
In these cases, even a cheap website might not have enough ROI (return on investment) to use your limited money on, versus spending that money instead on advertising, ect.
If a website is likely to have minimal ROI and but you want a very simple website consider:
- Carrd $9/year (can use the free domain that is included, or buy and add your own)
- Square (free plan, but very limited, must use the free .square.site domain)
- Wix (free with ads, have to use the free wix domain)
- Wordpress.com (free, but very limited, must use the free wordpress.com domain)
Potential Pros to Having a Website:
1. Improved SEO, potential clients can find you with a google search easier
High SEO = Make google rank your website higher in google search results.
This means if you’re a plumbing business and users type in “local emergency plumber near me” into google, your business likely won’t pop up near the top! Because to google, your FB/Instagram/ect is just a part of that social media company!
If google automatically created a google business profile for you or you created it, then you’ll get some SEO benefits from that. But with a fast website you can improve how high up you’re listed in google search results, which can lead to more clients/$$$ IF they’re likely to search for you with google.
Even if your business will get the majority of its leads through your social presence, the other benefits below might be enough to consider making a cheap website.
Special note: If your company is not very unique, or there’s a ton of local competition that is very similar, it will take more effort to get a higher SEO ranking.
2. Your company is not blocked behind a social medias “sign in to view” message
If a person sees you’re only on social media and sees they have to sign in or make account, they might skip you and look at your competition instead.
3. Finding menus, store hours, address, ect is much easier
Most users aren’t going to want to look through a ton of images to find the information for a business they have no connection to. Especially if the user is not familiar with the layout of these social media websites.
However, if you create a free google business profile, your hours of operation and address will at least be easy to find.
4. Don’t have to worry about social media suspending your core business page
Even if you are careful with how you word your posts, there’s a chance something unexpected could trigger the suspension.
But if you have a website, users will know they can get the information they need from that, so you won’t be hemorrhaging as much money while you get the suspension situation fixed.
5. Looks more professional. A website can make you look more serious than your competition
If a user has to choose between a business only listed on social media, or one that has an active social media and a website, they’ll likely choose the business with a website.
Only using social media makes it easier for your competition to win over potential customers from your business.
6. A website signals your business is still open
Meanwhile a social media page that hasn’t been updated in several months or a year might of closed down.
Website Builder Guide
It’s a comprehensive guide to help you choose the right website builder for your business.