Should a small business have a website, or is social media enough?
Social media is worth using, but it is rented ground: the account, the reach and the rules belong to someone else, so a business also needs one address it owns and that machines can read.
This is not an argument against social media. It is an argument against having only that.
What you own and what you rent
An account can be limited, suspended or simply shown to fewer people after a rule change, and none of that is appealable in any practical sense. A domain and the pages on it stay yours, and you can move them between hosts in an afternoon.
What a search engine and an assistant can use
Both need text they can fetch and quote, with a stable address. Most social posts are hard to fetch, disappear down a feed and carry no structured information about opening hours, service area or prices. A page answers once and keeps answering.
What social media is genuinely better at
- Showing work in progress and recent jobs.
- Being remembered by people who are not buying today.
- Fast, informal replies to people who already found you.
A workable split
- Site: what you do, where, for whom, how to book, what it costs to get a quote, legal pages, answers to real questions.
- Social: proof of work and personality, with a link back to the site in the profile.
- One contact path used in both, so enquiries arrive in one place.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Can I start with just a one page site?
Yes. One page that answers the real questions and takes an enquiry beats five empty pages.
Will a website rank without ads?
It can, in time, for specific questions. It will not beat a big brand on a generic term, and it does not need to.
Do I still need social media if I have a site?
Not necessarily. Use the one you will actually keep up to date.
Tell us what you want built
You get a written scope with the price within one working day. Nothing is stored on our server: your details turn into a WhatsApp message and sending stays your choice.