Do I Need a Website If I Have an Instagram or Facebook Page?

Plenty of small businesses start on Instagram or Facebook, and some do well there for years. A page is free, quick to set up, and it’s where many customers already spend their time. So it’s fair to ask whether a website is worth paying for.

For most businesses the answer is yes, and the two work best together. This post covers what social pages do well, where they fall short, and how to use both.

What social pages do well

Showing your work as it happens. New dishes, finished jobs, before-and-after photos, new stock. Social media is made for frequent, visual updates.

Staying in touch with regulars. People who follow you see you in their feed and remember you’re there.

Quick conversations. Comments and direct messages make it easy for people to ask a question without calling.

Where they fall short

You don’t own it. The platform sets the rules. It can change how many of your followers see a post, change its features, or lock an account, sometimes with little explanation. Everything you’ve put there depends on a company you can’t call.

Not everyone uses it. Some of your customers don’t have Instagram, or don’t want to log in just to check your hours.

It’s weak in search. When someone searches Google for “emergency plumber near me” or “birthday cakes Staten Island,” the results lean on business profiles and websites. A social page can appear, but a website with a clear page for each service gives Google much more to work with.

The key details get buried. Your hours, prices, service area and menu end up scattered across old posts, a short bio and highlights. A website puts them in one place that’s easy to find on a phone.

It can look less established. For bigger decisions, like hiring a contractor, a lawyer or a caterer, many people look for a proper website before they call. Fair or not, a business with only a social page can seem less settled.

Booking and ordering are limited. You can link out to a booking tool from your bio, but a website lets you set up the whole path from “what do you offer” to “booked” in the way that suits your business.

What a website does that a page can’t

• It’s yours. Your domain, your words, your layout. If a platform changes its rules, your site is still there.
• It answers the big questions at once: what you do, where, when, for how much, and how to reach you.
• It works with your Google Business Profile. Your profile links to your website, and the two together help Google understand your business. Our local SEO guide explains how.
• It gives you one address to share. Put it on your van, cards, menus, invoices and social bios, and it always shows your current details.

How to use both

Treat your website as the place with the full, current picture, and social media as the place for news and conversation.

• Link your website in every social bio.
• Share posts that point to pages on your site: a new service, a seasonal menu, a booking link.
• Keep your hours and contact details identical in both places.
• Put links to your social accounts in your website’s footer, so people can follow you from there.

What a small website costs

A first website doesn’t need to be a big project. With us, a website is $2,000, with every page you need, including the words, and most are ready in 1 week. You buy your own domain, so the address stays in your name. See our pricing page for the rest, and our post on what pages a small business website should have for what to put on it.

If your business lives on social media alone right now, tell us about it and we’ll suggest what a first website should include.