Given that I’ve spent most of my career working in web development and digital marketing, you might expect me to argue that every business should have its own website. After all, it’s something I’ve been helping businesses with for the best part of two decades, and there’s certainly no shortage of people within the industry who’ll tell you that having a professional website is absolutely essential if you want your business to succeed. However, I’m not entirely convinced that’s true, particularly for smaller businesses that might already be attracting more than enough customers without one.
The internet has changed considerably over the last twenty years, and while having your own website was once almost a prerequisite for establishing an online presence, there are now plenty of other ways for businesses to reach potential customers. In fact, depending on what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to, there’s a reasonable argument that investing thousands of pounds in a website might not be the best use of your money.
How Do Your Customers Find You?
I think the most important consideration is understanding how your customers actually find your business. Let’s say you’re a self-employed plumber who gets almost all your work through recommendations from existing customers. You’ve already got a reasonably full diary, and you’re not particularly interested in expanding or employing anybody else. Would spending £2,000 on a website really achieve anything worthwhile?
You could argue that a website would help establish credibility, allow potential customers to find your contact details and perhaps generate additional enquiries through Google. All of those things are perfectly valid, but if you’re already receiving more enquiries than you can handle, what’s the point? You might actually be better off spending that money on equipment or something else that makes running your business easier.
Compare that with a company selling specialist industrial machinery across the UK. Potential customers might spend weeks researching suppliers before making a purchase, and having a professional website containing detailed product information, technical specifications and case studies could make an enormous difference. In that situation, I’d argue that not having a website would put the business at a considerable disadvantage.
What About Google Business Profile?
One of the reasons I don’t think every small business necessarily needs a website is that Google provides a free service called Google Business Profile, which allows eligible businesses to appear in Google Search and Maps without having to maintain their own website.
For local businesses, this can be particularly valuable. If somebody searches for a hairdresser, electrician or restaurant in their area, Google will often display a selection of nearby businesses alongside their contact details, opening hours, photographs and customer reviews. Potential customers can then call the business or get directions without ever visiting its website.
Of course, having a website can provide additional information and potentially help your overall online visibility, but it isn’t necessarily essential for appearing in local search results. A well-maintained Google Business Profile, particularly one with plenty of positive customer reviews, can be extremely effective in its own right.
There are limitations, though. Not every type of business is eligible for a profile, and you’re ultimately relying on Google to decide how and where your information appears. Nevertheless, for a small local business with limited resources, I’d probably recommend making the most of Google Business Profile before spending a fortune on a new website.
Could Social Media Be Enough?
Social media provides another alternative, particularly for businesses that rely heavily on visual content or personal relationships with their customers. I’ve come across plenty of small businesses that operate almost entirely through Facebook or Instagram, using their profiles to display products, communicate with customers and take bookings.
For example, somebody making personalised cakes might find that regularly posting photographs on Facebook generates more enquiries than a conventional website ever would. Their customers can see examples of previous work, read recommendations and contact them directly through Messenger, all without the business owner needing to learn how to manage WordPress.
However, there’s a fairly significant disadvantage to relying entirely on social media, and that’s the fact that you don’t actually control the platform. Facebook could change its algorithms tomorrow, significantly reducing the number of people who see your posts, or your account could be suspended for reasons that might be difficult to resolve. If your entire business relies on that one platform, you could suddenly find yourself in a rather difficult position.
With your own website, you have considerably more control over your content, branding and the way customers interact with your business, although you’re obviously still dependent on your hosting provider and other services.
What About Selling Products Online?
Ecommerce is another area where I think the answer depends on the circumstances. If you’re selling a relatively small number of products, particularly as a side business, using an established marketplace such as eBay, Amazon or Etsy might make considerably more sense than building your own online shop.
These platforms already have enormous audiences of potential customers, along with established payment systems and much of the infrastructure required to sell products online. You can start selling relatively quickly without worrying about website hosting, security updates or payment gateway integrations.
Of course, you’ll generally pay commission on your sales, and you won’t have the same level of control over your customers or branding. However, it’s worth remembering that operating your own ecommerce website isn’t free either, particularly when you account for development, maintenance and the cost of attracting visitors.
For a business selling hundreds of products and attempting to establish a recognisable brand, I’d probably recommend investing in its own website. For somebody selling a handful of handmade items every month, I’m not sure I’d bother.
Don’t Build a Website Just Because You Think You Should
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that some businesses seem to feel obligated to have a website, even when they haven’t really considered what they want it to achieve. They’ll spend hundreds or thousands of pounds having something built, populate it with a few generic pages and then leave it untouched for years, occasionally wondering why it doesn’t generate any enquiries.
In those circumstances, I’d question whether the money might have been better spent elsewhere. A website isn’t automatically going to attract customers simply because it exists, and getting meaningful traffic through SEO or paid advertising can require considerably more work than creating the website in the first place.
Personally, I think most established businesses would benefit from having their own website, even if it’s something relatively straightforward that provides information about their services and contact details. However, there’s a difference between something being beneficial and something being essential.
If you’re starting a business, I’d suggest concentrating on understanding your customers and establishing how you’re going to reach them before investing heavily in a website. You might discover that Google Business Profile, social media or an established marketplace is perfectly adequate for your immediate requirements.
You can always build a website later, once you’ve established that there’s a genuine need for one.
Ultimately, the question shouldn’t be whether every business needs a website, but whether having one will help your particular business achieve something worthwhile.
If the answer is no, I wouldn’t spend the money simply because somebody who builds websites tells you that you should.