Website vs. Social Media: Does Your Business Still Need a Website?
Can your social media account replace your website?
With thousands of entrepreneurs starting new business accounts on social media, there is no doubt that platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok have become essential to small business marketing and growth.
So the new questions we need to be asking are:
How important are websites for small businesses anyway?
Will websites become obsolete?
Will social media replace websites?
These are such important marketing questions to consider this year, especially as social media accounts continue to grow in popularity.
Social media is an excellent marketing tool.
It helps you reach new audiences, builds a community around your brand, grows relationships, and shares valuable content.
And social media is fun and even addictive. It’s easy to get caught up in your likes and follows and engaging with your audience. Social media accounts provide a platform where your business is seen and heard and you can grow a successful brand for your online business.
But is a social media account all that your business needs, or is there value in a website that your social media accounts cannot provide?
The general consensus seems to be that websites aren’t going anywhere.
While social media accounts are certainly powerful tools for your small business, there is value in a website that social media just can’t provide.
In this post, we are going to discuss some of the most important reasons why your business still needs a website and how websites will set you up to build a successful online platform.
Keep reading to learn why you still need a website today.
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1 | You don’t own your social media, but you do own your website.
Think about how much time you’re investing in a platform that doesn’t actually belong to you. Your Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok accounts are owned by someone else.
This means that your social media accounts could be shut down, blocked, or censored at any time, and as a small business owner, there is nothing you can do about it.
When Instagram and Facebook crash for a day (and let’s be honest, it happens more than we’d like!), it can feel like your whole business is crashing too - unless you have alternative methods of marketing your business…. like a website!
This is why it is so important to have a good website for your business. When you launch a new website, you own that online platform.
This means you’ll never lose your website content, never worry about it being shut down or blocked, and you can share whatever you like here.
2 | Your ideal clients can find you via search engines.
Both websites and social media are powerful marketing tools. However, one of the reasons a website is considered your strongest marketing tool is because it allows you to utilize the power of SEO.
Instagram and Facebook are great avenues to share content with new audiences who otherwise may not find you, but they are still limited to an audience who is only engaged on that social platform. This puts a limit on your reach compared to search platforms like Google.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process in which you optimize your website so it can easily be found by your ideal clients through search engines and organic search results. This allows your business be found by potential clients who would otherwise not know you existed. This is especially useful for online businesses or businesses that don’t have a physical location or a lot of foot traffic.
What business owners love about SEO is that this is something you can grow and consistently improve upon using straight forward strategies that don’t depend on an ever-changing algoritm (cough cough Instagram). There are so many ways to improve your site’s search engine optimization allowing you to boost your website’s ranking on Google and other search engines.
3 | A website utilizes a sales funnel to improve your lead to sales conversion.
While social media can provide some great content including gorgeous images and thoughtful captions about your business and services- this is really only the first step of your sales funnel.
Think about it. When you first land on an Instagram feed that inspires interest in a brand, your next thought is usually wanting to learn more about this business and what services they provide. And usually, when you want to get serious and learn more about a business, you go to their website.
This means that Instagram and Facebook are great avenues to attract potential clients and draw in your audience, but your website is really where you’re going to close your sale.
So without a website, what’s the next step? DM you for info? Sure. But your process will be so much more streamlined and professional if your ideal client’s next step is to head to your website to get all of the details about your offer. You’ll thank yourself later for all the time you’ll save!
This is another reason why websites are vital for small businesses. They provide a professional and streamlined platform that potential clients can come to for more information about you and your services. This is where the continue to engage in your sales funnel.
This sales funnel will strategically lead your clients through the pages of your website that they need to see in order to make a sale. Ultimately, your website provides a place where these clients can get in touch with you or purchase from you- via a contact form, scheduling an appointment, or purchasing a product from you.
While social media is great for capturing leads, it just don’t have a system where you can create a customized sales funnel to close sales like website can.
4 | Websites position you as a professional and separate you from the side-hustlers and hobbyists.
While social media accounts are great marketing tools, they simply don’t cut it when it comes to positioning yourself as a professional.
Sure, your Instagram feed can be beautifully curated and have informative captions that provide great value, but how is someone supposed to quickly search your office hours or learn about your process?
When someone asks for more information about your business, referring them to your Instagram profile doesn’t give them the info they want to know about your services, credentials, pricing, packages, or even how to get in touch with you.
A website is a professional online platform that takes your business a step (or two) above the hobbyists in your industry. It provides information about your business and services in an organized fashion that is easy for potential clients to navigate. It also provides a way for these clients to easily book with you.
A website evokes feelings of trustworthiness and stability. This is because websites are an investment in both your time and money. This shows that you’re serious about what you do and you’re not going anywhere soon. Clients can rely on you for these reasons.
On the other hand, a social media account is free and can be started or stopped at any time. This could be seen as a lack of commitment.
Next Steps
Now that we know why a website is essential to have in your business (even if you are killing your Instagram game), let’s talk about how to launch your new business website.
Launching a website can sound overwhelming and a little scary, but when you consider the two different ways that you can launch a website, this becomes much easier. Here they are:
Purchase a website template
Purchasing a web design template is a excellent, low-cost DIY way to launch a website. This is perfect for newer business owners (or entrepreneurs who prefer to have creative control) who are ready to launch a professional site quickly but don’t want to DIY the whole thing from scratch.
Purchasing a website template is where a professional designer creates a template website and you customize it with your own copy (words), colors, fonts and images. It’s fill in the blank style and so fun and easy!
Hire a web designer
This is the best option if you’re a bit more established in your business and are ready to launch a beautiful and strategically designed website that will position yourself as a professional, market your business to your dream clients, and help you reach your small business goals so you can set yourself up for online success.
Hiring a designer means they will create your website for you. Typically you’ll meet on a strategy call and your designer will help you map out your website, create the design, and develop it in your desired platform so you have a beautiful polished launch-ready website at the end of your time together.
Explore Glo 1:1 Web Design Services →
If you liked this post, you may also like:
→ 3 Signs You've Outgrown Your DIY Website
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Hey I'm Jamie
-web designer, brand strategist, and former certified health coach turned creative studio founder. I specialize in building strategic, elevated Squarespace websites for wellness professionals who are ready to grow their business with more clarity, confidence, and ease.
After designing over 90 websites and supporting dozens of service-based entrepreneurs, I’ve seen firsthand how intentional design and smart strategy can completely shift the way you show up, and how you sell. This blog is where I share the real stuff: design tips, marketing strategies, and behind-the-scenes insights to help you build a brand that actually works for you.
Disclaimer: My policy is to only share products and resources that have brought value to me and/or I believe will bring value to my audience. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you make a purchase using them.
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