Is a social media page enough for your business?

As a small business owner, you’re probably strapped for time between being your own salesman, accountant, and office manager – so when it comes to marketing your business, it makes sense that you would want to be as efficient as possible. Building a website is not only time-consuming, but it comes with additional costs like buying a domain and paying for web hosting. In this article we’ll cover whether you need one, or both channels, to market your business.

Facebook usually isn’t enough

The appeal to social media accounts like Facebook and Instagram is that they’re FREE to make and usually take very little setup time. This, in combination with extremely targeted and inexpensive advertising fees, it makes sense as to why most businesses rely solely on social media in order to promote their business.

If you’re looking to GROW your business, then channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok usually aren’t enough to get you the reach that you want. While these channels are really great at promoting in-the-now activities (like a customer success story), Google still is king when it comes to searching for services online – with 46% of Google searches being just for finding local businesses. Furthermore, “Near Me” searches have increased by 500% in the last few years – making the need for a website that Google can index even more critical for your business. So rather than relying solely on social media, use these channels to provide support to your website.

Websites provide more information and increase consumer trust than social media alone

We already mentioned Google indexing, which is the algorithm Google’s software uses to quality-check websites and assess consumer demands (searches). By having a website, not only can you include more keywords into your site to increase the amount of traffic you get, but it also enables you to link your website to your Google Business account – which will help you rank higher in those “Near Me” searches.

Did you know that 79% of consumers say that they require trust in order to do business with a brand? By having a legitimate website, you’re already increasing a customer’s trust with your brand (remember – anyone can make a Facebook account for free, and in seconds. This is why phishing and hacking are so common in this space). While consumers certainly can be bamboozled by illegitimate websites, by having built a website with links to active social accounts, you’re confirming your legitimacy with your market.

How to build a website you’ll love

1. Pick a platform

You don’t have to be a software engineer or know how to code to build a website anymore. There are plenty of online web hosting sites that provide turn-key website solutions for new business owners. Some of our favorites are Wix, GoDaddy, and Squarespace. Signing up to build a website on these platforms is quick, free, and incredibly easy.

Once you’ve signed up on your chosen platform, you can get started by picking pre-made templates based on your business’s needs – like whether you need online store capabilities, a scheduling tool, or just want to host a blog.

2. Fill your website with the critical content first

Things like who you are, the value you bring (products & services), and contact information are the very first things you should put onto your website before you go live. Once you have this basic information, you can go ahead and publish your site, even with the intent of adding more features later (fun fact: we didn’t add a blog until a month after we built our website!).

3. Pick your website name

After you’ve built your website, your web host will prompt you to ‘publish’ your site – making it live and searchable on the web. This includes both picking out what comes after the www. (the main domain), and what comes after your business’s name (the top level domain, or TLD).

When it comes to picking your main domain, short, memorable, and easy-to-spell is always best. If you’re a plumber, ‘Mikesplumbing’ or ‘LAplumbers’ are great choices, whereas ‘technicalplumbersoflosangeles’ is very long, and could prompt a misspell, sending your customer to another site.

As for your TLD, remember you don’t always have to use .com. Currently, there are about 145 MILLION sites using a .com domain, making your choices limited. If you’re a global startup, try .co or .biz; or, if you want to tell people exactly where you’re located, try a geo-targeted domain like .NYC or .miami. There’s literally hundreds of options other than .com, so make sure you try out multiple options until you find the URL that fits your business best.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the logistics of it all – don’t worry, you’re not alone. That’s why people like me exist: we are experts in designing websites and filling them with clear, researched copy that is guaranteed not to only get you correctly indexed, but to bring more organic traffic to your site. Not sure what marketing your business needs? Give me a call and we can talk about your goals and how we can make your business Achanted.