Why do you need a website?

Can I use social media instead of a website?

In all fairness, you can. There’s nothing stopping you. Social media is free (unless you do paid ads), so only using your socials might be tempting, especially if you’re on a somewhat strict budget. But there are quite a few differences between your socials and a website.

First of all, your socials are tied to the overall colours and layout of the platform itself. Even though you can implement your branding into your visuals, you will be restricted in what you can do to build brand awareness. A website offers greater creative freedom, allowing you to customise the structure, navigation, colours, fonts, and text lengths to best represent your brand.

Depending on your services and/or products, a website will also offer more variety. If you have a bigger product catalogue, you will need a web shop to showcase – and most importantly: sell – your products. If you have lengthy and/or complex applications, or several types of applications, your socials will likely be too limited for your needs.

Thirdly, a website builds more trust and credibility than your socials. Websites typically involve more effort and financial investment, which often leads people to perceive your business as more trustworthy when they can find you on the web. Even though I often turn to a company’s socials for research, their website is generally the first thing I look for when I Google them. No website? I automatically trust them less.

In contrast to social media, websites allow for the implementation of SEO strategies, increasing your chances of appearing in search engine results if your website is built on quality content.

That being said, I’m a big believer in having both a website and a social media presence.

Pros of websites

There are many benefits of having a website in addition to those described above. You will see many of these are true for social media as well:

• Enhanced online presence: As an available digital storefront 24/7, your customers can make enquiries, and learn about (or even buy) your products, services, and brand at any time. You could essentially be making sales and leads while sleeping.
• Convenient for your customers: Just like you don’t even need to be awake, your website makes life easier for your customers. With all relevant information in one place, they can browse your services and/or products, read testimonials and research you from the comfort of their own homes whenever best suits them.
• Increased visibility: Just like social media, your website will be accessible to users across the globe, expanding your overall reach.
• Showcase products and/or services: Present your offerings from their best angle. Using high-quality imagery, engaging descriptions and informative content will help you showcase your business in an engaging way. With an integrated web shop, you will have everything in one location, allowing them to browse your catalogue and make purchases. And let’s face it: if you are selling products, you will need a platform to sell those products anyway
• Build trust and credibility: This point, I feel, is the one that truly differentiates websites and social media. As mentioned, a professional website will make you seem more reputable and trustworthy than if you’re only posting on social media. It shows your investment in your business.
• Brand expansion and recognition: A website can expand your brand’s reach and enhance brand recognition. You can share your brand story, values, and unique selling propositions, establishing a distinct identity in the market.
• Data collection and analysis: Gather data about your audience’s behaviour, preferences, and interactions. With analysis tools, you can track website performance, measure key metrics such as how long people stay on a page and which pages they visit, helping you make data-driven decisions to improve your strategies. You can even install anonymous recording tools and heatmaps, giving you valuable information about what content they spend most time reading or clicking, what they ignore, and how far down on a page they scroll.

Considerations when building a website

While a website offers numerous advantages, it’s important to consider the potential drawbacks as well. Here are some considerations to keep in mind:

• Initial cost and maintenance: Building a website and ensuring it is functional requires a financial investment. Domain registration, web hosting, web development, and ongoing maintenance all add up to your website build costs.
• Learning curve and technical expertise: Creating and managing a website may require technical knowledge or hiring a professional. If you lack experience or don’t have the resources to hire web development experts, it may be challenging setting up and maintaining your website effectively.
• Time and effort: From planning to content creation, design, development and maintenance, there are quite a few steps involved in building a website. No matter how you choose to build your website, it will require involvement from your side, whether that is for the full process or content creation and approvals – and it won’t be up and running in one day.
• Competition and online noise: The online landscape is crowded, and it can be challenging to stand out among competitors. Having a website doesn’t guarantee immediate visibility or success, so it’s essential to have a strategy to drive traffic and effectively engage with your users.

Does every business need a website?

Depending on the type of business, your customers might expect you have a website, or to only find you on – or care about – your social media. I would say, for any company selling a service or products, a website will be beneficial. For influencers, the necessity of a website depends on your specific work. However, bloggers will benefit significantly from having one.

Although I wouldn’t live by this fully, I would also mention that if your customers are gen-Z, your socials might be more important than a website. But again, this really depends on the type of business you are running and how you make sales and leads.

So do I need a website?

While not every business requires a website, the benefits of having one are substantial. When deciding if a website is necessary, evaluate your goals, target audience, available resources, and your competitors. If other businesses in your industry have websites, consider following suit. If they don’t, maybe it’s because they don’t work for your business type – or maybe building one could give you leverage and make you stand out from the competition.

Are you ready to see if Healthy Pixels could be your first step in developing a website? Get in touch for a no-obligation chat to discuss your project needs and see if a website is truly the right marketing strategy for you.

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