When you’ve got enquiries are coming in through Instagram and word of mouth, it can be easy to put a website at the bottom of the list. But there are a lot of reasons why a website will always be one of your biggest website assets.
Instagram isn’t a substitute for a website
Instagram is a powerful tool for building visibility and showing the personality behind your brand, but it was never designed to do what a website does.
The most important thing to understand is that you don’t own your Instagram account. The platform can change its algorithm, introduce new rules, your account could be restricted, hacked or suspended without warning. When your entire business presence lives on a social media platform, you’re building on rented land.
Whereas your website is yours. You control every word, every page and every image. It isn’t at the mercy of an algorithm, and it doesn’t disappear from people’s feeds because they haven’t engaged with your content recently.
I’ve written a full blog on about websites vs Instagram and highlighted the key points to consider.
People are searching for you right now
Even if most of your clients come through referrals, there are always people searching for someone like you on Google right now. Over 81% of consumers research a business online before making a purchase. And that applies to service-based businesses just as much as product-based ones.
Someone might hear about you from a friend or come across your name in a networking group and the first thing they’ll do is search for you online. If there’s nothing to find, or what they find doesn’t reflect the quality of your work, a significant number of them will move on to someone else.
27% of small businesses still don’t have a website. Which means if you have one that’s well-designed and clearly structured, you’re already more visible than more than 1 in 4 of your competitors.
A website builds credibility that social media can’t
A professional website signals that you take your business seriously. It shows potential clients that you’ve invested in your brand and that you can be trusted with their money. Nearly 84% of small businesses with a website said it played a significant role in their success. A well-designed website isn’t just a digital address, it’s your most powerful sales tool.
SEO: the marketing that works while you sleep
This is where a website does something Instagram fundamentally can’t. Through search engine optimisation, your website can appear in Google search results for the exact terms your ideal clients are searching for. Someone looking for an aesthetics clinic in Birmingham or a wedding photographer in Surrey will find businesses with well-optimised websites, not Instagram profiles.
SEO is slow to build but once it’s working, it brings a consistent stream of potential clients to your website for free. If you’re new to SEO and want to understand how it works for your business, take a loook at my beginner’s guide to SEO.
The best time to build your website is before you need it
When things are going well, a website rarely feels urgent. That’s exactly when you should be building one. But a website takes time to build traction, and the sooner it exists the sooner it starts working.
The businesses that feel the absence of a website most acutely are the ones who rely entirely on social Media. Until their reach dropped overnight, or a competitor started showing up in searches they didn’t know existed.
If you’re not ready to invest in a bespoke website right now, a professionally designed template is a great starting point. Browse my collection of Showit website templates, built for service-based businesses across the beauty, aesthetics, wellness and wedding industries.
If you have any questions about my template,s or if you’re ready to invest in a bespoke website then you can enquire with me here.
