Yes, most businesses still need a website even with a busy Facebook page or Instagram. Social media is good at reach and conversation. It is rented ground: you do not control the rules, it rarely ranks when someone searches for your trade, and an account can be limited or closed without much warning. A website is the one place online that is actually yours.
That is not an argument against social. It is an argument against treating a page of posts as a shopfront. The two do different jobs. Social starts the interest. A site is where people decide.
What does Facebook or Instagram actually do well?
They earn their keep. I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Posts and reels put you in front of people who were not looking for you. A neighbour shares a kitchen photo. A local group asks for a plumber and three people tag you. That is real work, and it is why so many Sussex trades and independents live on Facebook.
A feed of genuine jobs is also proof. Reviews, comments and tagged photos show you exist and that people hire you. For a lot of first contact, that is enough to start a message.
Messaging is easy. Customers already have the app. They can send a photo of the leak and get a reply the same afternoon. You should keep that door open.
For a local business, social is often where the spark happens. Keep posting. The question is what happens when someone is ready to take you seriously, or when they never saw the post at all.
Where does social media fall short on its own?
The gaps appear the moment someone is choosing, not scrolling.
Search. When a person types “electrician in Hassocks” into Google, your Facebook page is usually not what they get. Websites and Google Business Profiles occupy that space. Social posts are built to be seen inside the app, not to answer a search. If you only exist on Facebook, you miss the people who never opened it.
Control. You are a tenant. Reach gets throttled. Pages get unpublished after a false report. Features move. Advertising rules change. None of that is in your hands, and there is no appeals process that feels like a contract.
Trust on a bigger job. Plenty of customers still want a proper website before they ask for a quote on a rewire, an extension or a wedding cake. No site can read as “not quite established yet”, even if your feed is full. Unfair, perhaps. Still true.
Doing business. A page can state your services, your area, a few prices and a phone number without making someone scroll past three reels and a birthday memory. A contact form or a tap-to-call button on a fast page is a clearer next step than “DM us”.
Social is where people discover you. A website is where they check you and get in touch. Relying on the first and skipping the second leaves searches and cautious customers on the table.
Why does a website still matter if customers message you on Facebook?
Because the people who already know you are not the whole market.
The customer who messages you saw a post, or was tagged, or already had your name. The customer who Googles the job has a problem today and no favourite firm. Those two people do not travel the same path. A Facebook-only business is visible to the first and invisible to the second.
A website also gives you an address you can print. Vans, invoices, Google listings and quotes look finished with a .co.uk on them. “Find us on Facebook” works until someone is not on Facebook, or cannot find the right page among similarly named ones.
There is a quieter point about ownership. If Meta limits the page on a Friday afternoon, you still have a URL, an email address and a phone number that work. If the page is the only public record of your services and prices, you are stuck until support replies.
For trades, the fuller version of this argument is in whether tradespeople need a website. The short version is the same: referrals and Facebook still work. They do not catch everyone who searches.
What if almost all of your work already comes from Facebook?
Then a website is less urgent, and it is honest to say so. If you are booked from a local group and word of mouth, and you have never lost a job because someone could not find you, you can wait.
Even then, a single page is cheap insurance. It catches the searches social misses. It gives the cautious customer something to open after a recommendation. It survives a locked account. You do not need a brochure with ten thin pages. One fast page that says what you do, where you work and how to call you is enough.
If the phone is already ringing and you are turning work away, spend the money on the van or the apprentice. If you want the next enquiry you are not getting, add a site that works with the page you already have. Younger customers and people new to the area often start on Google, not in the group you already know.
What is the smallest website that works alongside social media?
Keep it lean. For most local businesses one page covers it.
Say what you do in a sentence, not a slogan. Name the towns you cover. Show a few real jobs or reviews. Put the phone number where a thumb can hit it. Load in a couple of seconds on a phone on mobile data.
That is the handover: Instagram bio or Facebook button to a page that does not make people think. Then they call, or they go back to messaging you on the app with more confidence.
You can still post every week. The site does not replace the feed. It gives the feed somewhere honest to point. Our web design work is built around that: one professional page, domain and hosting included, live in about five working days. The detail sits on the pricing page.
Link the two properly. Same business name, same phone number, same town. Put the website in the Facebook about section and the Instagram bio. Put the social links in the site footer if you want, but do not make social the only way to make contact.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Facebook page basically a free website?
It is a free presence, not a website. It will not reliably show up when someone searches for your service, you do not control it, and it is not designed to turn a searcher into a phone call the way a clear page is.
Can I just put a phone number in my Instagram bio?
You can, and it is better than nothing. You still miss search visibility, a place that is yours, and the extra trust a proper address gives on a larger job.
Will a website replace my Facebook page?
No. Keep the page. Use it for photos, messages and local groups. Use the site for search, clarity and a stable address. The pair is stronger than either one.
What if I am no good at posting?
Post when you have a job worth showing. A quiet feed plus a clear website still beats a quiet feed and no site. You do not need to become a content person to justify the page.
Do I need both Facebook and Instagram as well as a site?
Only if you will actually use them. One social account you answer is better than two you ignore. The website is the piece you own. Add the apps your customers already use.
How small can the website be?
One page is enough for most local firms: what you do, where, some proof, and an easy way to get in touch. Add more pages later if you have more to say.
If you want a simple site that works with your social rather than trying to replace it, that is the job. Get in touch and I will tell you honestly whether you need one yet.