Do I Actually Need a Website, or Is Social Media Enough?

It’s a fair question. You’ve got an Instagram account, a Facebook page, maybe even a TikTok. You’re getting likes, comments, maybe even clients. So why would you spend money on a website?

The honest answer is — it depends. Not every business needs a website right now. But most do, and probably sooner than they think.

What’s the short version?

Social media is great for reaching people, but it won’t help you show up when someone searches for your type of business online. A website gives you a home base you actually control — your information, your branding, your way. And in 2026, with AI search tools like ChatGPT and voice assistants like Siri recommending businesses by name, not having a website means you’re invisible in the places people are increasingly looking first.

What does social media actually do well?

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Social media accounts are free to set up, and they can be brilliant at reaching your target audience. If you’re a personal trainer posting transformation videos or a baker showing off your latest cake, social media lets people see your work and connect with you.

But here’s what people don’t talk about enough — social media requires constant feeding. You’re posting to multiple channels, and the messaging needs to change depending on the platform. How you talk to your audience on Facebook is different to how you’d approach TikTok. If your business has a diverse customer base, that’s a lot of content to create and manage across different styles and formats.

It’s work. Ongoing, never-ending work.

So what can’t social media do?

Social media alone won’t help you show up when people search online. Whether that’s through Google, Apple Maps, Google Maps, or — and increasingly in AI models like ChatGPT.

Ask ChatGPT “what’s the best hairdresser in Inglewood?” and it’ll give you two or three recommendations. If you don’t have a website, you’re not in the running. Same goes for voice assistants like Alexa and Siri. These tools are pulling from the web, not from your Instagram stories.

Now, in all fairness, just having a website alone won’t guarantee you rank on those platforms either. But without one, you’re not even in the game.

What happens when customers need to find something fast?

Here’s a scenario I see all the time. A customer remembers seeing a price or a date or an important detail — but it was buried in a post from a week ago. They don’t want to scroll through stories and reels to find it. They might not even remember which platform it was on.

One of my clients was getting constantly texted and emailed the same questions from potential customers, even though they’d posted the answers in a series of social media posts about a year earlier. Not exactly easy to search for. And they didn’t have a website, so no wonder people were reaching out directly.

I suggested a single-page informational website with a FAQ section. Now, when someone reaches out with a question that’s already covered in the FAQs, the message is automagically replied to with a link. Questions not covered still come through so they can answer personally — but it’s reduced their need to reply to at least 50% of enquiries.

A website centralises everything. One place, that you control, always findable.

How does Google actually decide who shows up in search?

I like the analogy of a spider’s web. When you’re a brand new business, there’s no digital footprint yet. Compare that to a business that’s been building an online presence over the last 12 months. That business will have website pages, social media accounts, blog posts, listings in online directories, guest posts on other sites, Google reviews, maybe a YouTube channel — all forming a complex web of links pointing back to each other.

Google sees this and thinks “this is a trustworthy, credible business.” So it recommends that business when people search, which creates more visits and more links, and the web grows.

A new business needs to grow its web as quickly as it can — in as many different ways as possible. A website on its own will struggle to get Google’s attention, because established businesses have bigger webs. Google can only show one result in the top spot, one in second, and so on. It’s making split-second decisions based on which business seems highest quality, most useful to the searcher, and most trustworthy.

But dont panic — you don’t need a year’s worth of content on day one! Everyone started somewhere. Amazon today is not the Amazon that Jeff Bezos started in his garage. The point is to start building your web, and a website is the centre of it.

What if I’m feeling overwhelmed by all of this?

It can seem like a lot. And if you tried to tackle everything in a single day, it probably would be. But the good news is it can be broken down into tiny, manageable tasks that by themselves are actually really simple.

The “correct” first step is to do something — and most people already know what that something is, because they’ve been putting it off. Maybe it’s deciding on a domain name. Maybe they’ve already decided but haven’t bought it because they don’t know how, or because hitting “purchase” makes it feel too real.

So here’s what I’d actually suggest: ask yourself why you’ve been putting it off. Really, truly ask. Because if you can identify the barrier and put a label on it, you’re not actually stuck. You’re only stuck when you don’t know what the blocker is. Once you name it, you can work on it — whether that’s searching for answers, talking it over with a mentor, or asking someone like me.

For most people, it comes down to one of two things: not knowing how to do it, or fear — fear of failing, fear of putting yourself out there, fear of spending money on something that might not work. Both of those are solvable.

When is a website non-negotiable?

There are situations where social media alone just won’t cut it — no matter how good your content is.

If you want to show up in local Google searches, you need a website. That’s how local SEO works — Google needs somewhere to send people when they search “plumber near me” or “best coffee in Scarborough.”

If you’re selling products online, you need somewhere to take payments that you actually control. If you need to collect enquiries or bookings through a proper contact form, social media DMs aren’t going to scale.

And here’s one people don’t think about — if you’re running paid ads, sending that traffic to a Facebook page instead of a dedicated landing page is throwing money away. You’re paying for every click, and then dropping people into a feed full of distractions instead of a page built to convert.

Even if none of those apply, there’s the professionalism factor. When someone hears about your business, the first thing they do is look you up. If all they find is a social media page — unless it’s professionally managed — you’re already at a disadvantage compared to a competitor with a clean, simple website.

Is there anyone who genuinely doesn’t need a website?

Yes. If you’ve got a service-based business and you’re already at full capacity through social media, word of mouth, or referrals, then spending money on a website probably doesn’t make sense from a lead generation perspective. If the work’s already coming in, spend your time and money elsewhere.

But if you’re not at capacity, or if you want to grow, or if you’re tired of answering the same questions over and over — a website is where that starts.

So why wouldn’t you have a website?

In 2026, I think that’s the real question. For under a grand, you can have a custom-coded, professional website built and maintained by a developer — so you can focus on looking after your customers or planning your next move.

Social media is a tool. A great one. But it’s not a home base. A website is.