Do you need a website if you already have Instagram or Facebook?
For most small businesses, yes. Social media is good at keeping existing followers interested, but a website is what helps new customers find you through Google and AI assistants, check you out properly and get in touch. The two do different jobs, and they work best together.
Plenty of businesses run perfectly well on Instagram for a while, especially cafés, salons, florists and makers with strong visuals. The question is not whether social media works. It is whether you want every new customer to depend on a platform you don't control, and whether you are missing the people who never see your posts in the first place.
What does a website do that social media can't?
A website answers questions on demand, for people who are actively looking. Social media mostly shows content to people who already follow you, or to whoever the platform decides to show it to that day.
Think about the difference in intent. Someone scrolling Instagram in the evening is being entertained. Someone typing "dog groomer Mount Lawley" or "emergency electrician near me" into Google wants to book something. A website is built to catch that second person.
Being found in search
When people search for a service in their area, Google mostly shows Google Business Profiles in the map results and websites in the regular results. Social profiles do sometimes appear, but your individual posts, captions and highlights are hard for a search engine to understand as "this business does this service in this suburb". A website with a page for each service and clear location details is much easier for search engines to read.
Being quoted by AI assistants
Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews draw on information they can read and trust across the web. A website with clear, factual pages about your services, area, hours and reviews gives them something solid to work from. Content locked behind a login or scattered across stories that disappear after a day is much harder to use. There is more on this in our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT and other AI assistants.
Answering the boring but important questions
Before someone books, they want to know your prices or how you quote, your hours, which suburbs you cover, whether you have parking, what to bring, how long a job takes and how to cancel. On social media that information ends up in a highlight, a pinned post or a DM conversation you have to repeat fifty times. On a website it sits in one place, ready whenever someone needs it.
Social media vs a website at a glance
| Job | Instagram or Facebook | Your website |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping regulars interested | Strong: new posts, stories, behind-the-scenes | Weaker: people don't visit daily |
| Being found by new customers searching Google | Limited and unpredictable | Strong, if each service and area has a clear page |
| Giving AI assistants clear facts about you | Hard to read, often behind logins | Strong, especially with structured data |
| Answering detailed questions | Scattered across posts, highlights and DMs | Organised into pages and FAQs |
| Ownership and control | The platform sets the rules and can change them | You own the domain and the content |
| Taking bookings and enquiries | Mostly via DMs | Forms, booking links, tap-to-call |
| Looking credible for bigger jobs | Fine for small purchases | Expected by many customers for larger spends |
What are the risks of relying only on social media?
The biggest risk is that you are building on someone else's land. You can do everything right and still lose access to your customers overnight.
- Accounts get hacked or locked. Small business accounts are regularly targeted by scams, and getting an account back can take a long time.
- Reach changes without warning. Platforms change what they show and to whom. Posts that used to reach your followers can quietly stop doing so.
- You don't own the audience. Your followers are on the platform, not on a list you control. If the platform fades or your account disappears, so does that connection.
- Some customers aren't on it. Plenty of people, including many who book bigger jobs like renovations, pools or landscaping, simply don't use Instagram much, or don't want to log in to see your work.
- DMs are hard to manage. Enquiries get lost between comments, messages and requests folders, especially when you are busy.
Does a website have to be big or complicated?
No. A small, well-built website can do everything most local businesses need. What matters is that it is clear, fast on mobile and kept accurate.
For many businesses, a handful of pages is plenty:
- Home: what you do, where, and how to get in touch, with real photos and a few reviews.
- Services: one page per main service, or a single page with clear sections if you only offer a few things.
- About: who is behind the business and why customers trust you.
- Contact or booking: phone, form, booking link, hours, service area or address and a map.
- Menu, price guide or FAQ: whatever answers the questions you get asked most often.
If you are not sure what belongs on yours, our practical website checklist covers the essentials in more detail.
How do you make Instagram and your website work together?
Let each one do what it is good at, and connect them. Social media brings people back and shows personality. The website closes the deal and gets found by strangers.
Use your social content on your website
The photos and short videos you already post are often the best visual content you have. Pick the strongest ones, especially photos of finished jobs, plates, cuts, colours or spaces, and use them on your website with a short caption saying what they show. Your own photos will do far more than stock images.
Point your social profiles to the right page
Your Instagram bio link and Facebook page should go to a useful page on your website, such as booking, the menu or a quote form, not just the homepage. If you run a link-in-bio page, make your website the first and most obvious link.
Link back from your website
Add links to your social profiles in the footer or contact page. Some people want to scroll your feed before they book, and that is fine. Just avoid embedding a live feed at the top of your homepage, as it can slow the page down and push your key information further down.
Keep details consistent everywhere
Your business name, phone number, address or service area and hours should match across your website, Instagram, Facebook and Google Business Profile. Consistent details help customers and make it easier for search engines and AI assistants to be confident they are looking at the same business.
Checklist: is social media enough for your business right now?
Social media alone might be enough for a while if most of these are true:
- Nearly all your customers already follow you or come through word of mouth
- You are fully booked and not looking for new customers
- Your products are low-cost, impulse purchases
- You are happy answering the same questions by DM every day
You probably need a website if any of these sound familiar:
- You want new customers who have never heard of you
- People ask the same questions about prices, hours or service areas over and over
- You offer bigger jobs where customers do research before choosing
- You would be in trouble if your account were hacked or suspended tomorrow
- Competitors with websites show up in Google when you don't
- You want a better chance of being mentioned when people ask an AI assistant for a recommendation
What about Google Business Profile?
If you only set up one free thing this week, make it a Google Business Profile. It is what puts you on Google Maps and in the local map results. It works best when it links to a website that backs up what the profile says, which we explain in Google Business Profile and your website: why you need both.
The simple way to think about it: social media is where people get to know you, Google Business Profile is where they find you nearby, and your website is where they decide and get in touch. Each one makes the others work harder.