Is a website more important than social media?
It's a question that's been debated many times. If clients are coming to you already via other means, is it necessary to invest time, money and energy into creating a website?
What if you already have a solid social media presence? Do you really need a website?
The short answer? YES!
Social media is an excellent tool for marketing what you do, building a community and supporting your growth. But these platforms are ever-changing entities you have no control over (see the recent uproar and panic about Instagram no longer being ‘just’ a photo-sharing app). If you're aiming to maintain a consistent, trustworthy online brand, having your very own website is an essential piece of your toolkit that shouldn't be ignored.
Read on for four reasons why having a professional website is important for the success of your business, even if you've got a solid social media presence.
You don’t own your social media accounts.
It's so easy to believe that our social media accounts will always be there as a means of connecting with our audiences. The reality though is that your account could disappear in the blink of an eye, especially when we least expect it.
If all of your eggs are in the social media basket, and you're relying solely on that to communicate with your audience, you could be doing your business a disservice as you don't own your account. The last thing we would want is for a devastating situation to happen that could derail all of your hard work building a business you love. For example, the possibility of yet another complete outage, or for your account to be deleted/hacked (which has happened one too many times to big AND small businesses 😬)!
Diversifying how and where your audience can gain access to you and your content can be beneficial and reduce any potential setbacks that are out of your control. Social media shouldn't be the be-all, end-all of your online presence. Instead, treat it as a supporting factor to your website - the online space that you actually own. It will do your business a world of good in the long term!
2. You can reach a wider audience via SEO and establish your online presence long-term.
Grid posts can have your attention for a few seconds, maybe minutes. Stories disappear after 24 hours. A large portion of your followers are probably not even being shown your content.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), on the other hand, can bring your business results for years. The results of optimising your website for search engines won't be immediate, but putting in the work now will mean reaping the rewards later.
Some of the key things to focus on for SEO include:
Ensure your headings are correctly tagged and used logically (h1, h2, h3). Aim for only ONE h1 tag per page, are search engines use this to determine what your pages are about.
Using your brand keywords in titles, paragraphs and image descriptions - avoiding keyword stuffing as much as possible.
Tell Google that your website exists by connecting it to Google Search Console and submitting a sitemap.
Setting up a Google My Business account.
Edit your page titles and page meta descriptions (if you’re on Squarespace, they have a good how-to guide about this).
Check your website speed using a tool like Pingdom or GTmetrix.
Optimise your images before uploading them! Check their file sizes and aim for 500kb or less. Compress them using a site like TinyPNG if they're bigger than 500kb.
Name your images correctly before you upload them too (e.g. holistic_website_design.jpg instead of IMG_4872.jpg)
3. A website can build long-term credibility and trust.
You have more control over how your business is represented on your own website, so why do so many companies neglect it? A social media account is easily set up by anyone. People buy from those they trust and seeing that you've spent the time to set yourself apart with a professional website can automatically help showcase you as a credible business.
Your online home can be the space for you to clearly explain your services, products, courses and processes in-depth, without the character limit. This will give potential clients a complete understanding of what to expect from you and consider if they want to work with you. You don't have to worry about them potentially missing the post you shared a week ago about your services. Instead, they can go directly to your website and find out about what you do easily and at their leisure.
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4. A website will help you streamline and save time.
Repetitive tasks that we don't realise are massive timesucks can all be streamlined via your website. It can answer the frequently asked questions you repeatedly get, avoiding the back-and-forth DMs. Your contact form and call scheduler can be automated, so people can easily inquire or book a discovery call with you. Questionnaires, downloadable freebies, sales pages, email marketing, etc can all be found in one singular place. Feels like a no-brainer, really!
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By investing time, energy and intention into your website, you’ll:
Be able to worry less about constant algorithm changes and new features you don’t have time or energy for.
Not have to deal with the competitive nature of getting your message out on social media constantly. (Over 25 million small and medium business owners and counting are on Instagram alone!)
Spend less time feeling overwhelmed about social media, as your website will be pulling a lot of weight for you, 24/7, 365 days a year.
Spend more time on the elements of your business that leave you feeling fulfilled, inspired and confident about your business.
See your website as a long-term investment, not an expense or luxury.
10k+ followers may look like an excellent vanity metric to aim for, but followers and likes don't pay the bills, my friend.
Having an online home for your business that YOU own is much more reliable and effective for your long-term business success than trying to do the same thing on social media, as you're not building a business on 'borrowed land'. So let's get you on the path to hitting your business goals without relying solely on platforms you can't control!
If you're ready to create an elevated website for your business, have a look at how we can work together.
