Do I Need a Website if I Have Facebook and Instagram?

It's a fair question. You've got an Instagram page with 2,000 followers. Your Facebook page has your hours, menu, and contact details. You're getting bookings through DMs. Customers can find you on Google Maps. Why would you spend money on a website?

For some businesses, social media genuinely is enough — at least for now. For others, relying on social media alone is a risk that's slowly costing them customers and revenue. The difference comes down to how customers find and evaluate your business.

Here's an honest breakdown.

What social media does well

Let's give social media its due. For small businesses, platforms like Instagram and Facebook provide:

Free visibility. You can post photos, updates, and promotions without paying for hosting or a domain. The barrier to entry is zero.

Built-in audience. People are already scrolling. If your content is good, they'll find you — especially through hashtags, location tags, and shares.

Social proof. Reviews, comments, likes, and shares signal to potential customers that real people use and enjoy your business.

Direct communication. DMs and Messenger let customers ask questions and make bookings without picking up the phone.

Visual storytelling. For businesses where the visual is the product — hair salons, cafes, florists, photographers — Instagram is a natural fit.

For a new business testing the waters or a sole trader with a small local customer base, social media can be a perfectly adequate online presence.

What social media doesn't do

You don't own your audience

This is the fundamental risk of building your entire online presence on someone else's platform.

Facebook and Instagram can (and do) change their algorithms, reduce organic reach, or modify their business policies at any time. In 2024, Facebook's average organic reach for business pages was about 5% — meaning if you have 1,000 followers, roughly 50 of them see your posts without paid promotion.

You've spent years building a following, but you don't own the list. If the platform changes, your account gets hacked, or your page gets flagged by an automated system, you could lose your entire online presence overnight.

A website is yours. Your domain, your content, your customer relationships. No algorithm can take it away.

You're invisible to search

When someone in your area searches for "electrician near me" or "bakery Hawthorn" on Google, websites appear in the search results. Social media pages occasionally appear, but they rank far below proper websites — especially for local service searches.

97% of people search online before visiting or contacting a local business. If you don't have a website, you're invisible to the majority of people looking for exactly what you offer. They'll find your competitor who does have a website instead.

Google Business Profile helps, but it's not a substitute for a website. A Google Business listing with a website link ranks higher than one without.

You can't control the experience

On social media, your business sits alongside ads, competitor content, friend updates, and viral videos. The customer's attention is fragmented. They might see your post, get distracted by a notification, and forget about you entirely.

A website gives you a controlled environment where the customer's attention is focused entirely on your business. You control the layout, the messaging, the calls to action, and the conversion path.

You can't sell or convert effectively

Social media is great for awareness. It's poor for conversion.

Try getting a customer to fill out a contact form, request a quote, book a service, or browse your full product catalogue on Instagram. The platform isn't designed for it. You're limited to link-in-bio tools, DM conversations, and external links that take people away from the platform (which the algorithm penalises).

A website lets you build dedicated landing pages, contact forms, booking systems, online stores, and service catalogues — all designed to convert a visitor into a customer.

You look less professional

Fair or not, many customers judge a business's professionalism by whether it has a website. A business with only a Facebook page can appear small, informal, or temporary — especially for services where trust matters (trades, health, legal, financial).

A professional website signals permanence, investment, and legitimacy. For businesses where the average transaction value is high — a builder, a dentist, a wedding photographer — this perception directly affects whether a customer chooses you or a competitor.

When social media alone is enough

Be honest about whether these apply to your business:

• You're testing a new business idea and aren't sure you'll continue past 6 months
• Your customers come exclusively through word-of-mouth and you're not trying to grow
• Your business is a hobby or side project and you're not trying to maximise revenue
• You're a creator or influencer where the platform itself is the product
• You have more customers than you can serve and don't need to attract new ones

If any of these describe your situation, a website may not be worth the investment right now.

When you need a website

You likely need a website if:

• Customers search for your type of business online (which is almost all local services)
• You're competing with businesses that have websites (which is almost everyone)
• Trust matters for your service (trades, health, professional services)
• You want to rank on Google for local searches
• You need to collect enquiries, bookings, or payments online
• You want to grow beyond your current customer base
• You're spending money on Instagram/Facebook ads — and sending people to a social page instead of a landing page designed to convert

For most established small businesses, the answer is: you need both. Social media for awareness and community. A website for search, credibility, and conversion.

The real cost of not having a website

The cost isn't just the customers you lose — it's the customers you never know about.

If someone searches "plumber Brunswick" and you don't have a website, they find your competitor instead. You never see that search. You never know you lost that customer. There's no notification, no missed call, no DM. The customer simply went elsewhere.

Over a year, how many potential customers are searching for your type of business in your area? Even if you only captured 5-10% of those searches, what would that be worth?

For a local service business charging $200-500 per job, even 2-3 additional customers per month from search traffic would generate $5,000-15,000 in annual revenue. That's the invisible cost of not having a website.

"But websites are expensive"

This used to be true. A decade ago, getting a professional website meant paying $3,000-10,000 upfront to a web designer and then figuring out hosting, security, and maintenance yourself.

Today, there are multiple options at every price point:

DIY website builders ($15-40/month): Squarespace, Wix, and similar platforms let you build a basic website yourself. The trade-off is your time — expect to spend 20-40 hours if you've never done it before.

Managed website services ($49-149/month): Services like Domato handle everything — custom design, hosting, SSL, domain, email, and ongoing support. You get a professional website without the time investment.

Freelance web designers ($1,000-5,000 once-off): A one-time investment that gives you a custom site. But you'll need to handle hosting and maintenance separately, or pay ongoing fees.

The question isn't whether you can afford a website. It's whether you can afford to be invisible to 97% of potential customers who search online before choosing a business.

The best approach: website + social media

Social media and a website aren't either/or. They serve different purposes in the customer journey:

Social media → Awareness and community. This is where people discover you, see your work, read reviews, and follow your story. It builds trust over time through consistent, authentic content.

Website → Search, credibility, and conversion. This is where people land when they search for your service, evaluate your professionalism, and take action (enquire, book, buy).

The flow: A potential customer sees your Instagram post → visits your profile → clicks the link to your website → reads about your services → fills out a contact form → becomes a paying customer.

Without the website, that flow breaks at step 3. They see your Instagram, think "looks good," then search for "electrician near me" and find a competitor who has a website.

Getting started

If you don't have a website yet and you've been relying on social media:

1. Start with one page. You don't need a 10-page website. A single page with your business name, what you do, photos of your work, your contact details, and a clear call to action is enough to start.

2. Get your Google Business Profile set up and link it to your website. This is the single most impactful thing you can do for local search visibility.

3. Keep your social media going. A website doesn't replace social media — it complements it. Link to your website from your Instagram bio, Facebook page, and Google Business listing.

4. Don't overthink it. A simple, professional website that exists is infinitely better than a perfect website that you never get around to building.

At Domato, we build and manage professional websites for small businesses starting at $49/month. Custom design, hosting, domain, SSL, email, and ongoing support — all included, no lock-in.

See our website plans → — or just reply to this with questions.