If you already have an active Facebook, Instagram or TikTok account, you do not always need a website straight away. Social media can carry a new or very small business for a while, especially one that runs on referrals. But if you want to be found on Google, look credible to people who do not know you yet and stop depending on a platform you do not control, you need a website of your own, even a simple one.
Can a business get by on social media alone?
Yes, some can, at some stages. Social-only tends to work when:
- You are testing an idea or running a side business.
- Most of your work comes from referrals and repeat customers who message you directly.
- What you sell is visual and your buyers already use the platform, such as a cake maker or a nail technician.
- You are fully booked and not looking for more work.
If that describes you, waiting is a reasonable choice. The problem is not social media itself. It is relying entirely on one channel that someone else owns.
You rent social media, but you own a website
When you build a following on a social platform, you are building on someone else's property. The platform sets the rules, decides who sees your posts and can close your account.
Suspensions happen. Meta's terms of service, in effect from 1 January 2025, say Meta may suspend or permanently disable access where it determines, "in our discretion", that someone has clearly, seriously or repeatedly breached its terms or policies. The same terms allow it to disable an account if it detects that someone else may have used it and it cannot confirm you own it, which is a real risk after a hack. Meta says it will usually explain any options to ask for a review, but while your account is out of action, so is everything you built on it.
Reach changes. Even without a suspension, how many people see your posts is not up to you. Meta's own explanation of how it ranks content says its prediction models and the signals they use change frequently. A type of post that did well last year may reach fewer people this year, with nothing changed on your side.
A website is yours. Your domain can be registered in your name, and the hosting account can be yours too. You do need to keep both renewed, but nothing about your site changes because a social platform changed its rules.
Can people find you on Google without a website?
Partly. Google's guidelines for Business Profiles ask for a phone number or a website for your business, so a profile without a website is allowed, and it can still appear in local results on Google Maps and Search. Almost every local business should have a profile, and our Google Business Profile setup guide walks through it. But a profile does more with a website behind it.
At the time of writing (September 2026), Google's help page on editing your Business Profile includes a field for your website and lets you add one social media link per platform. It also notes that some business categories may be able to add links for online orders, reservations or appointments. If the website field is empty, that space is doing nothing for you.
Google also says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and how well known a business is, and that the last of those draws on information such as how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have. A website gives local directories, suppliers, trade bodies and newspapers a stable address to link to.
Then there is everything outside the map. Google's SEO Starter Guide advises you to think about the words someone might search for to find your content. A website lets you give each service and area you cover its own page built around those words. A feed of recent posts is not organised that way. There is more on this in how to get your business found on Google.
Will customers trust you more with a website?
Think about what you do before paying a business you have not used. You search the name, look for an address or company details, read reviews and form a quick view of whether it is a proper, established business. The bigger the job, such as a new kitchen or a course of treatment, the more carefully you are likely to check.
A website answers those questions in one place: who you are, where you work, what you do and do not do, how you price, your company details and how to get in touch. On a social profile, the same information tends to be scattered through months of posts, and not every buyer uses the platform you picked.
To be fair, a website only helps if it is a decent one. A slow, out-of-date or broken site can put people off, so it is worth knowing the signs your website is costing you customers.
What about enquiries and bookings?
Direct messages work well at low volume. As you get busier, they get harder to manage: conversations spread across apps, you go back and forth asking for a postcode or a date, and a message read on a job is easily forgotten.
A website lets you:
- Ask for the right details up front with a short enquiry form, so the first message already has what you need to quote.
- Take bookings out of hours by linking to or embedding an online booking tool.
- Answer the repeat questions, such as prices, areas covered, parking and lead times, before anyone has to ask.
- See what people search for. The Performance report in Google Search Console shows which queries bring people to your site from Google Search, which helps you decide what to add next.
How do social media and a website work together?
You do not have to choose. The two do different jobs.
Social media keeps you in front of people who already know you, shows your recent work and personality, and can reach new people through shares or paid ads.
Your website is the permanent reference point: the place Google can send people, the place cautious buyers check, and the place enquiries and bookings land.
In practice, that means putting your website link in every profile bio, sending people from posts to the relevant page on your site, linking to your social profiles from your website and your Business Profile, and making sure your business name, address and phone number are written the same way everywhere.
Do you need a website now? A quick checklist
You can probably wait if:
- You are testing an idea and have not committed to it yet.
- Almost all your work comes from referrals and repeat customers.
- You are booked up for months and do not want more enquiries.
- You would cope if your main social account disappeared for a few weeks.
You need one now if:
- People search Google for what you do in your area, and you do not appear.
- Your customers tend to compare a few businesses before choosing.
- Your Google Business Profile has nothing in the website field.
- You are paying for ads, or about to, and need somewhere better than a profile to send people.
- Losing your main social account tomorrow would stop your enquiries.
- You regularly chase customers for details by message before you can quote or book.
If several items in the second list sound familiar, a website is worth sorting soon.
A low-cost way to own your presence
If you have decided you need a website but not a large one, a single, well-organised page is enough for many small businesses to start with. One option is our £99.99 one-page website: a one-page site with up to 7 sections and one round of revisions, paid for as a one-off. You buy your domain and hosting directly from the providers, so both are in your name, and we set them up for you. The 48 hours starts when we receive your completed brief. Keep posting on social media as before, and give it a home of your own to point to.