"I already have Instagram, that's enough for me." "My customers have known me for years, I don't need a website." "For what it costs to maintain, I'd rather invest in something else."
Does any of this sound familiar? It's one of the questions SMEs and freelancers ask us most: if my business already works, do I really need a website? The short answer is it depends. The long answer is worth a couple of minutes.
The first thing a new customer does is search for you
Before calling you, before stopping by your shop, most people do the same thing: they search for you on Google. They want to see who you are, what you offer, whether you have good reviews, and whether you seem trustworthy. If you don't show up in that search, or only a half-updated social media profile shows up, that person is already forming an idea of your business. And it isn't always the idea you'd like. That is why it is also worth looking after your Google Maps listing: it is often one of the first things many customers see when they search for you.
Instagram is not your website, even if it looks like it
Social media is a great tool for showing your day-to-day and connecting with your community, but it isn't yours: you depend on an algorithm that decides who sees your posts, a platform that can change its rules overnight, and a profile that doesn't always convey the information a customer needs to make a decision. A website is yours: you control what it says, how it says it, and when you update it.
How much is not having a website costing you?
It's an uncomfortable question, but it's worth asking. Every customer who searches for you and can't find you, every person who compares your business with a competitor's and only sees results for the other one, every opportunity to sell outside your opening hours: all of that has a cost, even if it never shows up on an invoice.
You don't need a huge website to get started
This is where many businesses get stuck: they think a website has to be a big, expensive, complicated project. It doesn't. It can start out simple, clear, with just the essentials: who you are, what you offer, how to contact you. And grow with your business, at your own pace.
"It's worked fine for me so far"
That's true, and maybe it'll keep working for a while longer. But the market is changing, and more and more businesses are taking the step online. The question isn't just whether you can survive without a website today, but whether you want to keep relying solely on word of mouth when you could be generating new opportunities every day, even while you sleep.
Do you need a new website or to improve the current one?
Request your free, no-obligation digital diagnosis: we review how customers find you on Google today and what to do first, in Tarragona or elsewhere in Catalonia.