Do you really need a website if you have a Facebook page? Social media has made it easy and affordable for any business to create an online presence. But relying solely on your Facebook or Instagram account could mean you are missing out on more leads and opportunities for conversion. To answer the question of which is better, social media vs website, let us give you eight reasons why we believe a website should be part of your online marketing strategy.
- A website allows customers to easily find and contact the business, even if they don’t use social media. People typically use search engines like Google, Safari or Chrome to search for “window cleaners near me.” Sometimes the search results include Facebook pages, but most of the results are websites.
- A website provides a centralized location for ALL your important business information. Character limits in the “About” or “Services” sections of social media usually doesn’t give enough room to comprehensively talk about your business, who you are, services offered, prices and even team bios. On a website you can even include FAQs. This will reduce the need for you to respond to DM’s on common questions.
- A website provides more control over the user experience, including design, navigation and functionality. Not only can you take control of branding and personality of your page, you can ensure navigation is easy, intuitive and potential customers don’t get frustrated trying to search for a piece of information. And have you heard of responsive web design? It’s easy to build a website that can look and work great on any device.
- A website can be integrated with a number of tools that help with lead generation, price quotation, appointment setting, and even payment processing. You don’t need to dig through your DM’s or free form emails– a well-formatted contact form on you website can help you extract all the important info from your leads. You can save a lot of with these automated tools that you can simply embed in prominent sections of you website.
- A website builds trust and credibility. While anyone can create a social media account for free, it takes a certain amount of investment to build and maintain a website. In fact, according to a survey done last year, about 80% of people in the UK think that a well-designed website is more credible than just a social media page.
- A website provides a more secure platform for collecting customer information. Encryption methods such as SSL and HTTPS protects sensitive data like card details. Usually for payments or to leave your contact information, a social media account will redirect you to a website that can more safely collect this information.
- A website provides more opportunities to rank highly in Google search results. As of February 2023, Google handles over 93% of search engine traffic worldwide. It only makes sense to find ways to make your online presence more visible to Google. With your own website you have more flexibility to do this Search Engine Optimization or SEO. From your domain name, your URLs, the content you produce, links from reputable sites and more, you can get your website to Google’s top searches.
- A website allows you to control your ‘online real estate,’ content and messaging, rather than being constrained by the algorithms and rules of social media platforms. At the end of the day, a social media account is subject to the terms and conditions of the platform it is on. And there is little you can do when they restrict or deprioritize certain types of posts or even ban you from their platform!
Don’t get us wrong, we think social media is almost indispensable for small (and even big) businesses today. But it has its limitations, which only a bespoke, well-designed website can fill. So rather than asking which is better, social media vs website, we think you should have both! Your own website is important to your online presence and can be an important tool in growing your window cleaning business. Ready to get started on yours?
