Do I need a website for my business?

When you don't need a website yet

Some businesses are fine without one for now. If every customer comes through people who already know you, if you're fully booked by word of mouth, or if you're still testing whether an idea will sell, a website can wait. Paying for a site before you know what you're selling, or to whom, is an easy way to waste money.

If that's you, put your energy into the free tools further down this page first. They cost time rather than money. When the business settles, or when strangers start looking you up before they call, that's usually the moment a website starts to earn its place.

• You're testing a product or service that might change next month
• All your work comes through referrals and you're already turning people away
• You can't yet keep prices, hours and services up to date anywhere
• Your customers reach you through one channel, and it's working

What a website does that a social media page can't

A social media page is rented space. The platform sets the rules, can change them whenever it likes, and decides through its algorithm how many of your followers see each post. If the account gets locked or the platform changes direction, your shop window goes with it.

A website is the one place online that's entirely yours. It says exactly what you want it to say, for as long as you want it said. It can answer the questions people always ask, show your work properly, and appear when someone searches Google for what you do, which a post from three weeks ago rarely does.

Website vs Facebook page vs Instagram

This isn't either-or. A Facebook page is good for updates, events and a community that already knows you. Instagram is good for showing work visually and being found by people browsing. Both are free and both are worth having. What neither does well is act as a single, organised, searchable home for your business.

Can you use Instagram as a website? For a while, plenty of businesses do. But a profile can't explain your services in depth, answer questions in one place or take a structured enquiry, and new visitors have to scroll to find the basics. The usual answer is both: social media to be seen, a website for people who are ready to decide.

• Social media: reach, updates, conversation and proof that you're active
• A website: ownership, Google search, detailed answers and a clear way to enquire
• WhatsApp Business: the conversation itself, with quick replies and a catalogue

Website, Google Business Profile and WhatsApp: how they fit together

Do you need a website for Google Business Profile, the listing that used to be called Google My Business? No. You can create a free profile without one, and it's worth doing, because it's what puts you on Google Maps and in the map results for local searches. But a profile on its own gives people very little to decide with.

Think of the three as a chain. Someone finds you on Google or Maps. They tap through to your website to check you're the real deal: your services, your work, how pricing works. Then they tap a button and message you on WhatsApp. My guide on how to get your business on Google covers the first link, and a WhatsApp business website covers the last.

Free ways to promote your business online in South Africa

Before you pay anyone, including me, use what's free. None of this needs a website, and all of it makes a website work better later. Most of it is about being findable and consistent, so that someone who hears your name can check you out in a few seconds and get hold of you just as quickly.

These steps can take you a long way. Where they run out is depth and ownership: they can't hold everything a customer wants to know, and none of them belong to you. Paid adverts can bring people in, but they need somewhere good to land. That's the gap a website fills.

• Claim and verify a free Google Business Profile with your real name, category and area
• Set up the free WhatsApp Business app with your hours, a short description and a catalogue
• Use the exact same business name, number and area everywhere you're listed
• Ask happy customers for honest reviews, and reply to them
• Post photos of real work regularly, not only adverts

The benefits of a website for a small business

If you're weighing it up, here's what a website actually gives you, without the hype. Not every point will matter to your business. If three or more of these sound like problems you have right now, a website is probably worth a conversation.

A post gets buried within days. A website stays put, and every other channel can point to it: your Google profile, your Instagram bio, your WhatsApp status and your business card. When the time is right, it becomes the front door that everything else leads to, instead of one more profile competing for attention.

• People can find you on Google when they search for what you do
• Strangers can check you're real and professional before they message
• Common questions get answered once, instead of in every chat
• One link holds everything, for your bio, your status and your business card
• It's yours: no algorithm deciding who sees it, no platform rules changing under you
• It works while you sleep, open at 2am when someone finally has time to look

Still not sure? Ask me for an honest answer

The first conversation costs nothing. Tell me what your business does, where your customers come from and how they reach you now, and I'll tell you honestly whether a website will help you, and what it would take. If the answer is 'not yet', I'll say so, and tell you what to do in the meantime.

If it is time, the usual starting point is a small business website. I'm Jorryn, a freelance web designer based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. I build every site from scratch, test it on a phone as well as a laptop, and you own the site and the domain when it's done.