Social media feels pretty dominant in today’s online world, but even if people are spending lots of time on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms, you still need to have a website for your business. Yes, social media is a powerful marketing tool—it lets people discover you and build a relationship with you. However, your website is your digital headquarters, a space that you own and control.

What Your Website Can Do For You

I know what you might be thinking: “But social media is free, and that’s what all my customers use. Why would I pay to create a website that probably nobody is ever going to go to?”

It’s a good question. The answer is that your website does a lot more for you than social media. Your website gives you control, professionalism, branding, content, e-commerce, search engine visibility, and data insights.

Let’s break it down:

Control

This is the single most important reason to have a website—you own your website and have total control over it. With a website, you are in charge of its design, content, and functionality. In contrast, social media platforms can change their algorithms, policies, or even cease to exist, leaving you without a platform to reach your audience. Plus, nobody can take your website away from you—but a social media account could be closed down because of circumstances beyond your control. (More on this topic later.)

Professionalism

A website gives your business a professional and credible online presence. It allows you to showcase your products, services, and company information in a more structured and professional manner than social media platforms.

Branding

A website allows you to fully customize your brand's identity and user experience. You can design the site to reflect your brand's colors, values, and messaging consistently.

Content

On social media, your content is subject to the platform's rules and limitations. On your website, you can host and manage your content without worrying about it being removed or hidden due to policy changes or algorithm updates. While social media is great for short and snappy content, a website allows you to publish long-form content, such as blog posts and articles, which can establish your business as an authority in your industry.

E-commerce

If you sell products or services, having a website with e-commerce capabilities enables you to conduct transactions directly with your customers, providing a seamless shopping experience.

Search Engine Visibility

A well-optimized website can improve your search engine ranking and increase organic traffic to your business, which might not be achievable through social media alone.

Data

Websites provide detailed analytics that can help you understand your audience better, track user behavior, and make data-driven decisions to improve your business performance.

Scheduling Appointments

A website is even more important for a home service company. More and more, homeowners choose to schedule their service online. Without a website, it is almost impossible to encourage them to do this. On a side note, I would encourage you to go a step further when you add a scheduling option on your website. Make sure that the process of scheduling is easy.

We recently worked with a local HVAC company whose website was not converting. People were going to the site and starting the scheduling process only to leave on the second step. The problem was that customers had to go through seven steps before they could schedule. The good news is that our team had a solution. Our team was able to create a scheduling tool that is only two steps and suddenly their problem was solved. Without a website, we couldn’t have uncovered and corrected the problem.

What does it mean to “own” your website?

So, we mentioned that you have ownership of your website—you have total control over it, and nobody can take it away from you. But what exactly does that mean?

Well, think what would happen if you woke up one morning and found out that your Facebook account had been shut down or got hacked? Or what happens if the social media platform where you have a huge following suddenly falls out of favor, the way MySpace did?

You don’t have to worry about this with a website. When you have a website, you own the domain (e.g., www.yourbusiness.com). If the social media platform where you have the biggest following suddenly falls out of favor with users, and they all migrate to a new platform, your website still exists as a place where they can find you. They can use your website to find your official accounts on new, trendy social media platforms, or they can simply subscribe to your newsletter for the latest updates from you.

Keep People Engaged on Your Website

With social media, you’re putting out content on a regular basis, and people have an incentive to keep engaging with you. It keeps you visible. So, you might be wondering, what can you do to keep your website relevant and have people maintain their interest in it?

Consider the following options:

• Offer people a chance to subscribe to your newsletter through a form on your website. This way, interested parties will be able to hear your latest updates straight to their inbox.

• Create engaging blog content with insights into your industry or news about your business. You can use keywords to ensure your blog is optimized for search engines, which will drive fresh traffic to your website.

• Keep your website updated with accurate information about services you offer or testimonials from satisfied clients. A website that is five or 10 years out of date isn’t a great look for your business!

At ASMM Digital, we love a good website—we know it’s a powerful force in your marketing efforts. Want to talk more? Give us a call at 443-679-4916 or contact us below.