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Do I need a website if I have a Facebook and Instagram page?

Yes, even then. A social page is a stall you rent; a website is the shop you own, and it reaches the customers who start on Google. Here is the difference.

Zeno BelskyBy Zeno Belsky··4 min read

Short answer, yes, even then. A Facebook and Instagram page is a good thing to have, but it is not a website, and it cannot do the job a website does. Think of it this way. Your social pages are a stall you rent in someone else's market. The landlord decides who walks past, changes the rent whenever it likes, and can shut your stall tomorrow without telling you why. A website is the shop you own. That difference is the whole answer, and it quietly costs you customers every week you lean on the rental instead.

The reach you think you have, you do not

Here is the part that stings. When you post to your page, almost nobody sees it. Facebook shows a typical business post to somewhere between one and six followers in every hundred, and Instagram is not far off. Build an audience of a thousand and a single post might reach forty of them. The platform keeps the rest behind a wall, then offers to sell you the way through it, which is all an ad really is. You did the work to gather that audience, and you still have to pay to talk to them. That is the deal you signed without reading the fine print.

The customers a social page never reaches

Most people who are ready to spend do not open Instagram to find a tradie. They open Google and type plumber Henderson, or accountant near me, or how much does a bathroom reno cost in Auckland. A social profile barely shows up for any of that. A proper website is built to. It can rank for the things people genuinely search, and it is the thing Google and the new AI assistants read when they decide whose name to give out. That is a whole channel a Facebook page simply cannot reach. Skip the website and you are invisible to every customer who starts with a search, and these days that is most of them.

RENTED · SOCIALYou reach 1-6% of followersThey own the audienceGone if the account locksOWNED · YOUR WEBSITEFound by people GooglingBuilt to win enquiriesYours for keepsVS
Rent the audience or own the shopfront. A website does the parts a social page structurally cannot.

But everyone is on Instagram, right?

Some of your customers, sure, and that counts for something. But two things are true at once. The people already following you are a slice of your market, not all of it, and most of them found you some other way first. And the people who are not following you yet, the ones actively looking to spend today, are not scrolling your grid hoping to stumble across you. They are searching. A business that leans only on social is really just talking to the customers it already has, while the ones it has not met never see it at all. A website is how strangers find you, which is the entire point of marketing.

You do not own any of it

The account is not really yours either. People get locked out of Instagram for reasons they can never get a straight answer on, hacked accounts vanish overnight, and support is a black hole. If that page is your only presence, your whole shopfront can disappear in an afternoon and take your contact details, your reviews, and your customers' only way to reach you along with it. Your domain and your website are yours. Nobody can switch them off on a whim. For something you are trying to build over years, renting the lot on someone else's terms is a strange risk to run.

And a site is built to sell, not just to scroll

Social is designed to keep people moving, past you and on to the next funny video. A website is designed to do one job, turn a visitor into an enquiry. Clear services, a real price or a clear way to ask for one, a booking button, and plain answers to the questions that make someone hesitate, all in one place a buyer can actually act on. A feed cannot hold any of that in a way people can find again later. Have a look at what that looks like done properly.

None of this means delete your pages. They are great for showing your work, your team, the day to day, so keep posting. The mistake is treating them as the whole shop instead of the window display. The window pulls people in; the shop is where they buy. The strongest setup is simple. A fast website you own at the centre, with the socials pointing back to it, so the audience you build actually lands somewhere you control and somewhere a buyer can find on Google and act on today. Tell us about your business and we will show you what that looks like, no jargon and no lecture, just a straight plan.

Quick answers

Can I just use a Facebook page instead of a website?

You can, but you will miss every customer who starts on Google, and you will never own the audience you build. A page is fine as a window display; it is a poor substitute for the shop. Most businesses do best with a website at the centre and the socials pointing to it.

Will a website get me found on Google when my Instagram does not?

Yes. A proper site is built to rank for what people actually search, like a service plus your town, and it is what Google and AI assistants read to decide who to recommend. A social profile barely registers for that.

Do I have to stop posting on social media?

Not at all. Keep posting, socials are great for showing your work and personality. Just treat them as the window, not the whole shop, and point them back to a website you own.

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