Why Do I need A Website?
I get it. The proliferation of social media and the amount of information that can be communicated through those channels covers much of the use case for a website. It’s not 1998. You can throw a .jpg of a menu on Facebook more easily than throwing it up on a website. To further worsen matters, one can put a ton of effort into a website, only to find that incoming traffic may make it seem as if the juice is not worth the squeeze.
Here are 2 reasons you should still have a website.
Control
Like it or not we live in a world of cancelling and algorithms. In the past we did not have people getting whipped into a frenzy to go after anyone who messes up or has a different opinion. You feel confident you won’t get canceled? Cool. Are you confident your employees won’t? Are you sure it’s worth the risk?
A problem that may be even greater than getting canceled is the unpredictable nature of algorithms. What’s an algorithm?
“A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.”
Google search is an algorithm. Your YouTube homepage surfaces videos by an algorithm. The Facebook Home Page. The Twitter timeline. Gone are the times when you could just follow who or what you wanted and reliably see it. Algorithms are built and tweaked to increase end-user engagement. The only thing these companies mentioned above care about is keeping people on their sites and services so they can serve more advertisements to more eyeballs.
Algorithms are always in flux. There’s no shortage of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) “experts” who will try to game algorithms to guarantee a website is at the top of Google search. However, Google wants to ensure their results are organic and what consumers want. They are going to tweak to fight against SEO. This is not a great argument for a web page since Google search can be a large source of website traffic but the thing here is, as long as you have your domain name, your site can survive. So while a change in Google’s algorithm may slow down new traffic, your existing traffic can still get through.
What about with social media? How can you know that your customers are getting your content? You can tell them to turn on notifications, click the like button, or whatever your platform of choice recommends but ultimately, you are a slave to the algorithm or need people to come to your page looking for your content.
In either case a web site is an essential tool. If your company social account gets completely shut down, you’ve been silenced. If you don’t have an existing website, people won’t know where to go to hear from you. Establishing that site first is essential.
Similarly, being able to get people to subscribe to an email list is the best way to try to exert some control on your destiny. Whether its content like a blog on your website, links to new social accounts, or notifications about new content on third parties, this gives you a direct line to your customers. Why would you not want that?
Brand Maturity
How many times have you gotten a friend request from someone on Facebook who already had an account? Ever had an old friend connect with you only to later find the name and picture on the account later changed to reflect a busty 20 something year old woman? Anyone can create a social media presence. They are free and easy. That’s why there are so many scammers and it’s also why people would rather do it than setup or pay for a website.
Don’t get me wrong, you should be doing social media too but having a website is an essential piece of proving that you are the grown up in the room. Does that mean there aren’t scammers and scumbags with websites? Of course not, but this is the strategy to show that you as a tree have a healthy root system.
Put the time and effort into not just having a website but having an engaging website, and you will not just reap dividends, you will strengthen your position.