Do I need a website for my business?

The question usually comes up once the business is already working: customers come in, the phone rings, and a website looks like one more cost. The answer depends on how new customers find you and what they want to know before they come.

How to tell whether you need a website

You need one if at least one of these describes your business:

• Customers search for you on Google before they visit. They search your name, your service ("auto repair near me") or a question ("how much is a teeth cleaning").
• You answer the same questions on the phone every day. Prices, hours, parking, whether you do a particular thing. A website answers them once, for everyone.
• Customers compare before they choose. For a dentist, a mechanic, a salon or a contractor, people open several options and pick the one that answers them most clearly.
• You want customers from outside your area. Tourists, people from other neighbourhoods or towns, companies looking for a supplier.
• You pay a platform for every customer. Delivery apps, booking marketplaces and travel sites bring customers, but your own site gives you a channel without the commission.

If none of these applies, for example you run a kiosk people walk past every day, you can start with a Google Business Profile and add a site later.

When a Google Business Profile is enough

A Google Business Profile is free. It shows you on the map with your address, hours, phone number, photos and reviews, and it's the first thing people see when they search for "coffee near me".

A profile on its own can be enough when:

• people come in without comparing (a corner shop, a laundromat);
• you have no prices or services to explain;
• you don't want customers from outside your area.

The profile has a field for your website and, for restaurants, fields for a menu and reservations. Without a site, those links point to Instagram or nowhere. Until 2024, Google offered a simple website generated from the profile, but it shut that service down in March 2024, and from June 2024 those addresses stopped working. A website now has to be built separately.

Why Instagram alone isn't enough

Instagram and Facebook are good for news, photos and atmosphere. As the only place for your information, they have three problems:

1. Information gets buried. Prices from three months ago sit under twenty new photos, and customers can't tell whether they still apply.
2. Not everyone has an account. Without one, many posts can't be viewed in full, and some customers don't use social media at all.
3. The account isn't yours. The platform decides who sees your posts, and a locked or hacked account takes everything you published with it.

On a website, the same information lives at the same address, is updated when you change it and is visible to anyone.

What a website does that a Google profile or Instagram doesn't

The three work best together: the Google profile brings people nearby, Instagram shows what's new, and the website answers questions and takes the requests.

What the numbers say

In a survey published by Clutch in August 2025, 83% of US small businesses had a website, up from 64% in 2018. Of the 17% without one, more than a third said they saw no need for it and relied on social media or marketplaces instead. In the European Union, Eurostat counted 79% of companies with at least 10 employees with a website in 2025; Eurostat doesn't publish the figure for smaller firms.

Customers also check websites before they get in touch. BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults found that 54% of people who read positive reviews about a business go on to visit its website, up from 32% when the question was last asked, in 2019.

So a customer who finds you on Google Maps and likes your reviews will often look for your website next. If there isn't one, the competitor's site is one tap away.

What a small website needs

For a local business, three to five pages are usually enough:

1. Home page: what you do, who it's for and how to reach you, visible on a phone without scrolling.
2. Services or menu, with prices: written as text, not posted as an image, so it reads well on a phone and Google can read it too.
3. About: who works there, for how long, what sets you apart, real photos.
4. Contact: address with a map, hours for every day, a phone number people can tap to call, and a form.

For coffee shops and restaurants we have dedicated pages with everything the site should include: websites for coffee shops and websites for restaurants.

What it costs and how long it takes

In the US, according to WebsiteSetup's 2026 guide, a site you build yourself on Wix or Squarespace costs roughly $17 to $120 a month. A freelancer typically charges $2,000 to $7,600 (40 to 80 hours of work) and a full-service agency $5,000 to $15,000. On top of that, you pay every year for the domain (the site's address) and hosting (the server it runs on). We break the numbers down in how much a website costs in 2026.

A simple site can be finished in a few weeks. Most of the time, what slows a project down is the text and photos, not the code.

First steps

1. Write down the five questions customers ask you most often. They become the content of the site.
2. Search for your service and your area on your phone. See what a new customer finds and what's missing.
3. Claim or complete your Google Business Profile if you haven't already.
4. Gather what you have: logo, photos, price list, opening hours. With those, a business website can be built quickly.

To see what a website built by us includes, from the design to the domain and changes after launch, see our web design page.