Not necessarily. Plenty of South African businesses run well on word of mouth, a Facebook page and a WhatsApp number, and anybody telling you that is impossible is selling something. A website earns its keep when people who have never met you are trying to decide whether to call — when you are being compared to two other quotes, when the work is expensive enough that people check you out first, or when you are paying to send people somewhere.
When a website earns its keep
- People are comparing you against other quotes before they phone.
- The job is big enough that somebody wants to see finished work first.
- You are spending on advertising, which needs somewhere to send people.
- You are getting the same five questions every week and answering them one at a time.
- You want to be found by somebody who does not already know your name.
When it genuinely does not
If you are fully booked on referrals and turning work away, a website is not what you need next. If your customers all walk past your door, a Google Business listing with good photos and correct hours will do more for you than a site will.
That is a real answer, not modesty. Building something you do not need is a waste of your money.
What a Facebook page cannot do
It is somebody else’s platform, and it shows your business next to everybody else’s. You do not control what appears around your work, and you do not control the reach.
You also cannot take it with you. A website and its domain are yours.
Related questions
Is a Facebook page enough instead of a website?
For some businesses, yes. What you give up is control of the platform, control of what appears alongside your work, and anything you can take with you.
I get all my work from word of mouth. Do I still need a website?
Probably not urgently. A site matters most when people who do not already know you are deciding whether to call.