Is it really worth making a website for a small business in 2025?
Take any large company operating today and it is a given that they will have a website. Whether it’s a full e-commerce or service booking platform or something more basic, it will be possible to find out who they are, what products or services they provide and where to find them if they have a physical location.
But is that really necessary for your small business? Will it have any impact on your business’s success? And will the benefits be greater than the time and money needed to set it up?
Is it really that important for a small business?
The short answer is yes! Any business can benefit from having a strong online presence. In fact, it is arguably more important for a small business as you are less likely to have the customer base to effectively compete with larger companies offering similar products or services. Your website can be the thing that gets you noticed, and a well-designed site can be a calling card which sets you apart from your competition.
I run a small local business – will people even be looking for my website?
It is less likely that people will be searching for you directly, but that doesn’t mean people won’t find you through your website. The most immediately apparent impact is people searching for businesses that offer specific products or services. Your website will allow potential customers or clients to find you just as easily as they can your competitors.
On the other hand, local prospective customers may indeed search for you specifically if they have heard of you already, or they may be searching for providers of your products or services in their local area.
If the location of your business is included on your website, then you can also feature in local search panels in response to both specific search queries about the products or services you offer, and also more general queries about the area.
What are the potential outcomes if someone searches for me and I don’t have a website?
Many people will research potential businesses before making a decision on who to purchase from, particularly if they are anticipating spending a lot of money or if it is in relation to something they are not knowledgeable or experienced in. As a small business owner, you may not already be known to these prospective clients, and it could be that your website is their first introduction to you. Without this visibility, these customers may find your competitors instead and choose them.
Additionally, some people may be put off if they can’t find any information about your business before visiting. Companies with a stronger online presence benefit from an implied level of legitimacy that can be reassuring to someone wanting to make an informed purchase decision.
What are the benefits if I already have a website?
As we have already mentioned, having an official online presence for your business lends it a level of professionalism and credibility that is more difficult to achieve otherwise. It also gives people the impression of longevity, both intended and achieved. Although it can be very simple to get your website written and published, this will give the impression that you are taking your business seriously and intend to continue with it for an extended period of time.
Any traffic that your website sees from people who weren’t already aware of you is a potential new customer. Your growth potential through your online presence is likely to be much greater than through word of mouth or chance in-person interactions.
And the benefits don’t stop at increased visibility and a better first impression. Your website is an opportunity to tell prospective clients about your business relatively free of distractions. The content that you include and how you present it can tell people a lot about who you are, what you do and what you stand for. In the past, there was an assumed separation between companies and the people behind them, and advertising focused on forging an emotional connection between consumers and the brand itself or individual products. Today’s consumers place higher value on a perceived genuine connection to the people behind the brands rather than faceless corporate entities, something which, along with environmental concerns, has lent itself to the rise in popularity of supporting small local businesses over global corporations. Your website allows you to tell the story of your business – how and why it started, what values are important to you, and to introduce the key people behind what you do. This in turn allows visitors to start forming that emotional connection, which can lead to brand loyalty.
As mentioned above, adding a page with location and contact information can lead to greater footfall if you are operating a physical, customer-facing location. Inclusion of other contact information, such as a phone number and email address, or even an online chat functionality, can be highly beneficial for both new and existing clients. Making your business available and approachable for post-sale customer service is a key component in securing ongoing business, and having this transparently available can also help to assure prospective clients that they will be well taken care of should they choose to begin a partnership with your business.
Including a space to showcase reviews and testimonials from existing customers can also help you to foster relationships between those clients and your business. Asking your existing clients for their feedback and opinions and then displaying these publicly shows the value that you place on those opinions and the customers who provided them. It also increases your business’s perceived trustworthiness to prospective clients, as they are no longer relying just on your own words.
I’m already busy, can I afford to dedicate that much time to setting up a website?
Setting up a feature-rich website can be a time-intensive endeavour. But for a small business, that isn’t always necessary straight away. Even a static page with information about your products or services, contact and location information, and operating hours is better than no website at all. A basic page can still grant you greater visibility, as well as the benefits mentioned above. If even something relatively simple takes more time than you have available, there is also the option of hiring a developer to do the work for you.
Once the initial setup is completed, maintaining your site does not have to be particularly time-consuming. Whether or not you will need to regularly populate your site with new content will depend on both the type of business and the required functionality of your website. But even the most frequently updated sites will take far less time to update than they will to initially set up.
I already have pages for business on social media. Do I need a full website as well?
A social media presence can be a huge benefit to your business, allowing you to interact directly with existing and potential customers and giving them the sense of a personal connection with your brand. As a facet of your online activity, it can be extremely powerful, but there are a few reasons why it should not be your entire digital presence.
- When it’s published on your own site, you fully own your content. This is not necessarily the case on social media platforms. For example according to Meta’s terms and conditions, whilst you retain the ownership of your own intellectual property they can distribute, modify, copy and create derivative works of anything that you upload.
- There is no guarantee of longevity. Social media platforms can close (think Keek or Vine) or loose popularity and therefore traffic (such as the more recent movement of many netizens from X to Threads or Bluesky.) Additionally, even if the platform itself is still running, there is always the risk that your own account can be disabled.
- You are reliant on your chosen platform maintaining their servers. If they experience an outage or need to take servers offline for maintenance, access to your business can be temporarily lost. Whilst this is also the case with a separate website, you are more likely to be in control of when this happens and for how long.
- Having a website implies a greater level of professionalism and that you are taking your business seriously. Even if the majority of your business is conducted via a social media platform, having a full site linked in your profile can still provide this benefit.
- Having a stand-alone website gives you greater control over what content you produce and how you present it. You don’t need to conform to the layout and style constraints of someone else’s platform, and you can produce content in a wider variety of formats.
What if I don’t have a large amount of spare capital to invest in a website?
It is inevitable that there will be at least a base level of financial commitment to making a website for your business. Fortunately, you don’t need to do everything all at once. Rather, you can launch your website with the contents and functionality that your business requires currently and then add more features as they become relevant. A more gradual approach can help to spread the costs associated with developing and launching your website and will also mean that you can become adept at utilising your website to its full potential before adding further complexity.
Here at Key Element, we believe in the power of effective digital marketing, which is optimised to the needs of your business. Our digital marketing starter package is designed to kick-start your online presence, providing you with the tools and support you need in order to successfully enter and thrive in the world of online marketing and commerce.
Beyond this, we offer a variety of services which can be tailored to the individual needs of your business and your clients, allowing your website to organically grow and evolve as your business does.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, there is no downside to setting up a website for your business, no matter how small it is. On the other hand, there are many advantages to making one, even with basic functionality, and it is far easier to start small and upgrade as your business grows rather than waiting until you cannot grow any further without one.
Services you may be interested in
Web Development Services
We specialise in crafting bespoke, user-experience (UX) optimised sites. We are a dedicated team of web designers committed to elevating your brand to new heights
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James Bester
