Recently we had a conversation with a woman who wanted to expand her “side-hustle” into a full-time gig.
“I’ve always been employed full-time. I’m great at what I do, but never had to do marketing or sales. I don’t know anything about digital marketing. I have a Facebook page and an Instagram account. Do I need a website?”
Sara C. Puyallup, Washington
Based on her goals, our answer was YES! We went onto explain why.
5 Reasons Your Side Hustle Needs a Website
- A well designed website makes a good impression, helps establish trust and gives your business some credibility. Some customers won’t even do business with a company that doesn’t have a website.
- Many people use multiple sources before making a decision to buy. They may look to Facebook, a review site like Yelp, and a company’s website before making a purchase decision.
- You don’t own Facebook or Instagram. You’re subject to their rules that often change. It’s wise to incorporate social media marketing into your overall marketing mix, but it’s unwise to rely on social for 100% of your marketing.
- When it comes to branding and personalization you have no control over changes to the Facebook Page layout or the user interface on Instagram. A website you own gives you complete control over the user experience and how your content looks.
- When something goes wrong with your Facebook Page or your Instagram account you can’t just pick up the phone and ask them to fix it. When you hire a consultant or agency to build and manage your website if something goes wrong with your website you know who to contact.
We were able to continue the conversation with Sara, address her concerns and answer questions about cost. A website doesn’t have to be expensive. It does cost money to register a domain and set-up hosting. We recommend hiring a consultant to build a website for you. We do not recommend using a solution like Wix, Square, or WordPress on your own unless you have experience in copywriting for the web, website design, SEO skills.
In our next blog post we answer the question
“I called 3 people to get quotes for building me a new website. Why are the prices so different?”
