Honest checklist · October 2026

Does my business even need a website?

We build websites for a living, so you'd expect our answer to be "yes, obviously." It isn't. Sometimes the honest answer is "not yet." Here's the checklist we actually use when someone asks — including the cases where we tell people to save their money.

When you can honestly wait

• You get all the work you can handle from word of mouth, and you don't want to grow. A website is a growth tool; if you're turning away jobs already, spend the money on a nice holiday instead.
• Your customers literally cannot search for you — e.g. you supply one or two big clients on contract. Nobody Googles "subcontracted component manufacturer" on a whim.
• You'd neglect it. A stale website with 2022 prices and a dead contact form is worse than none — it tells people you don't finish things. If you won't maintain it (or pay someone to), rather use WhatsApp Business properly.

The exact point where "no website" starts costing you

• People Google you before they call. This is most businesses now — including plumbers, electricians and builders. If a customer hears about you from a friend and then finds nothing online, a share of them quietly move on. You'll never know how many; that's what makes it expensive.
• Your competitors show up and you don't. Search "electrician + your town" right now. Every name on that page is getting calls that could have been yours.
• You keep answering the same questions. "What areas do you cover? Roughly what does X cost? Are you open Saturdays?" A one-page site answers these while you're on a job — and filters out the time-wasters before they phone.
• You want to look established. Fair or not, "no website" reads as "fly-by-night" to a growing slice of customers — especially the ones with bigger jobs.

"But I have a Facebook page"

A Facebook page is rented land: the algorithm decides who sees it, it barely shows up in Google for service searches, and a large group of customers — often the ones with money — simply don't use Facebook to find a tradesman. Keep the page, but don't mistake it for an address you own.

Our honest recommendation