The honest starting question
Many businesses in East Belgium are doing well without ever having had their own website. People know each other, orders come through recommendations, and for everything else, there is the Google listing or a Facebook page.
I build websites. Nevertheless, my answer to the title question is not automatically "Yes." In this article, I will show what the free channels can do today, where they hit limits, and in which cases having your own page is really worth it.
What Google profile and social media can already do today
The Google business profile
When someone searches for your business or for "carpenter near me," the Google business profile often appears first. It shows opening hours, address, phone number, photos, and reviews, and it is free.
For many local businesses, a well-maintained Google profile is the most important piece of online presence at all. If you only implement one thing, make it this.
Facebook and Instagram
Social networks are close to people. A photo of the finished project, a quick note about changed opening hours, or a new offer can be posted quickly. For businesses with many regular customers, this is a good connection.
These channels have their justification. The question is whether they are sufficient on their own.
Where these channels hit limits
The platform determines, not you
On Facebook, Instagram, or Google, you do not set the layout, reach, or rules. If the platform changes its algorithm, fewer people will see your posts. If an account is suspended or hacked, your presence can be gone overnight in the worst case.
A personal website under your own domain, on the other hand, belongs to you.
Not everyone is on Facebook
Those without a Facebook account often see only part of the content and are prompted to sign up. Especially potential customers who do not know you yet will quickly drop off at this point.
Services are hard to explain
A social media profile is a stream of posts. What you offer, how a project works, and who you work for disappears down the feed after a few weeks. A website organizes this information permanently and clearly.
Hardly any original content for Google
The Google profile ensures that you can be found under your name and in map searches. However, for search queries about specific services or questions ("What does a bathroom renovation cost?", "Tiler with advice in French"), you need content that Google can read and categorize. This is created on a dedicated page.
The uniqueness of East Belgium: three countries, multiple languages
Those who work in East Belgium rarely have just one audience. Customers come from Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. They speak German, French, and sometimes Dutch, and many cross-border commuters and newcomers do not know the region well yet.
These people research online before they call. A website can represent multiple languages cleanly separated, each with its own texts instead of automatic translation. In a social media profile, this hardly works without becoming confusing.
For businesses that want to attract customers beyond their own community, this is, in my view, one of the strongest arguments for having a dedicated site.
When you (still) do not need your own website
Honestly, there are businesses for which a website currently makes no noticeable difference:
- Their order books are full, and they consciously do not want to grow.
- Their clientele consists almost exclusively of regular customers whom they know personally.
- Their offering is so manageable that a sentence and a phone number say it all.
In these cases, you are better off investing your time in a complete Google profile with current opening hours, good photos, and a phone number where you can actually be reached.
A half-hearted website with outdated information does more harm than good.
What a small website should at least be able to do
If you decide to have your own site, it doesn't have to be large. However, it should reliably fulfill a few things.
Clear statement at first glance
Who are you, what do you offer, and where are you active? These three questions should be answered without scrolling.
Contact in one click
Most visitors come via smartphone. Phone numbers and email addresses should be tappable, a contact form is an addition, not a replacement.
Mobile readable and fast
A page that loads slowly on mobile or whose text can only be read by zooming loses visitors before it is even read.
Mandatory information and data protection
Even a small business website has legal mandatory information, such as name, address, and company number, as well as a privacy policy according to GDPR. This is not a big effort, but it should be resolved properly from the start. When in doubt, have the texts checked by a professional.
Self-manageable
You should be able to change opening hours, vacation times, or a new offer without a developer. Otherwise, the page becomes outdated quickly.
Better five good, current pages than twenty half-empty ones.
What it costs, and not just money
When thinking about a website, most people first consider the creation costs. Equally important is the ongoing effort: domain and hosting, occasional adjustments, and especially your time for content maintenance.
Roughly, there are three ways:
- Website builder: quick start, but often limited in design, multilingualism, and expandability.
- CMS, for example Odoo: a system in which you can edit content yourself, but which is set up and designed professionally. Why I personally rely on Odoo, I have described in a separate post.To the post.
- Custom development: full control, but significantly more effort in creation and maintenance. For most small businesses, this is not necessary.
A shortcut I advise against: having a page completely generated by an AI and posting it online unchecked. The reasons are in my article about AI-generated code. To the post.
My conclusion
Having your own website is not a requirement for every business in 2026. The Google profile is a more important foundation for many, and it costs nothing.
However, as soon as you want to attract new customers, serve multiple languages, or explain your services clearly, Facebook and Google profiles reach their limits. Then a small, well-maintained website is the investment that belongs to you and not to a platform.
Short decision aid
Having your own website is worthwhile if you answer yes to at least two of these questions:
- Do you want to attract customers who do not know you yet?
- Do you have customers in more than one language or from multiple countries?
- Do you need to explain your services or the process of an order?
- Are you often asked the same questions that could also be answered online?
- Do you want to be independent of how Facebook or Google change their rules?
Read more:
- Why Odoo instead of self-hosting (introductory article)
- Website from AI code: Why a generated design is not a foundation
Are you unsure whether a website is worthwhile for your business? Briefly describe your situation to me via "Project inquiry". I will give you an honest assessment, even if the answer is "not yet".