Does your small business actually need a website in 2026?

It’s a reasonable thing to ask, and I get asked it a lot. You’ve got a Facebook page, you’re on Google Maps, maybe you’re picking up work through a marketplace app. So do you really need a website on top of all that?

For most service businesses I talk to, my honest answer is still yes. But probably not for the reason you’d expect.

You don’t own the other platforms

A social profile or a marketplace listing is rented space. The platform decides who sees you, changes the rules whenever it likes, and can drop a competitor’s advert right next to your name. Your website is the one place online that’s entirely yours: your message, your pricing, your way of working, with no algorithm sitting in between.

It’s where people check you out

Here’s what I see happen again and again. Someone hears about you, or finds you on Google, and then, before they call, they look you up. A clear, professional website at that moment does a quiet but important job:

It confirms you’re real and established.
It answers the obvious questions: what do you do, where, and how much?
It makes getting in touch effortless.

No website, or a tired one, and that moment of checking can just as easily go the other way.

What “good” looks like to me

You don’t need a sprawling site. For most of the businesses I work with, a few things done well will out-perform something big and complicated every time:

A clear explanation of what you do and who you do it for.
Straightforward pricing, or at least a sense of it.
Proof you can be trusted: photos, reviews, real results.
An obvious way to get in touch.

That’s it. Clean, fast and honest beats clever and cluttered.

So, do you need one?

If you rely on enquiries and word of mouth, a simple website is one of the few marketing assets that keeps working for you around the clock and that you fully control. In my book, that’s worth having.

Thinking about it for your business? Start a project and I’ll keep it simple.