ChatBuildDo you still need a website if you have Instagram?
Instagram gives you reach, but not an address that belongs to you.
Plenty of independent professionals ask the same thing: my customers find me on Instagram or Facebook anyway, so why would I need a website?
The honest answer: for reach, you genuinely don't need one. For everything that happens after that, you do.
A profile is borrowed, a site is yours
Your Instagram account exists at the pleasure of Meta's policies. If those policies change, your account gets blocked by mistake, or the app falls out of favour with your audience, you lose your discoverability and your customer contact in one go. Your own domain stays yours — even when you switch platforms.
Google sends customers who are ready to book
Someone searching for "hairdresser in Utrecht" is further along than someone scrolling a feed. Google answers that search with a map of Business Profiles and, below it, a list of websites. A free Google Business Profile can put you on the map without a site; the list underneath is made of websites.
What a site does that a profile can't
- Show prices that are actually current. Not "DM for prices", but a list people can read themselves.
- Take bookings outside working hours. Including at eleven at night, while you sleep.
- Build trust. Your own address, registration number and clear terms make the difference on larger jobs.
It doesn't have to be a project
The reason many owners put it off isn't that they doubt the value — it's the barrier. Learning a builder, writing copy, cropping photos. That's exactly the work you can hand over: with ChatBuild you describe your business in a chat message and get a first version as a preview.
By all means keep posting on Instagram. Just make sure the link in your bio points to something you own.
ChatBuild is the ChatBuild editorial team. Questions about this article? Email hi@chatbuild.com.