Google and Instagram cover a lot of the basics. Your Google Business Profile handles hours, directions and reviews, and Instagram shows off the food or the work. A website does the jobs they can't: a full menu, this week's events, a way to book a party and a reason to pick you over the place down the street.
What does a Google Business Profile do well?
It's often the first thing people see, before your site and before Instagram. Hours, a map pin, photos, reviews and a call button. Keep it current, because a wrong holiday hour there costs more than anything on your site.
What does Instagram do well?
Photos, personality and regulars who want to see what's new. It's the best place to show this week's special.
What do they both miss?
- Anything longer than a post. A full menu with prices, a private-event page or a list of services is hard to find in a feed.
- Old posts sink. The trivia night you posted Monday is buried by Friday.
- Not everyone uses Instagram. Some people won't open the app, and it can push them to log in before they see much.
- Search reads websites. When someone asks Google a question about places like yours, the answer often draws on business websites. With no site, there's nothing of yours for it to draw on.
- You don't own either one. Both are someone else's platform with someone else's rules.
What should the website do, then?
The things the other two can't. Hold the menu or price list as text. Show upcoming events. Take private-event or booking requests. Answer the questions you get at the door. Then link to Instagram and Google so all three back each other up.
It doesn't need to be big. A good site for most local businesses is four to ten pages.
How do you know if your online presence is doing its job?
- Can someone find your full menu or price list on a phone in a few seconds?
- Are this week's events easy to find?
- Can someone ask about a private event or a booking without calling?
- Does your site say the same thing as your Google profile?
If any of those is a no, that's the gap a website fills. See what a site costs on pricing.