As another commenter pointed out. Google Sites is fine but you will be negatively impacted by not having a domain name and proper website. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars for a website. Most businesses manage a web presence on a budget of $20 or less per month.
These are always my favorite topics to respond back to.
A website is necessary to your business. relying on a social media page or third party will actually alienate potential customers. You don’t need a super fancy website. It can literally be a single page listing your business name, hours, general pricing, contact info and policies. But you need something you control. You don’t control an Amazon storefront, you don’t control a Shopify store, you don’t control your social media pages, you don’t control your Yelp or Google business pages. You DO control your website. At literally any point, your social media accounts can be taken from you or you can get kicked off a platform for something. Social media and third party platforms have no requirement to give you access, they don’t have any license agreements where you won’t experience any downtime and if those platforms go down for an extended period of time, customers can’t get your info. This is why having a website is beneficial so they can google “xyz’s phone number”.
You do not need an e-commerce site unless you want to allow customers to order hardware online and get it shipped.
I can tell you from first-hand experience, if a business only has a Facebook page, I’m passing on it. It screams unprofessional and trying to find information using a Facebook page is a pain, especially if you’re not logged in or have an account. There’s a butcher shop by me, they only have a Facebook page and their information is not updated on said Facebook page, but I am not going to waste my time by driving to their store to see what their specials are or even their pricing. They lost me as a potential customer and I’ll go somewhere I can look that information up.
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The short answer is a very enthusiastic yes. You need a website, but the style and how in-depth it goes depends entirely on the business. An e-commerce site is going to require something more complicated than a simple service based business like landscaping. Typically service based businesses can get away with one page websites that lists their info, about, pricing, etc.
You don’t own your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, NextDoor, Pinterest, or any other account and you’re most likely alienating a good portion of your potential client base (seriously, try finding the info you need before they ask you to log in or have to scour 800 images to find an outdated menu). Your access to these accounts can be revoked at any time for any reason. You don’t control the layout, the style or the information on third party pages. But with a website you do. With a website you control every aspect of your customers experience.
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