Having a business website in 1997 seemed like a crazy thing. I didn’t know many business owners back then, but I remember a few that thought the Internet was something for nerds and kids. Why would a business need a website when magazine ads, yellow pages and things like that worked perfectly fine?
I was in college in 2005 when our campus got Facebook. It didn’t take long until a bartended used their university email address to create an account for a local bar where they worked. It was an early workaround for what would eventually turn into business pages.
From about 2006-2008, MySpace was a free-for-all and I remember seeing a few local businesses with accounts. They would post pictures and updates and things like that.
Facebook launched business pages in late 2007 or so. Things really started gaining steam on that network around that time and really heading into 2009-2010 as more and more people got smartphones.
It was a real question as to whether a business needed a website at all. Why not just have social accounts?
Social Media Is More Like The Yellow Pages
The Yellow Pages was a great service for its time. You paid a price to get a listing. They had lots of people that looked in that book for all kinds of service. And those people were ready to buy. Need a plumber? Open the book and pick one and call. Need a mechanic? Same thing? Attorney? Same.
Whatever you wanted, it was likely in the big yellow book in the junk drawer by your home phone. They sent it to people all over for free. A new one every year.
You could pay for certain size ads. I think you could pay for certain placement. I’m sure there were different companies creating those books. All with slightly different rules. But you get the picture.
Now consider social media. After an initial free-for-all for a few years, they started to focus more on the paid aspect. If you want certain attention, you pay for it. Even if you want to reach “your followers” you have to pay to get priority in their feeds.
I imagine in the early days of those phone books that a business felt great about getting high placement seemingly for free. Then it became mature and they had to pay more. Then more. Then more.
The Yellow Pages keeps changing their algorithm!
What About Websites?
A website is something you own. Social media taking over websites is not the same as websites taking over for yellow page listings. Maybe in a few ways, but in a few big ways it’s different.
For your website, you own the content. You own the design. No network can necessarily come along and tell you what to change and how to change it. You control how you describe your products. You decide on the images and videos.
If someone hears about you from a friend and goes searching for you they likely find your website. It shows that you exist. That you put effort into your own property. They can read your explanations and case studies. They can read your blog posts.
You can tell people exactly the best way to contact you if they want to buy or if they want to talk to someone about more details.
Final Thoughts
There is more that we could expand on with this idea. But I just wanted to say that it’s important to focus on your website. Don’t let the design fall behind the times. Don’t let it get slow. Don’t let the information become outdated. People are looking for it.
And with rules changing on other networks, just as it did way back when in the phone book, it’s more important than ever to keep your website up-to-date.