This misconception “if you’re on social media you don’t need a website” has the power to completely destroy businesses who are 100% remote.

How?

Because you don’t own social media.

Let’s start out with a few true business owner horror stories I’ve collected over the years through networking groups.

1) Etsy shutdown my Etsy shop

This one is truly the number 1 business owner horror story on my list.

A mom of 2 had been running her Etsy shop for over 3 years and built up such a strong customer base that she was supporting her family full time. Her husband was able to quit work and come work along side her handling the Etsy shop BUT in 2018 things took a turn for the worst when Etsy randomly shut down their shop.

If you know anything about Etsy then you probably know how massive this marketplace has become and how random shut downs are happening more often. As you can imagine this Etsy shop owner panicked and immediately contacted Etsy only to get an automated response. She continued trying to reach out in order to resolve the issue but with Etsy’s massive size, it isn’t easy to get a hold of someone who can instantaneously fix an issue like this.

Her only option was to try and salvage the audience she had left on instagram and Facebook but even on those platforms the organic reach is down and only a small percentage of her audience would actually see her posts. She started her own website to rebuild her customer base but to this day I still do not know what happened to her and I do not know if she ever regained control of her Etsy shop.

2) influencer instagram account hacked

Being an “influencer” is a full time job for many people nowadays but the bad part about this is that you only have ONE avenue of income and it can be taken from you in seconds.

This influencer was making a living through her modeling and exotic car shoots. Her account was sitting at approximately 20,000 followers when her instagram account was suddenly hacked and all of the work she had put into building her fan base was depleted.

3) instagram & facebook down

The last time these 2 monster platforms went down it made the news. These 2 platforms dominate social media and can make or break some businesses. If they are “glitching” or go down this can mean pushing back an entire company marketing campaign, it can mean an influencer isn’t getting paid, and it can mean your connection with your audience doesn’t exist anymore.

So, how can having a website fix this?

Having a website means:

• The ability to build a subscriber list that can’t be taken away by developers/non functioning platforms

• People are purchasing directly through YOUR business and not Facebook or Instagram, so when those platforms go down your sales stay up

• Forming another way for people to find you organically through google

• Communicating more efficiently with your ideal target audience through the right copy, imagery, and presentation

• Knowing you’re in control of your own content

• Appearing more professional

If you haven’t invested in a website, do it before it’s too late!