Should Every Business Owner Have a Website?

I think it’s time for a Friday hot take.

I don’t think that everyone needs a website, yet.

Yep. This is coming from a web designer & brand strategist.

For example:

I knew someone who did millions annually from the brick and mortar he owned outright. Not a franchise.

I asked him if he wanted a website, and that I’d gladly build it for him.

He told me that I could get all profit from said website - under one condition. I had to deal with orders, shipping, packaging, and inventory.

It was a headache that he didn’t want to deal with.

After thinking through the logistics for a week - I understood.

His business was very profitable, he expanded in areas that made sense, and didn’t conflict with his lifestyle.

Adding a website would be a burden that he didn’t want to take on.

In the end? We didn’t build the website that year.

What happened years later?

2020 - aka the brick & mortar business apocalypse.

All of a sudden, he had to temporarily close his shop. His one source of revenue was gone for what seemed like an indefinite amount of time - completely out of his control.

If the website was built a few years before, he would’ve been set with order pickup, online ordering, and not losing a large portion of revenue to competitors (like Amazon).

So, no. I don’t think that you *need* a website today to have a successful business.

But *when* Instagram goes down again,

*when* Facebook stops working, or

*if* the TikTok ban is effective,

Do you have a backup plan?