Your business website is your secretary. It answers FAQs so you don't have to spend your limited time answering the same questions repeatedly, handles your bookings, and filters out bad leads. It also helps you generate leads that turn into sales.

It's your storefront. Whether you're selling products or services, your customer experience starts with a professional-looking website. When your brick-and-mortar is closed, your website is still open, and it sets the tone and expectations your audience has for your business. 

Your company website is searchable. If you look for a business, you might have social media sites pop up in Google search results, but you're still at the mercy of social media platform owners like Mark Zuckerberg and have that lack of control. At the end of the day, Facebook is a business, and you're stuck with Facebook's terms of service. The algorithm changes frequently to show users the posts it thinks will get the most engagement, based on trends, ad sales, and other factors.  The only way to maybe help yourself is by dumping funds into ads, which get expensive, and feels like a moving target - because it is. (If you've done this, please tell me about your experiences in the comments!) This can be especially frustrating for a new business owner. But when you put your marketing efforts into your website instead of your social media account and use strategies for search engine optimization (SEO), you're telling Google and other search engines who your target market is. And if you create a great user experience, they will send people your way. Not to mention, non-Facebook users can now find you and engage with your brand.

Your website is your home base. I'll say this over and over. Everything leads back here. It's your asset, the place you control... Social media is a tool you use to send new customers, and loyal customers, to your site. You reach a larger audience with your website, and who doesn't want that? 

Your website is the tool that captures emails. Emails let you bypass the algorithm and talk directly to people who care. You don’t need thousands of followers. You need connection. Have you ever heard, "Your network is your net worth?" Your email list is your engaged network, the people who actually want to hear from you. And in business, especially service-based or personal brands, your network truly is your net worth. These are the people most likely to book your services, refer you to others, or support your next offering. Growing your list isn’t about chasing numbers—it’s about building a trusted circle and showing up consistently with value. When you treat your email list like a community instead of a marketing tool, it becomes one of your most valuable business assets.

Your site is the foundation your digital presence is built upon. The content you post here can still work for you next year. Once you have articles and information on your site, it's there for as long as you want it to be there. Content marketing is part of what’s called inbound marketing. It’s all about drawing people in by being helpful, not pushy - and thinking about being helpful is a great way to reframe the idea of marketing so that it becomes fun instead of a dreaded task on your checklist. When you create content that educates, solves problems, or inspires (like blogs, newsletters, or free guides), you’re building trust and staying top of mind. 

That’s a very different approach from outbound marketing—things like cold calls or paid ads that interrupt people and often feel "yucky" to small business owners. Inbound takes more time, but it works better for small service-based businesses because it builds a foundation that keeps working for you. One blog post today can bring in clients for months if you do it right. (Want to dig deeper? I break that down here: [link coming soon])