Do people even use websites anymore or is it all social media now?

People use both, and they use them differently. Social media is where people browse and discover; websites are where they decide and act. When someone is ready to book, buy, or check your hours, they search Google and expect a website — not a scroll through your feed. Search still drives the majority of local buying decisions, and “near me” searches have grown sharply. Social builds awareness, but the website is where that awareness turns into a paying customer.

Where the worry comes from

It’s a fair thing to wonder. Look around any waiting room and everyone is in a feed. Time spent on social platforms genuinely is enormous, and it’s easy to conclude that’s simply where business happens now.

But time spent and decisions made are two different measurements. People spend hours scrolling and about ninety seconds choosing who to ring. It’s the ninety seconds that pays you.

What actually happens before someone calls you

Follow a real customer through it and the pattern is remarkably consistent.

They hear your name somewhere — a neighbour, a van, a post in a local group. That’s the discovery step, and social is often very good at it.

Then, almost without thinking, they type your name into their phone. This is the step owners forget exists. They’re not looking for marketing; they’re checking you’re real, still trading, and covering their street.

Then they decide. Reviews, hours, the areas you serve, some sense of price, a photograph of work like theirs. If that adds up, they ring.

Social started it. The search step decided it.

Browsing and deciding are different modes

Nobody opens Instagram intending to hire a roofer. They open Google intending exactly that.

That’s why the two aren’t interchangeable, and why the “is social replacing websites” question is slightly the wrong shape. Social reaches people before they want anything. Search reaches them at the moment they do. A business that only exists in the first half is relying on people remembering it long enough to get to the second.

What happens when the middle step finds nothing

This is the expensive part, and it’s silent.

The customer who was recommended you, searched you, and found nothing solid doesn’t ring to tell you. They quietly assume you’re very small, no longer trading, or not worth the risk, and they ring somebody else. The recommendation you earned gets spent on a competitor.

You’ll never see it happen. That’s what makes it so easy to conclude the website wouldn’t have mattered.

So build for both halves

The honest answer is that you don’t choose. Social is where people meet you; the website is where they check you out and get in touch.

Keep posting if posting suits you. Just make sure that when somebody goes looking afterwards — and they will — there’s something to find that answers their questions in a few seconds.

If you’d like that half built and looked after for you, here’s how we do it, for one flat monthly fee.