Calgary, AB

Do you actually need a website?

Sometimes the honest answer is no. Here's how to tell which case you're in, before you spend anything.

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When is a profile alone genuinely enough?

If you're at capacity, work by referral, and sell one simple thing in one small area, a well-run profile can carry you. Say so rather than spend.

A single-location business with a full book, a strong review history and no ambition to change the mix of work it does is not obviously helped by a website. The profile handles discovery, the reviews handle trust, and the phone handles the rest. Adding a site to that changes very little.

We'd rather tell you this than take the money. It's also the same test we apply before selling anything: if the free check on this site comes back clean and you're already booked, there's nothing here worth buying yet.

What does a profile alone actually cost you?

Reach, control and the ability to answer anything complicated. A profile is a listing, not an explanation.

The profile competes almost entirely on proximity, which means it works close to you and fades fast with distance. A website is a large part of how a business stays competitive in quadrants it isn't located in, because relevance and prominence are what extend reach past the businesses that are simply nearer.

It also can't answer a real question. Anything a customer needs to understand before they call — how pricing works, what happens at a first appointment, whether you handle their specific situation — has nowhere to live on a profile. Those questions are where a lot of hesitation sits, and they're where most of the searching happens.

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The same checks this page describes, run against your own site. About 30 seconds.

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Does a site help the profile itself rank?

Yes, indirectly. Google confirms what your profile claims against the rest of the web, and your site is the main thing it checks.

The profile and the site aren't separate systems. A plumber's profile linked to a one-page site saying 'quality service since 1998' gives Google very little to verify relevance against. The same profile linked to a page that explains the emergency callout service, names the areas covered and states the hours gives it a great deal.

Linking each service listing to the matching page rather than always to the homepage is a small and underused improvement, for the same reason.

Is a social media page a substitute?

No. Facebook and Instagram are discovery and reputation, not search. They rank for almost nothing and you don't own the audience.

Social pages are frequently offered as the cheap alternative to a site and they solve a different problem. They're poor at capturing somebody who is searching with intent right now, which is the traffic that converts, and their content is largely invisible to the searches that matter.

There's also a durability point that isn't theoretical: the account is not yours, the reach is set by a platform that changes it, and there's no version of this where you control what a customer sees when they look you up.

What's the smallest site that's actually worth having?

One page per thing you sell, real hours and service areas, and honest answers to the five questions you're asked on the phone every week. That's it.

Most local businesses need far less site than they're sold. Five to eight pages that each say something specific and true will outperform a thirty-page site of filler, and it's the version you can keep accurate.

The limit is worth stating plainly, because it's the same one that applies to neighbourhood and service pages: if you can't say something specific about a topic, don't make a page for it. Thin pages don't just fail to rank, they drag down the pages that would have.

Common questions

I'm fully booked. Should I still get a site?

Probably not for more volume. It's worth it if you want to change which work comes in — shifting toward higher-value jobs is a mix problem, and a site is the right lever for it.

Can I just use a one-page site builder?

You can, and for a simple business it's often enough. Check two things afterwards: that there's text in the page before JavaScript runs, and that each service has its own page if you want each to rank.

Which comes first, the site or the profile?

The profile, without question. It's free, it's a dropdown and a few fields, and for a local business it moves more in an afternoon than a new site does in a month.

Will a website get me into the map pack?

Not on its own — proximity and the profile decide most of that. It's a significant part of how far out from your location you stay competitive, which is usually the thing people actually want.

See what's broken before you spend anything.

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