When a business on Instagram and Facebook needs a website
Not every business needs a website yet. Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are where many Malaysian customers discover a new cafe and DM to ask if something is still available. Social media has four gaps, though. A website earns its place when one starts costing you customers.
What social media does well
A good reel travels further than any web page, and a daily post shows the business is open. Malaysians already buy by moving from DM to WhatsApp. A food stall, a home baker or any business selling on sight can run on social alone for a while.
The four gaps
Google search
When someone's aircond dies, they search Google rather than scrolling Instagram, typing "aircond service Puchong" the way others type "tuition centre near me", "printing shop Kota Kinabalu" or "wiring contractor Klang". Instagram and Facebook pages rarely rank for searches with money behind them. A simple website with your services and location gives Google a page to show. A Google Business Profile covers the other place buyers look.
Your own address
An Instagram following sits on rented land. The algorithm decides who sees each post, reach has slid for years (thousands in 2019, hundreds now), accounts get hacked or restricted without explanation, and appeals go unanswered. A website stays online whatever a platform decides.
Bigger customers
Corporate customers judge paperwork, while walk-ins judge the food or the work. When an office manager needs three quotes, a company vets a vendor or a school checks a supplier, someone types your name into Google. A Facebook page last updated in March makes you look small. A clean website with your services, background and contact details is your signboard and business card online, and often decides whether you are shortlisted or skipped.
One link
The menu is in Instagram highlights, the price list in a pinned post and the hours in a comment reply from last year, so the same answers get retyped in DMs daily. A website puts what you do, what it costs, where you are, when you open and a WhatsApp button on one link, the reply to every DM.
Bio link, website, WhatsApp
Social does the discovery, and the bio link leads to a website that answers the standard questions and shows the business is properly set up. Its WhatsApp button closes the sale person to person, and you keep posting as now.
Three businesses
Nasi lemak stall
Social media and a Google Maps listing may be enough for now, because customers buy with their eyes and their feet. A website matters once you chase catering and corporate orders, since an office ordering 80 packs wants a menu and a track record somewhere official.
Aircond company
This company needs a website before it needs followers. Its customers search Google urgently with a broken unit in a hot house. Steady maintenance contracts come from offices and property managers who check whether it looks established.
Tuition centre
Parents research subjects, levels, fees, schedule, location and the teachers, and forward links in WhatsApp groups before enrolling. A website that lays this out does the explaining in group chats you are not in, while Instagram shows the class.
The more a customer searches, compares or vets before buying, the sooner a website pays for itself. Impulse buyers let social alone hold for longer.
Four pages
You do not need a large site, an online store or a content management system to learn. Four pages do the job for most small businesses: Home, About, Services and Contact.
WebX builds that size for you. There is one plan: RM899 a year for up to four pages, with hosting, https and a free yourname.webx.my address. The plan does not include a domain of your own. A managed domain is RM199 a year, registered in your name, with records and https handled by WebX while your subscription runs, and it goes with you if you leave. Connecting a domain you own is free, with instructions.
Extra pages are RM99 a year each. Unlimited change requests are included, one at a time, so new prices, photos or hours are a message to us.
Ask first
If unsure which case fits, email michael@webx.my. We will say whether WebX fits, or that social alone is still enough. WebX is not yet open for orders, and the same address gets you told when it opens.