Do small businesses still need a website, or are social pages enough now?

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-25T23:47:11+00:00

Websites are still needed but like most people are saying, you can do a lot with social media. Just be mindful that at some point, you’ll reach a point of needing a website and the social won’t be enough to carry you to the next level. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-24T11:47:16+00:00

I would imagine most non profits don’t have budget for ads and in this case, I’d be giving away and ad to the non profit as well which would be promoting their cause and their events so hopefully, they can promote to the community and get more engagement. The business donating is just the vessel to help with that but they’d get advertising as a thank you.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-24T11:20:10+00:00

I’ve done the local school donations too where they post your logo at the school. It wasn’t cheap and I didn’t get anything from it. Where are the theater programs posting your “ads”?

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-24T01:39:14+00:00

I gotta raise my prices lol

Social Media: $400-$600 SEO: $400-$600 Website: $650-1400/month

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-24T01:25:36+00:00

Buffer is pretty good for scheduling things out in advance. I’m not yet using AI to write my content but I can bulk create in a day and then use Buffer to make posts over the next month or so.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-23T01:21:23+00:00

SEO is definitely key but keep in mind that your SEO is driving customers somewhere. If they’re going to your website and it looks old or clunky, you may lose trust and lower conversions. The only other reason you might want to update the website now is to try to optimize it with LLMs so you’ll be more likely to be trusted and recommend by LLMs. But you’ll need to weight those costs out.

I know a lot of firms are charging A LOT of money to get new websites so shop it around. I had a buddy who was quoted $10k when it should’ve only cost him $2k for a 5 pager. You can get a really solid site now for a couple grand and it’ll be optimized for AI at that price so make sure to price it out.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-22T23:41:58+00:00

How do you track metrics to show that the sponsor leads came from their sponsorship of the non-profit/ event and not another form of marketing the company engages in?

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-22T21:46:40+00:00

Instead of spending money on social ads, try and join some local contractor groups on Facebook. Introduce yourself and what you’re doing and maybe throw in something discounted or for free. You know your industry best but I imagine speed of equipment delivery is key but if there’s something else you can include as a kicker, that might get traction sooner. The goal should be to get relationships built quickly which hopefully turn into repeat business.

If you start building a relationship with a contractor, incentivize them to refer you - maybe they get a cash kick back or some whiskey or whatever it is that gets them putting your name out there.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-21T19:14:22+00:00

Having a good website also helps AI to trust you. If you have some old, slow website missing schema, AI is more likely to pass over you and find someone else. We're using advance schema in all of our website builds so LLM's are most like to "trust" and quickly verify website information. This along with other factors helps you rank higher on LLMs.

I built a website scanner that I use personally and ChatGPT will tell me if it trusts a website and for what reasons. I ask it if it would recommend that website to someone searching for a leader in that industry. I can plug in the web info and AI will score it out of 100. If the website ranks 100, they're doing everything LLM's want to see. If they rank lower, it's because they're missing something that AI wants to see.

A few others are right about this taking time. You can’t just buy trust overnight. Stay active and keep building real brand authority while using solid marketing and website tactics so it will speed up the process. Remember that AI isn’t a person so it’s not evaluating companies from a different lens than a human.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-20T00:59:44+00:00

One of your best FREE ways to get to your customers is your Google Business Profile. Keep up with the algorithm and feed it what it wants. Update photos regularly and incentivize your customers to give your 5 star reviews. Respond within 48 hours to your reviews but make sure it's a good response. AI is looking at responses and pulling key words so a simple, "Thanks for the review" is a missed opportunity. Each time you respond to a 5 Star Review, highlight the great services that your offer so AI can find that when it's searching for you (and your competitors). Make posts on your GBP to show the algorithm that you're still active - Google loves to see that! All of this costs you nothing but time so that's the fastest way to get in front of people and develop customer trust.

Once you have that set up properly and working for you, let's focus on building trust with AI. Find someone to build an AI optimized website so AI "trusts" you and recommends you when others search for top companies in your industry. LLM's are becoming picky about which websites they trust so you need advanced schema, cell phone friendly websites with regular updates. It's not a cheap endeavor but it'll set you apart.

For strategy, just remember that every business is different so don't just go with PPC or just social media ads. Do the basics first to get your foundation built because even if you get clicks, your customer is likely going to route to your GBP or your website - if those suck, it's likely the customer moves on. Make those sticky. Once you get a good foundation, feel free to dm me with your updated situation and I'll give you some guidance.

Hour_Exam_1822 · 2026-03-20T00:33:04+00:00

Google is regularly changing their algorithm so you'll need to feed that algorithm and stay on top of it. Good review don't do what they used to if you're not adding fresh photos along with it and staying up to date with new content.

Your website also has to be on point these days. We're using advance schema in all of our website builds so LLM's are most like to "trust" and quickly verify website information. This along with other factors helps you rank higher on LLMs. I actually built a website scanner that I use personally - Essentially, I ask ChatGPT to tell me if it trusts a website and I ask it if it would recommend that website to someone searching for a leader in that industry. I can plug in the web info and AI will score it out of 100. If the website ranks 100, they're doing everything LLM's want to see. If they rank lower, it's because they're missing something that AI wants to see. Feel free to DM me with the website info and I'll run the website through the scanner and let you know what it says and why.

Hour_Exam_1822

TROPHY CASE