The Playbook · OPTIONS
Web design alternatives, and when each one wins
You do not always need a web designer. Sometimes a Google Business Profile and a phone number that dials is the whole job. Here are the five alternatives owners ask me about, the case where each one wins, and the point where each one starts losing customers to a competitor with a real site. I would rather you pick the right one than pay me for the wrong one.
When is a Google Business Profile enough?
When you serve one town, customers find you on the map, and the decision is made on the phone. A plumber with a full profile, current hours, real photos and steady reviews gets calls from the map pack without a website at all. It is free and it takes thirty minutes; the profile guide walks through it.
It stops being enough the moment people compare you in a second tab, or the moment you sell something that needs explaining. A profile cannot show a portfolio, answer the price question, or hold a form.
When does a DIY builder win?
Brand-new business, near-zero budget, needs a page up tonight. A template with your real photos and a number that dials beats a custom site that is still in progress. I say this as a custom builder, and I mean it. The honest version of that argument is in when builders are right and when they rob you.
It loses when the site becomes how customers judge you. Speed is capped, the design looks like every competitor in your trade, and the platform owns the foundation.
When is a social page enough?
Restaurants, bars and pop-ups that live on weekly specials. If your customers already follow you and your offer changes daily, a page they check is worth more than a site nobody updates.
It fails three ways. Google cannot read it well, so you are invisible to anyone searching. The hours on the page drift from the hours on the door. And the platform owns your audience, so a policy change can cut you off from people who chose you.
When does a marketplace beat your own store?
When you sell products with search demand you do not yet have: a maker on Etsy, a parts seller on Amazon. The marketplace brings the buyer and takes a cut on every order. That trade is fair while the buyers are strangers.
It stops being fair when the buyers are already yours. Paying a commission on a customer who typed your name is the point where your own store, even a small one, starts winning. That switch is what the e-commerce service page is about.
When is a refresh the right alternative?
When the site you have is structurally sound and only looks tired, or hides its phone number, or has hours from last winter. A focused refresh costs a fraction of a rebuild. The redesign versus refresh play gives the signs that point each way, and Essential on the plans page is $149 a month with 30 minutes of edits for exactly this.
How do you decide in ten minutes?
Ask one question: do customers search for what you do and compare their options before calling? If no, pick the alternative above that fits and stop reading. If yes, the site is the storefront, and the storefront should be built by someone whose finished work you can open and judge. Mine starts with the homepage, which is a playable basketball court, because live proof beats a mockup.
What else do owners ask?
Is a Facebook page a website?
Not to Google and not to a stranger. It is a feed. It works for regulars and fails for anyone searching, comparing, or looking for a price.
Can I rank on Google without a website?
In the map pack, yes, with a complete profile and steady reviews. In the regular results, no. Anyone searching for the service you sell and a town name finds the businesses with pages that answer that search.
What is the cheapest way to look open?
Correct hours everywhere, a phone number that dials in one tap, and one recent photo. Those three cost nothing and fix most of the mistakes that make a business look closed.
Your move. Call or text (847) 387-0244, or price your build in six taps and I call you with the exact number.
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