Do you actually need a website?
Be honest about where your work comes from. If every job arrives through word of mouth, a trade directory, or a Facebook page you already maintain, a website may sit there costing money and doing very little.
You probably want one
- Customers search for what you do before choosing
- You want to be found in local Google results
- You sell products, or take bookings
- You need to show a portfolio or before-and-after work
- You compete against businesses that have one
You probably do not, yet
- You are fully booked from referrals
- Your Facebook page is active and does the job
- You are testing whether the business works at all
- You subcontract to a couple of regular clients
- You have no time to keep it current
“Do I need a website?” and “Do I need a domain name?” get confused constantly. The website is optional. The domain is what gives you an email address on your own name and stops anyone else taking it, and it is useful with or without a site.
Your four options
| Option | What people see | Effort | Cost beyond the domain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward to social | Your Facebook or LinkedIn page | Ten minutes, once | Free with a Moreweb domain |
| One-page site | Who you are, what you do, how to reach you | An afternoon | Hosting |
| Full website | Services, portfolio, blog, booking | Ongoing | Hosting, and build cost if you do not DIY |
| Online shop | Products and checkout | Ongoing | Platform fees and transaction costs |
Forwarding to Facebook or LinkedIn
This is the option most sole traders should start with, and it is genuinely free with a Moreweb domain.
URL forwarding means that when someone types youridea.co.nz, they land on whatever page you choose: your Facebook business page, your LinkedIn profile, your Instagram, your Trade Me store, or a listing on a trade association site.
What you get out of it:
- A short, professional web address to put on the van, your cards and your invoices.
- Somewhere to send people that you do not have to build or maintain.
- Your business email address on the same domain.
- The freedom to point it at a real website later, without changing a single thing on your signage.
Because the domain is yours, you can change where it points whenever you like. Facebook now, a proper site in two years, a booking system after that, and the address you have been giving customers for years never changes. That is the whole argument for owning your domain rather than handing out a facebook.com link.
Set it up
Copy the URL of the page you want people to land on
Open your Facebook or LinkedIn page and copy the address from the browser.
Open URL forwarding in your domain control panel
At Moreweb it is included with the domain at no extra cost.
Paste the destination and save
It usually takes effect quickly.
Test it on your phone
Type the domain in, confirm it lands where you expect, then start using it everywhere.
The one-page site
A step up, and enough for a great many sole traders. One page covering who you are, what you do, the area you cover, a few photos of your work, your contact details and your hours.
Things a one-page site does that a Facebook page does not: it shows up properly in Google searches for what you do, it works for people who are not on Facebook, and it looks the same to everyone regardless of what an algorithm decides to show them.
A full website
Worth it when the site is doing real work: ranking for searches, taking bookings, showing a substantial portfolio, or selling. Your options run from building it yourself on WordPress or a site builder, to connecting Shopify, Wix or Squarespace to your domain, to paying someone to build it.
Whichever you choose, register the domain first and point it at the platform afterwards. Doing it the other way round means you spend the build on an address you do not control.
Moreweb offers hosting, managed WordPress and website design if you would rather not do it yourself. Or connect the domain to whatever platform you prefer; the DNS management is included either way. See what is available.
The free thing nobody should skip
Whether or not you build a website, claim your Google Business Profile. It is free, and for local services it often does more than a website ever will: it puts you on the map results, shows your phone number and hours, and collects reviews.
Do the same on any trade directory or association listing relevant to your work, and make sure the details match everywhere: same business name, same phone number, same address format, same web address. Consistency across listings genuinely helps you get found.
Which brings it back to the address itself. Put youridea.co.nz on every one of those listings, and you only ever have to update where it points, not where it is.