Do You Even Need a Website in 2025? (Spoiler: Yes, But I’m Bitter About It)

by Ken Hollow, proud website owner and full-time existential crisis manager

Every morning I wake up, stare at my analytics dashboard, and ask myself the same question:

“Why am I still doing this?”

By “this,” I mean writing daily blog posts. On an actual website. A real one, with its own domain, CMS, SEO plugin, and all the digital dust that comes with it.

Meanwhile, the world has moved on. Brands are building their entire presence on TikTok. Influencers live rent-free on Instagram. Twitter—or “X,” if you’re feeling dystopian—still thrives on chaos. People are out here launching careers from Discord servers and BeReal selfies.

And here I am… meticulously crafting blog posts that Google may or may not acknowledge like an old man yelling into a void.

So: Do you even need a website in 2025?

Let’s unpack that.
(Spoiler: The answer is “yes,” but not without me complaining first.)

Websites Are Official, But Who Cares?

Websites used to matter because they were the place where brands and creators lived online.

Now? Your audience will interact with your Instagram page, maybe see a TikTok, and call it a day. Half of them never even click a bio link. They’re too busy scrolling to see your carefully designed homepage.

And honestly, can you blame them? My website has:

• A hero banner that nobody reads
• A blog archive that’s mostly me screaming into HTML
• An “About” page nobody visits unless they’re deciding whether to cold-pitch me a sponsored post

Meanwhile, Nana Vix posts a blurry photo captioned “mood” and gets 1,000 likes before my site even loads.

Website relevance in 2025? Debatable.

But a Website Is Your Home Base (Unfortunately)

Here’s where I begrudgingly admit the truth:

👉 You still need a website.

Why?

✅ Control. Instagram, TikTok, and all the rest can shadowban you tomorrow, delete your account, or tweak their algorithm just enough to bury your reach forever. Your website? You own it. It’s your domain (literally and metaphorically).

✅ SEO Value. Even if Google feels increasingly capricious, it still prioritizes original, self-hosted content. All that blogging relevance may feel like shouting into the void… but it’s indexed shouting. And indexed shouting occasionally gets clicks.

✅ Credibility. No matter how flashy your socials are, when someone googles your name or your brand, they expect a website to exist. No website? You look unserious. Like you’re still using Hotmail and posting your portfolio on MySpace.

✅ Archive of Record. Social posts disappear into feeds. A website holds onto your thoughts, your content, your breakdowns—forever (or until your hosting expires).

My Daily Routine (Proof That I’m Bitter)

Let me describe the absurdity of my routine for context:

1️⃣ Write a satirical blog post about influencer culture and burnout.
2️⃣ Manually upload it to my WordPress site.
3️⃣ Painstakingly optimize it for SEO: meta descriptions, focus keywords, image alt text.
4️⃣ Cross-post links to socials that nobody clicks.
5️⃣ Watch Nana post one Reel and get more engagement than all my blog traffic combined.

I do this every day. Every day.
Even though the cultural consensus seems to be: “Websites are dead.”

What Social Media Advocates Don’t Mention

Everyone shouting about “just use Instagram!” conveniently ignores:

• Algorithm roulette: You don’t own your reach.
• No search discoverability: Instagram posts don’t get indexed like blog posts.
• Lack of depth: A blog lets you go long-form, weird, niche, specific. Instagram captions have to compete with thirst traps and memes.

And don’t get me started on TikTok’s discoverability model. If I tried to put my daily blog rants into TikTok form, I’d be shadowbanned for “excessive sarcasm” within 48 hours.

SEO Humor, But Make It Painful

In 2025, blogging relevance looks like this:

🔹 Write with personality: Google says it values “helpful, original content.” So technically, my rants count. (Unless the algorithm disagrees that sarcasm is helpful.)

🔹 Update frequently: Daily posts help me stay indexed, even if my bounce rate is 98% because readers flee as soon as they realize I’m unhinged.

🔹 Backlinks: I cry myself to sleep begging other blogs to link to me. Spoiler: They don’t.

🔹 Keyword research: I target “website relevance 2025” like it matters. But let’s be honest… the people searching that phrase are mostly other bitter bloggers like me.

So yeah. I’m playing the SEO game.
Badly.
But at least I’m playing.

The Ultimate Irony

I complain about website relevance… on my website.
I make fun of SEO… while optimizing for it.
I rant about my analytics… while checking them daily.

It’s pure masochism.
Or maybe it’s just… professional pride?

Either way, I keep doing it.

Because here’s the thing: social platforms come and go, but a website is yours.

Even if no one reads it.

Even if you’re shouting into a well-designed void with responsive design and a carefully chosen color palette.

Even if you’re bitter the whole time.

So Do You Need a Website in 2025?

Yes.
Do it anyway.
Be bitter, but build it.

If you’re a creator, freelancer, brand, or even a sarcastic burnout blogger: you need that home base.

You may not get daily traffic.
You may not go viral.
But when people do look you up, your website says:

“This is me. All of me. The chaos, the sarcasm, the occasional moments of coherence.”

It’s your digital headquarters.

And if you’re Ken Hollow? It’s also where you put all your feelings because no one reads your tweets.

Ken Hollow, website manager, bitter blogger, and accidental SEO comedian.