Many businesses in Uzbekistan sell only through Telegram. We look at what Telegram does well, where it falls short, when you can manage without a website, and how to combine a channel, a bot and a site.
In Uzbekistan, many companies run almost entirely on Telegram. Products and promotions go out in a channel, questions are answered in a group, orders come in through direct messages, and payment is a transfer via Click or Payme. It works, customers are used to it, and the obvious question follows: why spend money on a website if sales are already coming in?
The short answer: Telegram is good at keeping the people who have already found you, while a website helps people who do not know about you yet find you. But sometimes a website really is not needed yet.
What Telegram does well
A channel takes a minute to create and costs nothing. The audience is already in the messenger, so customers do not need to install anything or sign up. They message a manager, get an answer straight away, ask for details and send photos. Subscribers see new posts and promotions without ads or newsletters, and a bot can take orders, answer common questions and send notifications.
For a small business with a loyal audience, such as a home bakery or a clothing showroom, this is often enough at the start.
Where Telegram falls short
New customers from search
When someone searches for "air conditioner repair Tashkent" or "custom kitchen furniture", they open Google or Yandex, not Telegram search. Channel posts rarely appear in search results and almost never rank at the top for commercial queries. Competitors' websites and map listings sit at the top, and the customer goes to them.
Trust
Anyone can create a channel in a minute, and buyers know it. Before a large purchase or a contract, people want to see the company: an address, legal details, examples of work, reviews, delivery terms and guarantees. A website on your own domain shows that the business is real and will not disappear overnight. This matters most in B2B: corporate clients, banks and partners often check the website first and only then get in touch.
You do not own the channel
A channel depends entirely on the platform's rules and on a single account. If the owner loses access to their phone number, or the account is blocked by mistake or after a complaint, and the channel has no second administrator, you lose both the audience and the whole history. A website, domain and customer database are registered to the company and stay yours. We covered how to protect your digital assets in "How Not to Lose Your Domain and Website".
Catalogue and navigation
With twenty products, scrolling through a channel is fine. With two hundred, a customer cannot find the model they want among hundreds of posts: a channel has no filters by price, size or specification, no cart and no comparison. So they message a manager to ask "do you have…", and the manager spends time on questions a catalogue could have answered.
Leads get lost
When orders arrive in the direct messages of several managers, some are forgotten, answered late or never followed up. Counting how many enquiries came in, how many turned into sales and where each customer came from is close to impossible. A website with forms connected to a CRM collects every lead in one place. We explained how to set this up in "CRM for Small Business".
Advertising and analytics
Yandex Direct lets you run ads that lead straight to a Telegram channel, but Yandex Metrica does not track those clicks: you can see how many people subscribed through the link, but not which of them bought. With a website you can set up analytics and goals and allocate your budget by enquiries and sales.
When you can manage without a website
- Customers come through referrals and social media, not search.
- Your range is small and easy to show in a few pinned posts.
- You sell only to individuals, and deals are small.
- You are testing an idea and are not yet sure the business will grow.
Even then, it is worth registering a domain with your company name in advance and creating listings on Google Maps and Yandex Maps: it costs little and already brings in some search traffic.
When you need a website
- Your customers search for your service on Google or Yandex, and your competitors are already there.
- You sell expensive products or services, and people compare companies before buying.
- You work with businesses, take part in tenders or are looking for partners and distributors.
- Your range has grown, and customers need a catalogue with search and filters.
- You are launching paid ads and want to know which ones pay off.
- You plan to serve customers in other regions or countries.
How to combine Telegram and a website
You do not have to give up Telegram. A setup that works for businesses in Uzbekistan looks like this:
- The website brings in new customers from search and ads and presents the company: services, prices or a catalogue, examples of work, contacts.
- The website has a "Message us on Telegram" button for people who prefer chatting, and an enquiry form for everyone else.
- Form submissions go to the company's Telegram bot and to the CRM, so a manager sees them immediately and none get lost.
- The channel keeps existing customers engaged with new arrivals, promotions and useful posts. A link to the website sits in the channel description and in posts.
If your customers are used to ordering right inside Telegram, you can build a Telegram Mini App: a small web app with a catalogue and cart that opens inside the messenger. It can run on the same backend as your website, so products are managed in one place.
Where to start
You do not need a large website straight away. A business card website or a landing page with your services, examples of work, contacts and an enquiry form is enough to start. We compared the options in "Business Card Website in Tashkent" and "Landing Page or Multi-Page Website". Once you see which searches bring customers in, you can grow the site with service pages, a catalogue and a blog.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Telegram channel be promoted on Google?
Partly. Public channels can show up in search results, but you have almost no control over how they appear or for which queries. Steady search traffic needs a separate page for each service or product category, and that is only possible on a website.
Is a Telegram bot enough instead of a website?
A bot is handy for taking orders and answering common questions, but it cannot be found through Google either, and it does not replace the page people open to check out a company. A bot works best alongside a website: it receives leads from the site and notifies your managers.
Will customers leave Telegram once there is a website?
No. People who prefer chatting will keep messaging you on Telegram, especially since the button on the website leads there. The website adds people who found you through search.
How long until a website starts bringing customers from search?
Usually a few months: search engines need time to index the pages and start showing them for the right queries. Google and Yandex ads bring enquiries as soon as they launch, which is why the two are often combined at the start.
Want to know whether your business needs a website and which format to start with? Get in touch and we will give you an honest answer, even if it turns out Telegram is enough for now.
