Do I Need a Website If I Have a Facebook Page?

This question usually gets a dishonest answer, because the people answering it sell websites.

Here is the honest version. A Facebook page does a real job, it does it well in a small town, and there are businesses for which it is currently enough. There are also two things it cannot do, and both of them tend to matter more as a business gets older.

What a Facebook page does genuinely well

In a town of a few thousand people, the local Facebook group is a real marketplace. Someone asks who to call for a leaking water heater and gets nine replies naming four companies. That is word of mouth with a search function attached, and it is powerful.

A page also gives you something a website does not: a feed. Photos of finished jobs, a note that you are booked out two weeks, a thank you to a customer. That rhythm builds familiarity, and familiarity is most of what makes a neighbor choose you.

If you are getting steady work this way, that is not a lesser channel. That is the channel working.

The first thing a page cannot do

It does not show up when someone searches for what you do.

When a person types "septic pumping near me" or "electrician in [town]", what returns is a map of local businesses and then a list of websites. Facebook pages are not really part of that answer.

This matters because those searches come from people who do not know you. Your Facebook presence works on people already inside your circle. Search works on everyone else, including the family who moved into town in March and has no idea who to call.

For most service businesses, that is the growth that is being left on the table.

The second thing a page cannot do

It is not yours.

The account can be disabled. The page can be restricted. A login can be lost when the person who set it up leaves. The rules can change. None of that is likely on any given day, and all of it happens to somebody every day.

If your Facebook page disappeared tonight, what would remain? For a lot of small businesses the honest answer is a phone number some people have saved, and nothing else. That is a real risk to build a business on, and it grows with the business.

The thing that beats both, and it is free

Before you decide between a page and a website, claim your Google Business Profile.

It is free, it takes about an hour to fill in properly, and it is what actually appears in the map block when somebody searches for your service nearby. For a local service business it usually produces phone calls faster than either a Facebook page or a website.

If you do only one thing after reading this, do that one.

When the answer is honestly no

You probably do not need a website right now if all of these are true:

• You are booked as far out as you want to be.
• Essentially all of your work comes from repeat customers and referrals.
• You have a claimed and filled-in Google Business Profile already.
• You have no plan to grow, hire, or sell the business.

That is a legitimate position and nobody should make you feel behind for holding it. Spend the money on a better truck.

When the answer is yes

You need one when any of these start to be true:

• You want work from people who do not already know your name.
• You are hiring, and you need the business to look like an employer.
• You sell anything that requires explanation before someone calls, which covers most installation and replacement work.
• You want the option to sell the business someday, where "our presence is a Facebook page" is a mark against the value.
• You are tired of typing the same answers into comment threads.

The version that actually works

The businesses that do best do not choose. They run both, with each doing the job it is good at.

The Facebook page carries the personality: the job photos, the seasonal notes, the community stuff. The website carries the answers: what each service involves, what areas you cover, what to expect, and a way to reach you that does not depend on somebody's feed.

The page brings the town. The site catches everyone else, and it is still there in five years.

What this costs

This is where the advice usually gets expensive, so here is the range plainly.

A custom site from an agency is typically a four-figure project. A website builder is a monthly subscription that never stops. A complete kit built for your trade, that you fill in yourself and host free, is a one-time cost in the low hundreds.

Any of the three beats not being findable. The right one depends on how much you want to own and how much you want to do yourself.