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18th May, 2022

Do You Need A Website For Your Small Business If You Have A Facebook Page


By Christopher White
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A question small business owners often ask, when they are starting out, is: “do you need a website for your business if you already have a Facebook page?” This is a good question and for many small businesses a question they need to find an answer to for budgetary reasons. A well-designed website may not be cheap or affordable, whereas a Facebook page is “free” (except for your time configuring it and posting on it).

Let’s have a look at the topic of whether you need a website if you already have a Facebook page and try to understand why it should be a straight-forward decision to have both.

Websites Give You Control; Facebook Pages Do Not

Facebook Page

Facebook is a great platform for small businesses and can be a truly valuable resource. However, Facebook does have a number of drawbacks for your business, if you do not have a website as well. The primary drawback is that you have no real control over your Facebook page. The control always is in the hand of Facebook themselves. It does not matter how much you try to make your Facebook page look great, only Facebook has the power to control how and whether your visitors see the page.

The primary branding on a Facebook page will always be Facebook’s logo and blue and the layout of the page is uniform for every single Facebook page. This means that your business is always secondary to Facebook on a Facebook page.

Another big difference between a Facebook page and a website that you control is that Facebook is designed around a system of posts and comments. You cannot build up dedicated pages to your services or products, or even a blog in the same way that you can with your own website. You have to make do with the system Facebook provides you.

Your Own Business Website

Conversely, providing you have your own web hosting account, you have 100% control over every aspect of your business website – its layout, colours, fonts, design,….

When you have your own website, you can customize it to suit your business or brand in infinite ways – eCommerce, booking systems, forums, membership sites, eLearning websites, calls to action (CTAs) and much, much more.

Not just this, but you can control how your visitors interact and flow through your website, giving them the best possible customer experience, suited to your business and style of business.

An often forgotten gotcha with Facebook and any other social media platform is that they can control what you can and cannot do. Break their rules and you could find that your Facebook page is taken down, or you are banned from the platform. For eCommerce businesses, there are quite a wide variety of products and services you are not allowed to promote or sell through Facebook. You do not have this problem with your own website.

Your Website Gives Your Business Credibility

Every business needs to be credible to its potential customers if they are to sell its products or services. Having a website will give your business that credibility.

Think about how you personally shop online or search for the service you need. Most people will always search for the business’s website to check out who they are and what impression they give you, before starting a transaction of any sort. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Would you trust a business that just has a Facebook page, but no other formal online presence where you can find out more about them?
  • Would you enter your credit card details without knowing anything else about the business?

A Facebook page is a good asset, but, in our view, Facebook should be used to drive your visitors to your own website where you can sell your wares to them in a more controlled manner, with the detail and credibility your customers would expect.

You Missing Out On Organic Search

In the UK, the organic search market is dominated by Google, who in 2021 had a 92.8% share of all UK searches. This means that if you want your business, products or services to have a reasonable chance of being found by people searching on the Internet, you need to have your own website.

Only with your own website can you optimize it to rank for the search terms (keywords) you want your web pages to be found for.

With just a Facebook page, you have no chance of harnessing the power of Google search and will consequently lose out on potential business. Furthermore, you will not be able to market your business properly and grow your business with just a Facebook page. A website though will help you grow your business.

You Are Subject To Facebook's Terms of Service

When using a Facebook page, you are subject to Facebook’s terms of service. These terms of service can change at any time and a change could potentially negatively affect your business – even to the extent of placing you in breach of the terms.

For any business which sells digital products (downloads, courses, music, etc.) you will not be able to sell them in Facebook’s Marketplace or Facebook Shop – their terms of service disallow the sale of digital products. However, you can promote digital products on Facebook, but the sale must happen elsewhere and the products cannot be listed as products in their eCommerce areas. Only physical goods are allowed.

With your own website, you make up your terms of business and you are not subject to any other third-party terms. The one exception to this is your web host’s terms of use, but if you are running a bona fide business and not dealing in illegal or shady activities, this should not be an issue.

Competition On Facebook

Facebook is used by millions of businesses worldwide. As a consequence, there is enormous competition in every sector. The organic reach of Facebook pages is relatively limited and has been falling for many years now. Facebook encourages you to reach a wider audience with ads. This is presumably a business model to get businesses to pay for online reach, rather than expect a free ride.

Whilst Facebook ads can work well, they can be costly and there is no guarantee that you will get sales as a result. Add into the mix that your competitors will also be trying to get found for the same services and products as your business, both through organic means and paid ads.

An important fact to always remember is that Facebook is a social media channel and therefore by the nature of the beast, most users (i.e. potential customers) are there to interact with their friends and family, not to search for products and services. They do that on Google and the wider Internet.

With that in mind, you need to know that Facebook Ads are very different to Google Ads. On Facebook, you are charged for every time an ad is displayed in a Facebook user’s feed – whether they see it, interact with it or not. On Google, you are charged only when the user clicks your ad. Facebook ads are therefore a big consideration for businesses, as the costs can quickly mount up.

With your own website, things are different, but not necessarily easier. When you start out with a new website, it will take time and a strong SEO strategy to get your pages ranking and found. However, once that starts to happen, you will find a steady stream of visitors coming to your website to investigate and hopefully buy your goods or services. They will arrive because you are offering something specific that they want. You do not get this on Facebook.

Online Marketing Considerations

One of the most important reasons for needing a website, as well as a Facebook page, is marketing. For the various reasons we have already looked at, you cannot rely upon a Facebook page alone to market your wares. If you want your business to be a leader in your sector or local market, you will need to have multiple channels through which you can give your business exposure. Your website would be the central hub for all these channels to pass through.

Businesses which are successful will have a marketing strategy which involves any combination of these methods: YouTube videos, ads, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, podcasts and any other social media channels. The one common thing the use of each one of these channels will involve is that they will direct traffic to your website in every case. Your website will be the central point where external promotion can be capitalized upon by tailoring your landing pages to the message in your advertising, posts, videos or podcasts.

Summary

We have looked into the question: “do you need a website for your business if you already have a Facebook page?” in some detail. It should be quite obvious that a forward-thinking business should not have just a Facebook page for their online presence. By all means have a Facebook page, but having a website to drive traffic to and to present your business as a credible and trustworthy entity is a no-brainer.

With your own business website you have control over how you present your business to your market and are not reliant upon a third party. If you do not already have a website, you seriously need to think about having one created for you as soon as possible, or you will continue to lose out on potential business.

How To Get A Good Business Website

There are many different ways to build a website, but unless you are a web designer or technically very competent, we strongly suggest you find an experienced web designer, who is also expert with SEO.

Cotswold Websites build websites for small businesses, charities, churches and any type of business using WordPress. WordPress is used by over 30% of all websites worldwide, including many giants, such as CNN, Sony, UPS, Reuters and The Rolling Stones, amongst others. It is a platform which gives you the best possible ability to create a compelling website to the design of your dreams. Add to that, Google loves WordPress and it is easier to rank WordPress website over other platforms.

Get in contact with us today to find out how a new website could help you. Alternatively, click the button below to request your own FREE website and digital marketing review. We ask you a few questions and will then have a look at your online presence before coming back to you with a detailed and objective review of what looks great, as well as areas you could definitely improve upon. Our FREE website and digital marketing review has helped many small businesses better understand their digital footprint and help build their businesses online.

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