What a Facebook page is genuinely good at
It's worth starting here, because plenty of web designers will tell you Facebook is a waste of time. It isn't.
- It's free and quick. A photo of a job you finished this morning can be up before lunch.
- Recommendations travel. A recommendation from a friend counts for a lot, and on Facebook it's easy for people to share one.
- Messaging is easy. Plenty of customers would rather send a quick message than ring.
- Your existing customers are already there. It's a natural way to stay in front of people who have used you before.
If most of your work comes from people who already know you, or know someone who does, a Facebook page does a lot of the work for you.
Where it falls short
Most people looking for a business start on Google
When a boiler packs in, or someone decides this is finally the year to sort the garden, most people search Google: “plumber near me”, “landscaper Lisburn”. Facebook pages can turn up in those results, but for searches like that they usually sit below proper websites and Google Maps listings, and there is very little you can do about it from inside Facebook.
You don't own it
Your page lives on somebody else's platform, under somebody else's rules. Facebook decides how many of your followers see each post, and that number tends to fall unless you pay to boost it. Pages get hacked and accounts get locked, and getting them back can take weeks. A website on your own domain belongs to you. Nobody can switch it off, or decide your customers shouldn't see it.
The things customers want to know are hard to find
Someone comparing three businesses wants a handful of answers quickly: what you do, whether you cover their area, what your work looks like and how to get hold of you. On a Facebook page those answers are scattered through months of posts. On a good website they're on the first screen.
Not everyone uses Facebook
Some people don't have an account. Some have one and never open it, and some simply won't contact a business through it. If Facebook is the only place you exist, every one of those people is a customer you can't reach.
What a website does that Facebook can't
- Shows up properly when people search Google for what you do and where you do it
- Belongs to you, on your own domain, for as long as you want it
- Puts your services, your area, your work and your phone number in one place, in the order you choose
- Makes you look like an established business to someone who has never met you
- Keeps working whatever Facebook decides to change next
You don't have to choose
For most small businesses the right answer is both, each doing a different job. Keep posting on Facebook: recent work, the odd update, staying in front of people who already know you. Let the website do the part Facebook can't, which is being found by strangers and giving them a reason to get in touch.
Then link the two together. Put your website address on your Facebook page, and link to your Facebook page from your website. Someone who finds you on Google can see you're active, and someone who finds you on Facebook can see everything properly laid out.
When you might not need a website yet
There are a couple of situations where I'd tell you to hold off.
If you're already booked up months ahead from word of mouth and don't want more work, a website won't change much. Spend the money somewhere else and come back to it when things quieten down.
And if you've only just started and aren't sure yet what you want to focus on, it can make sense to run on a Facebook page for a few months first. Collect some reviews, take photos of real jobs, and build the website once you know exactly what you're selling. It will be a better site for the wait.
If you do get one, what it needs
A small business website doesn't need to be complicated. The ones that work tend to have the same few things:
- What you do, said plainly near the top
- The towns and areas you cover
- Photos of your own finished work rather than stock images
- Reviews from real customers
- Your phone number, easy to tap on a phone, on every page
- A simple way to get in touch, whether that's a call, a text or WhatsApp
Get those right and the site will do its job. If you'd like to know what one would cost, the pricing page sets out what changes the number.