Do you need a website if your business already has a Facebook page?

Your Facebook page is free. It's where your customers already spend their evenings. You can post photos of your work, reply to messages and collect reviews.

So when someone tells you that you need a website, it's fair to ask: why?

I build websites for a living, so you might expect me to say every business needs one. I don't think that's true. Some businesses do fine without one. But most of the ones relying on Facebook alone are missing a type of customer they don't even know about.

Quick answer: Facebook is good for keeping in touch with people who already know you. A website is better at being found by people who don't. If nearly all your work comes from word of mouth and repeat customers, Facebook may be enough for now. If you want strangers searching Google to find and choose you, you'll want a website, and ideally a Google Business Profile too.

Three questions to answer along the way:

• Who's the customer Facebook can't reach?
• What happens to your page if Facebook changes the rules?
• Is there a halfway option that costs very little?

What Facebook does brilliantly

Let's be fair to it first.

• It's free and quick. You can set up a page in an afternoon.
• It's social. Customers share your posts, tag friends and recommend you in local groups.
• It's great for updates. "Fully booked this week", "New van", "Here's the kitchen we finished today".
• Messages are easy. Lots of people would rather send a Messenger message than fill in a form.
• Local groups are powerful. In plenty of towns, "Can anyone recommend a plumber?" posts in community groups are a real source of work.

If that describes how most of your customers find you, Facebook is doing a real job.

The customer Facebook doesn't reach

Here's the answer to the first question.

Think about a homeowner whose boiler has just stopped working. They don't open Facebook and scroll. They open Google and type "boiler repair near me" or "heating engineer Penarth".

That person:

• Doesn't know you exist.
• Isn't in your local Facebook group.
• Is about to call one of the first few businesses they see.

Those first few businesses come from Google's map results and from websites. A Facebook page can appear in Google, especially when someone searches your business name. But for "what I need, near me" searches, a Facebook page usually has little to go on. You can't create a proper page for each service, write a clear explanation of your prices, or structure the information the way a website lets you.

So the real question isn't "Facebook or a website?" It's "Do I want the customers who search Google?"

You don't own your Facebook page

This is the second question, and it's the one people think about least.

Your Facebook page lives on someone else's platform, under their rules. That has some consequences:

• The reach can change. How many of your followers see each post is decided by Facebook, and that has changed over the years.
• Accounts can be restricted or lost. If your account is hacked, locked or wrongly flagged, getting it back can be slow, and in the meantime your page may be out of reach.
• The layout isn't yours. You can't decide what visitors see first, and you can't remove things you don't want next to your business.

A website on your own domain is different. You choose what it says. If you're unhappy with your designer or host, you can move it. Nobody can switch it off because of a policy change.

That doesn't make Facebook bad. It makes it risky as your only presence.

What a website does that Facebook can't

• It answers questions before people ask. Your services, areas, prices or price ranges, accreditations and how the job works, all in one place.
• It helps you appear in Google for the searches new customers use.
• It looks established. Many people check for a website before they hire someone. A business with only a Facebook page can look less established, fairly or not.
• It gives you a proper email address. hello@yourbusiness.co.uk looks more trustworthy on a quote than a free webmail address.
• It's yours. Your domain, your content, your choice.

When Facebook alone is enough

I'd honestly say a Facebook page might be enough, for now, if:

• Almost all your work comes from repeat customers and word of mouth.
• You're fully booked and not looking for more work.
• You're testing an idea and aren't sure the business will last.
• Your customers genuinely live on Facebook, and they find you through local groups.

In those cases, spend your energy on great work and good reviews. Come back to the website question when you want to grow.

The halfway option

Here's the third question. If a full website feels like too much right now, there's a sensible middle step that costs nothing:

1. Set up a Google Business Profile. It's free, it puts you in the map results, and it collects Google reviews. My guide to Google Business Profile for tradespeople explains how.
2. Keep your Facebook page active, and link it to your Google profile.
3. Register your domain name now, even if you don't build a website yet. It stops someone else taking it, and it's yours when you're ready.

That covers two of the biggest gaps (being found on Google and owning your name) for very little money.

When a website pays for itself

A website is a cost, so it should earn its keep. The simple test: how much is one new customer worth to you?

If one extra job a month from Google would cover the yearly running costs of a small website, it only has to work a little to be worthwhile. If your average job is small and you're already turning work away, the maths is different.

My guide to what a small business website costs in the UK shows how to work out the real yearly figure, so you can compare it with what a new customer is worth to you.

Use both, for different jobs

Most businesses that do well online end up using both, each for what it's good at:

• The website is your shop window: it's always there, it's yours, and it answers the important questions.
• The Google Business Profile gets you into the map results.
• Facebook keeps you in front of the people who already know you, and lets you show recent work.

Each one points to the others. Your Facebook page links to your website. Your website mentions you're on Facebook. Your Google profile links to your website.

That way, a customer who finds you anywhere can get to everything.