Do I need a website if I’m on Facebook?

Plenty of small businesses run entirely from a Facebook or Instagram page, and some do very well out of it. So is a website still worth paying for? For most businesses the answer is yes, but probably not for the reasons you’d expect. It isn’t about looking “professional”. It’s about being found, and about owning the place where customers end up.

What a Facebook page does well

Let’s be fair to social media first. A Facebook page is free, quick to set up and sits where a lot of your customers already spend their time. It’s good for:

• sharing photos of your work, new stock or this week’s specials
• announcing events, offers and changes to opening hours
• answering quick questions through messages
• collecting reviews and recommendations from people who know you

If you’re active and your customers are local and social, that’s genuinely valuable. Don’t stop doing it.

Where a Facebook page falls short

You don’t own it

Your page lives on someone else’s platform, under someone else’s rules. Facebook decides how many of your followers see each post, and that number has dropped a long way over the years. Accounts get hacked or locked, and getting a human at Meta to help can be close to impossible. If that happens, your business disappears with it.

Not everyone is on Facebook

Many people don’t use Facebook at all, or won’t log in just to check your opening hours. A website works for anyone with a browser, without an account or a cookie pop-up asking them to sign in.

Google rarely shows it for the searches that matter

Your Facebook page may come up when someone searches for your business by name. But when someone searches for what you do, such as “electrician in Harrogate” or “dog groomer near me”, Google mostly shows business profiles and websites. A Facebook page is rarely what they find.

The important information gets buried

Social media is a feed. Your prices, services, area and how to book scroll out of sight under newer posts. A website keeps those answers in one fixed, easy place.

What a website adds

• One clear home for what you do, where you work, what it costs and how to get in touch.
• Visibility in Google for the searches new customers actually make.
• Control. Nobody can switch it off, change the layout or limit who sees it.
• A stronger Google Business Profile. Linking a proper website to your Google Business Profile gives Google more confidence about who you are and what you do.
• An email address on your own domain, such as hello@yourbusiness.co.uk, which looks more established than a Gmail address.

When you might not need one (yet)

I’d rather you spend money where it helps, so here’s the honest version. You can probably wait if:

• you’re just testing an idea and don’t know yet if it will become a business
• you’re fully booked through word of mouth and don’t want more work
• it’s a hobby that occasionally sells something

Even then, set up a free Google Business Profile. It’s the one thing every local business should have, website or not.

The best setup: both, working together

Think of your website as the shop and your social media as the window display. Social posts get people’s attention; the website answers their questions and turns them into customers. Link to your website from your social profiles, and link back to your social pages from your website.

What does a simple website cost?

Less than most people expect. I’ve written an honest breakdown in How much does a small business website cost in the UK? My own Starter package is £395 for a clean three-page site you own, with the words written for you, set up properly for Google. See what’s included.