Getting Started · Local Business
Do You Really Need a Website If You're on Facebook?
This is the question I hear more than any other: "My Facebook page is doing fine — do I really need a website too?" It's a fair question, and I'm not going to give you the salesy answer. Facebook is a genuinely useful tool for a local business. But here's the honest version of the answer: a Facebook page is a rented room. A website is a house you own. You want both — but you really, really want the one you own.
1. You don't actually own your Facebook page
Facebook can change the rules, throttle how many of your followers see your posts, or lock your account over a mistaken flag — and there's not much you can do about it. People lose access to pages they've spent years building. Your website can't be taken away by someone else's algorithm. It's yours.
2. Not everyone is on Facebook
Plenty of your potential customers don't use it, don't check it often, or simply won't go searching Facebook to find a local business. When they want something, they Google it. If you're not findable outside of Facebook, those people never find you at all.
3. Google is where buying decisions start
When someone searches "[your town] + what you do," Google shows websites and Google Business Profiles — not random Facebook pages. A real website is how you show up at the exact moment someone is looking to spend money. (This pairs with claiming your Google Business Profile, which is free and worth an afternoon.)
4. A website makes you look established
Fair or not, people quietly judge. A business with only a Facebook page can read as "side hustle." A clean website signals you're real, you're here to stay, and you take what you do seriously. That impression matters before a customer ever talks to you.
5. You control the whole experience
On Facebook, your business looks like every other business — same layout, same fonts, your brand squeezed into their template. On your own site, the colors, words, and feel are yours. For a lot of local businesses, that difference is the difference between "looks fine" and "feels like them."
6. It works while you sleep
A website is a salesperson that never clocks out. Your hours, services, menu, prices, and contact info sit there 24/7, answering questions and pointing people to your door — no posting, no scrolling, no feed to feed.
To be clear — keep your Facebook. It's great for staying close to regulars, sharing updates, and building community. Just don't make it your only home online. Use it to point people back to a place you actually own.
The good news: your first website doesn't have to be big, complicated, or expensive. It just has to exist, look like you, and make it easy for someone to find you and reach out. That's the whole job.