“I have a Facebook Page..Why do I need a business website?”
We get asked this a lot. And we get it. Especially when you’re a small business owner, and every penny counts, the option of having a totally free online presence via a Facebook Business Page is appealing. After all, why should I pay for a website? A designer? Hosting? Domain name? Maintenance plan, etc.? I could get my name out there for free! The truth is it’s just not the same. I have put together 7 reasons why you shouldn’t replace having a business website with simply a Facebook Business Page:
If you’re anything like me, you get distracted on any kind of social media platform. Lets take the best case scenario: you brought the customer onto your Facebook Business Page. You’ve posted all of this great content, trying to nurture your target audience, and low and behold! Your potential customer gets a ding! Notification! That little red badge is so small but so appealing to click on! And there goes your guy/gal. And believe me, they are not going to remember to return back to your page once they found out that cousin Samantha finally got engaged. Its a long and drawn out spiral from there.
Your biggest wealth is your following. Let me specify..Your biggest wealth is YOUR following. That’s right, on Facebook, they may have liked your page, but you don’t own that lead. You don’t have a consensually opted in email address in hand, through which you can nurture your customers until they are ready to purchase your product/service. Not to mention the loads of benefits of email marketing such as tagging leads into different groups to nurture them based on classifications, which is totally unavailable with Facebook posts on your page. It’s a shot in the dark, hoping that something sticks to someone.
Facebook has many of its own advantages, and you can create a business presence on the platform, but unfortunately, every business is going to do so and therefore it is much harder to stand out. There are only so many options for customizing the look and feel of your business page on Facebook. While yes, they allow for uploading photos, link, cover photos, profile photo, about section, etc., there is only so much you can do with the cards dealt to you. When I build websites for our clients, I integrate a look and feel into their site that will leave their consumer with a memorable impression. The ability to design and craft the user experience is much more available on a business website, the options are limitless.
While yes, most people have facebook nowadays, you have to still consider your target market very carefully ot figure out where you have your highest, most dense amount of them. If you are trying to cater to a much younger crowd, well then, in mid 2020 many have already shifted their focus to other platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. A recent poll shows that in 2020 only about 68% of U.S. adults are on facebook. That’s 32% of business that you could be leaving on the table! Say you make $100k/year…well now you made $68k. While social media marketing is very important to the growth and success of your business, having a business website that is catered towards your ideal customers is vital. It can help you offset that constant search for the latest platform that hosts most of your customers.
Imagine this: you need a plumber to install a new bathtub in your bathroom after your old one broke. What’s the first thing you do? That’s right, you go to your good friend Google and perform a quick search. I don’t believe most people would perform that search on Facebook, am I right? While yes, Facebook pages do rank in Google, you don’t have the ability to implement an SEO strategy that is filled with target specific industry keywords and backlinks to your content. Generally the only way people will go to your page on Facebook is mostly if they know of your brand already.
I’ll let you in on a small secret most people don’t really know about: Everything you do online leaves a trail behind you. Facebook is FULL of business just like yours. One feature that Facebook has is marketing to ‘look alike crowds’. Meaning, your customers will be marketed to by other similar companies on Facebook merely because they entered your business page. And now it is know in the Facebook algorithm that they are ‘interested’ in services like yours. Suddenly you can find yourself in a pool of 50 other sharks trying to bait your customers with shinier and brighter offers than what you currently have.
I know you’ve probably heard this before, but it is still very much applicable and let me explain with a personal example. What if facebook shuts down tomorrow? Or If Facebook decides to close your account? Or Facebook changes it policies that directly affect you?, etc. The list goes on. When you don’t have your own business website, you are dependent on many factors that are no longer in your control. I have personally experienced this now. One of my biggest marketing channels is TikTok. As some of you may have heard already, in mid 2020 Tiktok keeps threatening to get banned in the U.S. and has already been banned in several big countries due to various data management issues. Of course, I am left scratching my head thinking, “Why did I put in all this effort to cultivate such a large following on TikTok? Luckily I have been also cultivating my brand through my website, and gathering smart business owners like yourself to follow my company. I think I have proved my point.
Should you stop giving so much love and attention to your Facebook page? Absolutely not! Facebook is an amazing place to grow your audience and cultivate your following. However it won’t give optimal results if used on its own. You should be using your Facebook page as more of a tool to bring people to your website, where you have much more control over guiding your customers to your desired outcome. One where you can build up a lead-list that you own. You don’t need a heavily designed, stunning website. But at least one that is user-friendly, clear, and optimized for search-engines.
Here at 1Bar Design, one of our pillars is crafting sites that are not only beautiful and strategic, but also ones that Google will most definitely not frown upon. Contact us to get the ball rolling on building your website to grow your business.
