Yes! 110% Yes, without a second thought your business needs a professional website. Regardless of how fantastic your Facebook page is, your business needs a site. Your website is the hub of your online presence where your customers would have all the information they need about your business. Moreover, a website proves to be a badge of trust boosting the credibility of your business.
Sure, the Facebook offers business owners a free platform to interact with new and existing opportunities, but it isn’t really enough. There isn’t anything wrong with promoting your business using Facebook; if you do it correctly, you can drum up a decent set of followers. There are also situations where your Facebook page is all you need, but, a website is a necessity, not an option.
Not everyone is on Facebook – you may miss out on your potential customers. Often people consider Facebook as a social media platform where teenagers usually spend time postings all updates. Though I don’t agree with it, as many businesses have some success with having a Facebook business page. But hey, people have their own opinions. So you are the one who needs to answer the question if your business growth is sustainable via your Facebook page.
Here are six reasons why you still need a website, even if you already have a Facebook page for your business.
Branding and Professionalism
Your Facebook page is a predefined template that can’t be changed or modified. The only thing you can do it to personalize it is – add your profile picture, cover photo, apps, and Milestones. And all of these come with a limitation.
When it comes to your website, it is like “the front door of your online business.” You can showcase your brand and get much more control over the impression you want to give people when they visit your brand for the first time. People consider a business website to be more professional and credible. Sure, The Facebook business page is free – but do you really want to be known as the business who can’t afford a professional business website?
You Don’t (and will Never) Own Your Facebook Page
Have you ever thought about it – what if Facebook decides that it won’t support business any longer? All the client base and followers you built over the period all go into the drain. Well, though, for sure Facebook won’t shut down its business pages anytime soon. However, you have no control over any changes Facebook decides to implement. For instance, when Facebook first switched to the new business page timeline model, many businesses had to struggle around and update their page to accommodate the new layout.
Having your own website will ensure you have the complete control of how it looks and what are the features you need that can support your business.
Limited Functionalities
You can’t do much on your Facebook page. It provides you with insufficient features to share your business details. Even the provided About section has quite restricting options. You can’t share the information regarding your services, pricing, team members and more unless you create a separate app for each one of them. It for sure isn’t free. Might as well you build your own website that can be designed to suit your brand.
Limited Accessibility
As already mentioned, not all your targeted audience use Facebook! And, even if they are, for them to get all your notifications, they need to like your page. Furthermore, not necessarily people who liked your page will see your updates. According to a research, in recent months, the organic reach of Facebook pages has decreased considerably.
SEO and Searchability
What would you do in case you want to look for a business in your locality? Google it or do you go on the Facebook to search for it? You go on a search engine. That’s how people will search for your a service or product relevant to your business. Meaning, unless they know the name of your brand, there is very less possibility for them to look for you on the Facebook. Sure, search engines index Facebook pages, but again, your business website gives you the flexibility to optimize for a specific set of keywords relevant to your business which makes you easier to find.
Competitiveness
People usually tend to trust companies with both a Facebook page and a website over the ones with just a Facebook page. Meaning, there is a possibility of your customer choosing your competitor over you who has both of them. It again goes back to credibility and professionalism. Business websites are a badge of trust. Not only customers also search engines give importance to companies that have a website. You don’t need a stunning site. All you require is a website that is user-friendly and search engine optimized.
I dont use a website and definitely dont need one. A website will not be an improvement to my business.
I can’t understand why you would say “Yes! 110% Yes, without a second thought your business needs a professional website. Regardless of how fantastic your Facebook page is, your business needs a site. Your website is the hub of your online presence where your customers would have all the information they need about your business. Moreover, a website proves to be a badge of trust boosting the credibility of your business.”
Websites do not provide any useful marketing or verification. Most websites are impossible to follow or find relevant information.
I will run my Facebook page without a Website and will not think twice about it.
Usually people who visit you Facebook page would want to see more content about your business. A website would suffice their needs. Also to rank in Local searches like “Businesses near me” you would require a website.
I am not on Facebook. I left, years ago, and willnevergo back. I hate it when companies have only a Facebook page and no regular web page. If a company seems to be forcing me to use a platform that I dislike then I will simply go to one of their more customer friendly competitors.
For similar reasons to my dislike of Facebook I also refuse to use Whatsapp
In my opinion, the website is the most important, It’s your digital identity, if you say that Facebook is giving you the same identity, Then you are right, but the difference is it is not your property, You need to follow their Rules :).
Facebook is the helping tool that will have the ability to explore your business idea, few days before Facebook has been shut down, nobody can even be logged in, if Alibaba or aliexpress or amazon only uses Facebook for its business, then after temporary down how people can use the services of the above site.