The short version
- A Facebook page is rented ground. You do not own it and you cannot control who sees your posts.
- Facebook pages rarely rank for the searches people use when they are ready to buy.
- Most people check a business on Google before they call, and a page gives them very little.
- The answer is usually both, not one instead of the other.
This comes up in almost every conversation we have with a local business, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a sales pitch. If your Facebook page is bringing you steady work, that is genuinely good, and anyone who tells you it is worthless is selling something.
What a Facebook page does well
- It is free, and it takes minutes to set up.
- It is excellent for showing recent work and keeping regulars up to date.
- Messenger makes it easy for people to ask a quick question.
- Word of mouth spreads well on it, especially in smaller towns where everyone is connected.
None of that is in dispute. The problem is what happens outside those four things.
Where a Facebook page runs out of road
You do not own it
The page is on rented ground. The rules on reach, format and advertising change without your input, and accounts do occasionally get restricted or locked with no warning and no easy appeal. If your only route to customers disappears on a Tuesday morning, you have no route to customers.
It does not show up where people search
When somebody needs a plumber in Antrim or a pet shop in Armagh, they type it into Google. Facebook pages rarely appear for those searches, and when they do it is usually below the businesses with proper websites and Google Business Profiles. That is the gap that costs the most, because those are the people ready to spend.
It is hard to find the basics
Opening hours buried in a post from March. Prices in a comment. Whether you cover a particular town, nobody knows. People will not scroll to find that. They will ring the next name on the list.
Your posts only reach a fraction of your followers
Even people who deliberately followed you will not see most of what you post, unless you pay. You built that audience and you do not control access to it.
A simple way to think about it: your Facebook page talks to people who already know you. A website gets found by people who do not.
What a website adds
- You show up on Google when somebody local searches for what you do.
- Everything people need is in one place: what you do, where you cover, prices or a guide price, hours and how to get in touch.
- It works when you are asleep. Enquiry forms, WhatsApp buttons and online booking do not clock off.
- It looks established, which matters more than people admit when a customer is deciding between two names.
- You own it. Nobody can change the rules or switch it off.
So do you need one?
If you are getting all the work you can handle from Facebook and word of mouth, you may not need one yet, and we will say so. But if you are turning up nowhere on Google, if people keep asking questions the page should already answer, or if you want to grow beyond the people who already know you, then a website is the foundation everything else sits on.
It is also not either or. The best setup for most local businesses is a website doing the finding and the converting, with the Facebook page doing what it is good at: showing recent work and keeping regulars warm.
Want a straight answer about your own business?
Tell us what you do and where you are, and we will tell you honestly what is worth doing and what is not. First chat is free and there is no pressure.