Your Facebook page is free, people already message it, and it took an afternoon to set up. Paying thousands for a website when that is already working feels like a hard sell.
So here is the straight answer to whether you need a website when you already have a Facebook page, when a page really is enough, and what you give up either way.
Do I need a website if I have a Facebook page?
Most small businesses do need a website, because a Facebook page cannot be found by people searching Google for your service, and you do not control what happens to it. A page is rented space. If Facebook changes its layout, restricts your reach, or locks the account, your entire online presence goes with it.
The exception is real. If every customer you get comes from a community group or word of mouth, and nobody searches for what you sell, a page plus a claimed Google Business Profile can carry you for a while.
What can a website do that a Facebook page cannot?
Four things, and each of them turns into money.
- Show up in Google searches. When someone types “roof repair near me” the results are websites and map listings, not Facebook pages.
- Explain what you sell. A services page stays put. A post about your services is buried within a week.
- Take a booking at 11pm. A contact and quote form works while you sleep, instead of a message sitting unread until morning.
- Belong to you. Nobody can suspend it, throttle it, or start showing your competitor next to it.
That last point is the one owners underestimate until the day the account gets flagged and support is a help article.
When is a Facebook page genuinely enough?
A page is enough when your business runs on browsing rather than searching, and when your customers are already in the same local groups you are. Food trucks, market stalls, hobby resellers, and a lot of home bakers do fine this way for the first year.
Two signs it has stopped being enough: people start asking you to email them details, and you notice you are typing the same answers over and over in Messenger. Both mean you need a page that answers those questions once.
What does a website cost compared to a page?
A small two or three page website generally runs $1,500 to $3,000 to build, with $40 to $200 a month for hosting and upkeep. A five page site with services, about and contact pages usually lands between $3,000 and $5,000. Compared with free, that is a real gap, so the question is whether the site brings in more than it costs.
One extra job a month covers it for most trades. If your average job is under $100, the math is harder, and a single landing page is often the smarter first step at roughly a quarter of the cost of a full site.
Can you keep both?
Yes, and that is what most businesses should do. Use the Facebook page for personality, updates, and conversation. Use the website as the place that explains, proves, and takes the booking. Every post links back to the site, so the audience you build somewhere you do not control ends up somewhere you do.
Set your profiles up the same way across every platform while you are at it. Same logo, same description, same phone number, same link. It takes an evening and it is free, and it stops you looking like three different businesses. Our post on posting without losing your evenings covers keeping that going once it is set up.
What happens if you do nothing?
You keep the customers who already know you and slowly lose the ones who do not. People searching for your service find whoever has a site, and every time your page shows up next to a competitor with reviews and a real website, you look like the smaller option even when you are not.
Target Marketeer builds and runs marketing for small businesses nationwide, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and this exact question comes up more than any other. The answer usually is not to buy the biggest site, it is to buy the smallest one that does the job. If you are interested in having us handle it, our website design and development service starts at $2,250 for a two page build, which is the small end on purpose.
Quick answers
Does a Facebook page help me rank on Google?
Barely. A page can appear when someone searches your exact business name, but it will not show for service searches like “electrician near me.” Those results go to websites and Google Business Profiles.
Is a free website builder good enough instead?
It is better than nothing and worse than a real build. Free tiers usually put ads on your pages, give you a long ugly address, and make it hard to move later. If budget is the blocker, start with one paid page rather than a free five page site.
What about Instagram or a Google Business Profile instead?
A Google Business Profile is essential and free, so claim it either way. Instagram is a social account with the same limits as Facebook. Neither replaces a page you own.
How long does it take to get a small site live?
Two to four weeks for most small businesses, and about a week for a single landing page. The slow part is gathering photos and approving copy, not the building.
Will a website actually bring me calls?
Only if it is set up to. A site that loads fast, states your service area, and has one obvious way to contact you does. Our post on what makes a website turn visitors into customers covers the parts that matter.
If you are weighing this up, the plan builder will show you what the smallest useful site would cost for your business in about five minutes.
