What a Facebook page does well
A Facebook page costs nothing to set up and is quick to update. You can post a photo of a finished job from your phone, share a weekend special, and answer messages from people who already follow you.
It works best with customers who already know your name. They follow you, see your posts in their feed, share them with friends and send you a message when they need you. For keeping a relationship going, a page is hard to beat.
Where a Facebook page falls short
The trouble starts with people who do not know you yet. Someone with a burst geyser or a birthday booking does not open Facebook. They search Google for what they need and where they are, and choose from what comes up.
- A search such as "plumber in Bellville" often returns a mix of websites, directories and map listings, and a Facebook page may or may not be among them.
- The details a new customer needs, such as your services, the areas you cover and your hours, are buried under months of posts.
- Not everyone uses Facebook, and some people will not log in just to read more about a business.
- You do not own the page. Meta decides which of your followers see each post, and it can suspend or disable an account that it finds breaks its rules. If that happens, the way customers find you goes with it.
- Some customers, such as property managers and other businesses, look for a website before they hire anyone, and read a missing one as a sign the business is not established.
What a website does that a page cannot
A website is your own address on the internet. Everything a new customer needs is on one page they can find, read in a minute and act on: what you do, where you work, when you are open and how to reach you.
It is also what Google can show for searches that include your name or your trade and your area. And it is what your Google Business Profile, the listing that appears on Google Maps, can link to.
Enquiries are yours to keep. A contact form on your site sends each message to your email, so a lead does not depend on you checking one app.
How to use both together
Keep posting on Facebook. It is where your regulars see what you have been up to. Then let each one point at the other.
- Put your website address in the About section of your Facebook page and in your page buttons.
- When you post about a service, link to your website so new people can see everything you offer.
- Add the same phone number, WhatsApp number and hours to both, so nobody finds two different answers.
When a Facebook page is enough for now
If all your work comes from word of mouth and your diary is full, a page may be all you need for the moment. The same goes if you are still testing whether a side business will work.
The moment you want customers who have never heard of you, you need to show up where they search, and that means a website.
What it takes to add a website
It no longer takes a designer or weeks of back and forth. With webbefy you describe your business in plain language: your services, your area, your hours and how to reach you. It writes and designs a complete site from those facts, without inventing anything you did not tell it.
Your first design is free. Extra designs are R20 each. Once you publish, it costs R499 a month per site, including hosting and a free webbefy.site address. You can connect a domain you already own at no extra cost. There is no minimum term. You can cancel at any time, and your site stays live until the end of the month you have paid for.