Red Isle WebA common question that business owners have is, "I get all my work from my Facebook page. Why would I pay for a website?"
It's a fair thing to ask, and if your page is bringing in customers, you're right to trust it. You don't need to choose. Keep the Facebook page. It does one job really well. A website does a different job that Facebook can't do for you, and the two work best side by side. Think of your page as the megaphone and your website as the storefront. Here's what I mean.
What a Facebook page is good at
A Facebook page is a great megaphone. When you post a photo of today's special or a job you just finished, the people who already follow you see it, they like it, they tag a friend, and sometimes that friend becomes a customer. It's free, it's quick, and it keeps you in front of the people who already know you. For staying in touch with your regulars and showing that you're active, it's hard to beat.
None of what follows is a knock on that. If your page is working, keep posting. The point is just that a page is built to do one thing, and there's a second thing it was never built to do.
On Facebook, you're renting the audience
This is the part most owners don't realize. Those followers aren't really yours. They're Facebook's, and Facebook decides how many of them ever see what you post.
That number has been shrinking for years. Back in 2012, a business page reached about 16% of its followers with a normal post. Today it's closer to 2%. So if you've built up 10,000 followers, a typical post now reaches only about 165 of them. The rest never see it unless you pay to boost it. You did the work to gather that audience, and the algorithm decides who gets shown your posts, mostly to nudge you toward paying for reach.
You also can't take that audience with you. Facebook owns the list, the page, and the rules, and any of it can change overnight. A website is the opposite. You own it, the same way you own your sign or your van, and nobody gets to throttle how many people see it.
A Facebook page barely shows up when someone searches
Think about what people do when they need something and don't already have a name in mind. They pull out their phone and search. They type "electrician near me" or "physio Charlottetown" and pick from what comes up.
Google found that about 76% of people who search for something nearby on their phone visit a business within a day. They're people ready to walk in, and they're deciding right then from what shows up. A Facebook page almost never shows up in that search. Google leans on real websites for those results, so the shops with a site get found and the ones with only a page get skipped, no matter how good they are.
It's the same story with the AI answers people now lean on. More and more, someone asks Google or ChatGPT straight out, "who's a good electrician in Charlottetown?" and reads the answer it writes back. That answer is built by reading websites. If you've got a clear one, you can end up named in it. If all you've got is a Facebook page, the AI usually can't read it and sends the customer to someone else.
The website is the part you own
A website is the thing with your name on it that you actually control. Your own web address, your own pages, your hours and services laid out clearly, the reviews that build up over the years. It's open at 11pm when your shop is closed, and it answers the same three questions every customer asks before you've had your morning coffee.
Just as much, it's the version of your business that Google and the AI answer engines can read and recommend. Your Facebook page lives inside someone else's walls, on their terms. Your website is yours, and it's the part that does the finding-you work while you're busy doing the job.
You don't have to choose
You don't have to give anything up, and you don't need anything fancy. Keep the Facebook page for talking to the people who already follow you, and add a simple website that loads fast on a phone, says what you do, and is easy for Google and AI to read. Five or six pages, built once, working for you around the clock. The page keeps your regulars close. The site brings you the strangers who were searching for exactly what you do.
That second piece is what I build for Island businesses, once, for $1,000, with nothing monthly behind it. Have a look at some of my work, or send me a note. I'm always happy to look at your page and your setup and tell you honestly whether a website is worth it for you.