A lot of small businesses around Ballarat start out with a Facebook page and nothing else. It’s free, it takes ten minutes to set up and your friends and family can share it straight away. For a new business that makes perfect sense.
The question usually comes up a year or two in. Work is ticking along, but you’re wondering if a website would bring in more. This post looks at the Facebook page or website question for a Ballarat business from both sides, so you can decide what fits where your business is right now.
What Facebook Does Well
Facebook is genuinely good at a few things. It’s worth saying so before getting into its limits.
- Keeping in touch with people who already know you. Regular customers, locals and word of mouth referrals can follow along and see what you’re up to.
- Showing recent work. Photos of a finished deck, a new menu or this week’s stock are quick to post from your phone.
- Quick conversations. Messenger is easy for customers who’d rather type than ring.
- Community reach. Local groups and shares can spread the word fast, especially in smaller towns.
- Cost. A page is free and boosting a post can be cheap.
If most of your work comes from people who already know your name, Facebook can carry a lot of the load for a long time.
Where Facebook Falls Short
The trouble starts when someone who has never heard of you goes looking for what you do.
Google Doesn’t Rank Facebook Pages Well for Local Searches
When someone in Wendouree types “electrician near me” or “cake maker Ballarat” into Google, the results are mostly the map listings and business websites. Facebook pages do turn up sometimes, but rarely near the top for a service search. A website with a page for each thing you do gives Google far more to work with. With a Google Business Profile and local SEO on top, you have a real chance of appearing when strangers search.
You Don’t Own Your Page
Your Facebook page lives on someone else’s platform under their rules. Pages get hacked, accounts get locked and the way posts are shown to followers changes regularly. If any of that happens, you can lose years of photos, reviews and followers with nobody local to call. A website on your own domain is yours. You can move it, change it or back it up whenever you like.
Your Posts Don’t Reach Everyone
Even people who follow your page only see a slice of what you post. Facebook decides who sees what. Organic reach for business pages has been small for a long time. That’s why so many pages end up paying to boost posts just to reach their own followers.
Enquiries Get Scattered
Messages arrive in Messenger, comments, your personal inbox and sometimes a text from a friend of a friend. It’s easy to miss one. A website contact form sends every enquiry to the same email inbox with the details you need, which makes quoting and following up a lot easier.
It’s Hard to Look Established
Some customers, especially for bigger jobs, want to check you out properly before they ring. They want your services, the areas you cover, some background and a clear way to get in touch. A tidy website does that job far better than scrolling back through a feed.
How a Website and Facebook Work Together
This isn’t really an either or choice. The businesses that do best usually use both, each for what it’s good at.
- Your website is the home base. It’s where Google sends people and where your details, services and contact form live.
- Your Facebook page is the noticeboard. It’s where you share recent jobs, specials and news with people who already follow you.
- Each one links to the other. Posts can point to the right page on your website. The website can show a link back to your Facebook page.
Done this way, Facebook keeps your regulars engaged while the website brings in people who’ve never heard of you. My page on moving from Facebook to a proper website goes into how I handle that switch, including pulling across photos and details so you’re not starting from a blank page.
What a Website Costs
Here’s what I charge, so you have real numbers to weigh up. Prices include GST.
- Single Page Website for $880. Good for a business moving off Facebook for the first time.
- Complete Website with multiple pages for $2200. Room for a page per service, an about page and a contact page.
- Advanced Website with a shop or bookings from $3300.
Each one includes mobile friendly design, a contact form, a Google Map, Google Analytics, SEO ready setup, full access to edit the site and the first year of WordPress maintenance free. A domain name and hosting are extra and usually add up to a modest yearly cost. If you’re watching every dollar, my page on affordable web design covers how to start small and add to it later. The full details are on my web design page.
Is It Time for a Website? A Quick Checklist
Tick off the ones that apply to your business.
- People ask you for your website and you don’t have one to give them
- You want work from people outside your circle of friends and followers
- Your competitors turn up on Google and you don’t
- You’ve had enquiries lost or missed in Messenger
- You’d be stuck if your Facebook page was hacked or locked tomorrow
- You quote for bigger jobs where customers want to check you out first
- You work across several towns and want to show the areas you cover
If you ticked two or three, a simple website is probably worth it. If you ticked most of them, it’s likely costing you work already.
A Few Local Examples
The right mix depends a lot on the kind of business and where you work. A cafe in Daylesford leans on visitors searching from their phones for somewhere to eat, so opening hours and a menu on a fast website matter a great deal. My notes on cafe and restaurant websites cover that side of things. A tradie working out of Alfredton or Lucas mostly needs people in the new estates to find them on Google Maps, which is where my page on web design in Alfredton comes in. Trades of every kind across the region benefit from a site set up for search, as I explain on my page about SEO for tradies.
Where to From Here
If Facebook is working for you and you’re busy enough, there’s no rush. Keep posting and keep it up to date. If you’re ready to reach people who don’t know your name yet, a website is the most reliable way to do it. It also gives you something you actually own.
If you’re weighing up who should build it, my guide on how to choose a web designer in Ballarat covers questions to ask and red flags to watch for. Or send me a message with a link to your Facebook page and I’ll tell you honestly what I think would help.
