What a Facebook page does well
A Facebook page is good at the people who already know you. Regulars see your posts, ask questions in Messenger, share this week’s work and tag their friends. It costs nothing, your customers are already on it, and it is quick to update. None of that is a reason to give it up.
What it cannot do
- It is not yours. Facebook decides how the page looks, what shows first and who sees each post.
- It scrolls away. Your best job from last spring is buried under this week’s posts, and a stranger will not dig for it.
- It cannot be arranged round a new customer’s questions: what you do, where you cover, what it costs, and how to book.
- Some people are not on Facebook, and someone who is not logged in may be asked to log in before they can see much.
- It is not your own address. yourbusiness.co.uk on a van, a card or an invoice looks like a business; a long Facebook link does not.
- If the account is restricted or taken over, your shop front goes with it, and getting it back is not in your hands.
What a stranger does
Somebody hears your name, or needs what you do, and searches. They want to know what you do, where you are, roughly what it costs and whether you are any good, and they want it in one place. A website answers those questions in the order they ask them. A Facebook page shows whatever you posted last.
That is also why a recommendation is not enough on its own. The person you were recommended to looks you up before they get in touch. There is more on that in busy with word of mouth?.
Use both: a worked example
Paul Armstrong is a personal trainer in Alcester. His customers already message him on Facebook, and he already replies there, so his website does not try to replace it. Three taps sort each visitor into the right one of his four services and explain it, and every main button opens Messenger, where he answers.
Before that, anyone who typed in his own domain got his host’s under construction page. Now the website does the sorting and explaining, and Facebook does the talking. You can open the live site and read how it was built, and see what other trainers need on websites for personal trainers.
What to put on the website
- What you do and where, in plain words at the top of the page.
- Your prices, or at least where they start.
- Photographs of your own work, not stock pictures.
- Your reviews, in full.
- How to get in touch: Messenger, WhatsApp, a call or a form, whichever you actually answer.
- Your opening hours or the areas you cover.
- A link to your Facebook page, and a link from the page back to the website.
What it costs
If Facebook is where most of your customers talk to you, a one-page website may be all you need: with me that is £350, live on your own domain, and it counts in full towards a full website within 12 months. A full website is £650. There is no monthly fee unless you choose monthly care, and you see the finished site before you pay anything. Every price is on the prices page.
