"Why have a website when I already have a Facebook page?"

It’s a new take on the age-old internet question - should I have a website for my business? Websites can be a big investment if you don't have tech experience or know-how to make one yourself. It is typical for businesses to try to find other ways of marketing before hiring a designer and creating their online space.

I've heard this question a lot and one of the things I remind my clients is:

Where is the first place you look for info?

Google.

Social media can be a fantastic (and FREE) tool to market your business on when used thoughtfully and can help your business get in front of potentially millions of eye-balls. That being said, relying only on using social media to market your business does have its downsides and runs many risks.

Why you shouldn't rely on just a Facebook Page:

• The algorithm governs who sees your content. If you have 50 followers and you publish a post, don't guarantee all those 50 people will see your post. If you spent half an hour or 1 hour creating a Facebook post and a graphic, it might feel like it’s not worth it.

• Facebook is a business and figured out how to monetise its platform and prioritises sharing the content of those who have paid for ads.

• Facebook ads do get a lot of eyeballs on them if they are used correctly. If you don't know what you are doing, if your target audience isn't being targeted, your image or video isn't eye-catching, clever copywriting or offer isn't appealing or your call to action isn't clear - it can end up being a bottomless hole for your business ad spend.

• You can be locked out of your account with no warning, explanation or - if you haven't verified your identity or even your email address - sometimes won't be given your account access back.

• The Facebook interface keeps changing as the tool evolves and changes with how people are using it and what Facebook's business goals are. Each time this happens requires you to relearn where your usual tools are and where buttons may have moved and require you to update your procedure for uploading content, commenting and scheduling. If you aren't tech-savvy, this can be an offputting thing to go through time and time again.

• You have to conform to specific graphic file types and sizes. Your website, Instagram, Pinterest and anything you upload graphics to all have different file sizes, dimensions size and file type rules and Facebook is no different. Whilst you can upload almost any dimension graphic to Facebook and it will scale the image for you to 'work' in the platform automatically, you may be unable to pay to turn your post into an ad or pay to 'boost' your post so more people outside your current audience can see the post if the dimension isn’t correct. Likewise with some file types for video or GIF images aren't always compatible with Facebook

• You don't have control over what you can share. Even if you aren't sharing updates on anything controversial, if the content you share doesn't fit with Facebooks Terms and Guidelines, then it will be taken down. Likewise, if someone reports your content, Facebook will review it and can take the post down (even if it's not offensive!) or suspend your account without warning.

So what should you do?

There are pros and cons to any platform or tool you choose to use in your business. It's not vital to have a Facebook page or a website or both. There are hundreds of ways to run a business. The beauty of running your own business is having the flexibility to decide to do things how you want to.

I recommend my clients create some sort of web presence. Whether that is in the form of a landing page, website, Facebook Page, Instagram profile or something else. If Google is able to find you, your future customers are going to be able to find you.

If you’re ready to create a website that connects with your target audience and converts those visitors into sales, bookings and buyers - start the process by making an enquiry.