Do you even need a website anymore?

It’s something a lot of small business owners are now asking themselves. Thanks to the increasing sophistication of social media platforms, building online relationships with prospects is now easier than ever before. As reported by Oberlo, there are now more than 200 million small business using Facebook tools.

Over the past several years, the social platform has continually introduced new upgrades focused on keeping users from leaving the site. If you have ever tried to share a Facebook-hosted video with a non-Facebook user, you will have experienced this. The video has no ‘home’ outside of Facebook meaning your contact must visit the social network to watch it whether they have an account or not. I know many people that do not have a Facebook account and never will.

Facebook gives higher ‘organic weight’ to content consumed on its own site, as opposed to links that send users away from Facebook. A video uploaded straight to Facebook, for instance, will get a significant organic boost over a video link pasted from YouTube. Other platforms do the same  so, do you really need a website?

Business Website vs. Facebook Page

If you’re going to have marketing success in the age of  digital platforms, you’re going to need your website to be centre point for all of them. Optimising your website is one of the keys to business growth. Your website should be your first priority to create interesting content. This is even easier now with the help of AI.

I’ll explain why business websites are a more important use of your valuable time creating content updates.

The competition on Facebook is fierce.  In 2018, the average number of engagements with Facebook posts created by brands fell by more than 20 percent since the previous year. The company analyzed more than 880 million posts and gleaned the average number of engagements fell from 340 to 264 over the first 6 months of 2018.

Put simply, there is now more content being created than there is time to absorb it.

According to Facebook, the average newsfeed displays 2000 stories. The typical Facebook page can increase their total number of page likes by 50 percent in a year. The more pages someone likes, and the more friends they have, the more competition that businesses have to break through.

Compare that to your business website, where you have someone’s undivided attention, even if only for a few seconds. You will have to do something to drive traffic to your site but a solid organic search strategy will do that. We can help with that.

Companies who practice inbound marketing may have hefty competition for keyword search terms at the beginning of their digital journey but that competition will significantly decrease over time with sustained effort., With Facebook, conversely, competition will only increase so your efforts will have less effect over time.

Main benefits of maintaining a company website

1. You control the experience

You are 100% in control of the brand experience. A well designed website will function as an extension of your company vision, your values and your services. Not only will it provide visitors with valuable information, but it will also help them to better understand your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

Of course you can pretty your Facebook business page with a background photo and company logo. But, at the end of the day, the page still looks like Facebook. With so many choices available today, potential customers want to know what makes you different from the competition. A company website is much more conducive to telling your brand story in a clear and engaging manner. Furthermore, your site won’t be subject to the effects of Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm. Relying on a third party site means following their terms of service, whether you agree with them or not.

2. You own the leads

Whilst creating content for social media platforms is great, there is no substitute for capturing a prospect’s email address. Email still provides the highest ROI (Return On Investment). Once you have an email address, you have the power to deliver the right marketing message to the right person at the right time.

Whilst Facebook is ideal for attracting new prospects, it doesn’t provide everything you need to complete the sale. Although this has improved recently with “contact us” buttons. Ideally, you want to motivate your Facebook followers to your website where they can then sign-up to stay in contact. You can’t guarantee placement in their newsfeed but you can count on being recognised in their email inbox.

How do you get visitors to part with their email address?

You must create an enticing message that motivates them to sign-up. If you have a longer sales cycle, your online marketing strategy should include layered content for every stage of the Customer Journey. Ideally, your website should act as the hub for all of your online marketing efforts. Use social media channels for lead generation but nurture those leads through your website and email newsletters.

So Website or Facebook: which is best?

None of our key clients rely on one platform entirely. They use digital platforms to build and engage audiences where their target personas spend their time. Ultimately, they are using the business website to generate leads and nurture those leads into customers.

Conclusion

There is no substitute for the level of control, personalisation and lead nurturing that can be achieved via a business website. Only having a Facebook Page might work well for certain consumer based businesses (B2C): e.g. bars, restaurants, hairdressers but it is not an effective strategy for Business to Business (B2B)

Many potential buyers do a fair amount of research before making a decision so your best bet is to guide them through a content funnel on your website to assist their decision process.

What we find is that the small businesses do not have the resource to maintain the content of their website and treat it as a static thing that never changes. Whereas, Facebook updates are easy on a smartphone. All our websites are content management systems like WordPress. Our customers receive editorial access to their website to make changes whenever they wish and they receive training on the use of these platforms. Despite this, most of our customer websites on a basic hosting package, never change. This is why we offer business packages that include content changes. The most popular is the Business Package Monthly Plan >>

Update October 2023: We have now added AI Content Creator to our Business Package so you don’t even need to spend time writing content for your website!