“Do I need a website if I have a Facebook page?” is a fair question, and the honest answer is: not always. For most local businesses that want new customers, though, a page leaves gaps only a website fills. Here's how to tell which group you're in, with Google's and Meta's own documentation linked so you can check our reasoning.
When a Facebook page is enough, for now
We'd rather tell you to wait than sell you something you don't need yet. A page on its own can carry you when:
- You're testing a side business, and every customer so far came through someone you know.
- Regulars and referrals keep you booked solid, and you aren't trying to grow.
- You sell at markets, pop-ups or events, and people follow you mainly to find out where you'll be next.
Even then, the free step that matters most isn't the page. It's your Google Business Profile, the listing people see on Google Maps and in the map results when they search nearby. Google says businesses with complete, accurate information are more likely to show up in local results, and our Google Business Profile checklist goes through it one field at a time.
Do this first, whatever you decide
Claim and verify your free Google Business Profile, then add your hours, services, service area and a few real photos. It costs nothing.
Six ways a Facebook page quietly costs you customers
None of these arrive as a bill. They show up as people who looked for you, didn't find what they needed and called someone else.
1. Some people won't buy from a business without a website
A page tells people you exist. A website tells them you're established. DreamHost's 2026 Local Business Trust Index surveyed 1,201 Americans in November 2025. DreamHost sells web hosting, so weigh the source accordingly:
45% of consumers say businesses without websites feel less “real.” 46% say they seem more temporary than a company that does have a website. 39% report they have declined to visit or buy from a business specifically because it lacked a website; a figure that rises to 45% among consumers ages 18-44.
2. People search Google for what you do, not your page
When someone searches Google for a plumber or a barber, Google answers with a map of Business Profiles and a list of web pages. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and it defines that third factor, which it also calls prominence, partly by links and reviews:
Prominence means how well-known a business is. Prominent places are more likely to show up in search results. This factor’s also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have. More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.
A website helps on both counts. It gives the chamber of commerce, a supplier or a local news story somewhere to link, and it gives Google real pages to match against searches like “fade near Apple Valley” or “gutter repair Lakeville.” A Facebook page can show up when someone searches your name, but that person already found you.
3. Your Google profile's website button needs somewhere to go
Your Business Profile has a website button. Google's guidelines for it ask for “a website that represents your individual business location,” and the same section mentions social media pages in its warning about links:
Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “refer” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business, including pages created on social media sites.
That isn't an outright ban on listing your own page, but it's a strong hint about what Google expects the button to open. A real website is the safer choice, and it shows whoever taps it your services, prices and a way to book.
4. Your hours, services and prices sink in the feed
A feed isn't a filing cabinet. Meta explains (opens in a new tab) that Facebook orders each person's feed by predicting what they'll find most valuable, so your post about new Saturday hours competes with everything else they follow. The price list you posted in March can be forty posts down by May. A website keeps the facts where people expect them: services and prices on their own page, hours on every page and a booking button that never scrolls away.
Minnesota adds its own test. When a January storm closes you early, a Facebook post reaches whoever the feed decides to show it to. Special hours on your Google profile and a banner across your website reach everyone who checks before driving over.
5. Not everyone uses Facebook
Facebook is huge, but it isn't everyone. When your business lives inside one app, people who don't use that app walk right past you:
Most Americans (71%) also report using Facebook. These findings are according to a Pew Research Center survey of 5,022 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 5-June 18, 2025. Half of adults say they use Instagram, making it the only other platform in our survey used by at least 50% of Americans.
That leaves nearly three in ten U.S. adults who don't use Facebook at all. A website works for anyone with a browser, account or not.
6. You don't control the page
Your page lives under Meta's rules, and its terms are plain about what happens when it decides they were broken:
If we determine, in our discretion, that you have clearly, seriously or repeatedly breached our Terms or Policies, including in particular the Community Standards, we may suspend or permanently disable your access to Meta Company Products, and we may permanently disable or delete your account.
You may never run into that, but platforms you don't control change on their owner's schedule. Google shut down the simple websites (opens in a new tab) businesses could build inside their Business Profiles on March 5, 2024; after June 10 that year, visitors got a “Page not found” error. A website on your own domain is an address you own: your domain name, your content and your photos are always yours.
A page and a website, side by side
They do different jobs. A page is free, quick to set up and great for showing fresh work, and regulars can message you in a tap. A website costs money to build and run, so it's fair to ask what that money buys:
What changes when you add a website
- Posts slide down the feed as new ones go up
- Services, prices and hours end up scattered across old posts
- Little for Google to match to searches for what you do
- Your Google profile's website button has nowhere solid to point
- Built for people who use the app
- Meta sets the rules, the layout and the features
- Services, prices, hours and booking stay put
- Pages Google can match to searches for what you do
- Your Google profile's website and booking buttons have somewhere to go
- Works for anyone with a browser
- Lives at an address you own
- The page keeps doing what it does best: fresh work, specials and messages
How to make the page and the website work together
You don't have to choose. Here's the setup we'd use for most local businesses:
Page and website, wired together
- Put your website address in your Facebook and Instagram profiles, as the first link people see.
- Link your social profiles from your website's footer, so visitors can see your latest work.
- Keep your business name, phone number and hours identical on the site, the page and your Google profile; our local business website checklist covers the rest.
- Post the moments on social media and keep the facts on the website: services, prices, hours and the towns you serve.
- Add campaign tags to the links in your bios so your analytics can tell which platform sends visitors, part of what we set up in analytics and reporting.
- When something changes, update the website and your Google profile first, then post about it.
If the posting is the part that never gets done, social media management takes it off your plate.
What a website costs, and how long it takes
Less than most owners expect. Our websites start at $500 for a typical 5-page local business site, and month-to-month care plans start at $75/mo for hosting, security, updates and two content edits a month. The full breakdown is on our pricing page, and our Minnesota website cost guide explains what drives the price wherever you buy.
It's faster than most people assume, too. V the Barber had no website, and his Square online booking was switched off; five days after we started building, his site was taking bookings on his own domain. Wishi Co. had nothing at its domain but a parked “Coming Soon” page, and the café's first version was up two days after we started. More on timing in how long a website takes.
So, do I need a website if I have a Facebook page?
Find the row that sounds most like your business.
| If this is you | What we'd do |
|---|---|
| A side business, and every customer so far came through someone you know | Keep the page, set up your Google Business Profile, and revisit when strangers start asking |
| Booked solid by regulars, and not looking to grow | Keep the page, and keep your Google profile's hours current |
| New customers find you by searching Google or Maps | Get a website, put it on your Google profile, and keep the page for updates |
| Customers book appointments, as at a barbershop, salon or auto shop | A website with a Book button beside every service. See what barbershop and salon websites need |
| Your menu or prices change often | A website with one menu that stays current. See our notes on restaurant and café websites |
| You quote jobs, like roofing, plumbing or HVAC | Service pages, your service area and a quote form. See what home service websites need |
If you're in either of the first two rows, save your money for now. If you're in any of the others, a page on its own is probably costing you calls you never hear about.
See what your website would look like
Answer four quick questions and we'll build a free preview of your homepage on your real business, for you to look through on your phone. If you love it, it's half to finish and half at launch, with websites from $500. If it's not for you, you owe nothing. Care plans then start at $75/mo, month-to-month.
You see your site before you pay.
Questions
Can my Facebook page show up on Google?
Often, for people searching your business by name. It does much less for searches like “barber near me,” where Google shows Business Profiles and web pages. Treat the page as a supporting link, not your main address online.
Can I use my Facebook page as the website on my Google Business Profile?
Google's guidelines ask for a website that represents your business location, and name social media pages in the rule about links that send people elsewhere. It isn't an outright ban, but a real website is the safer thing to list.
Is Instagram any different?
Not much. It's a great place to show your work, which matters for barbers, cafés and anyone with a good before-and-after. But posts still scroll away, half of U.S. adults don't use it, and you're still inside someone else's app. Use it to show the work, then send people to your website to book.
Do I still need to post on Facebook once I have a website?
If your customers are there, yes, but it stops being your only home online. Post when you have something worth showing, like a finished job, a new special or holiday hours, and keep the facts on your site.
How much of my time does a new website take?
Less than you'd think. We draft the words from what's already public about your business and one short call, then you review the preview on your phone and tell us what to fix. Only you can supply photos of your real work.
Written by Gramberg Media in Lakeville, Minnesota. More guides.