Episode 01: Do I need a website?
Hello everyone!
Today will be discussing whether you need a website or a Facebook Page for your business presence online. We will establish whether it’s important and why. Before we begin, you might not know this but I started this mini-series to connect with other entrepreneurs who have already business established and who are now trying to build their online presence, starting an eCommerce or online stores, and the reason why I wanted to start this is because, with everything that is happening with COVID-19 I know many entrepreneurs have been forced to shut down their businesses and now are exploring opportunities to run them online. I would love them (and all of us) to know that even though you are going through a hard time and to many of us this might sound like new (being online) it’s something we can all understand and master.
Maybe some entrepreneurs never thought they would even need any type of tech for their business, so now that we have been pushed to start creating an online presence we might feel overwhelmed. So my goal with this mini-series is to help simplify tech, systems, and information to maximize your business presence online. Especially in this first season I want to jump to the digital world with future valuable topics that hopefully will help many entrepreneurs to level each tech so that they don’t think of it as an obstacle or a challenge that might make them feel stuck online. I want to level each tech to save time, to automate more, and to escalate business. That is my mission.
Let’s start today’s episode with the question: Do I need a website? Or Is it okay to only have a Facebook page? Why is it important either way? I want to start with these questions because as a consultant, a freelancer, I have been working with different clients who connect with me with the goal of building their website, so at the time of starting the process I always ask them what is the reason why they need a website. We often realize that maybe there were other options that could fit better with their current goals! Following that line of thought is how we start planning when is the right time for a website. During the whole process, we understand that it’s not enough just knowing whether you need a website or a Facebook page, but rather about truly understanding the advantages and disadvantages of both options and from there making a decision that better fit your business, your goals or where you are. I know sometimes it’s tempting to think, especially with marketing our brand or small business is: “I need a strong digital presence” I need to know how to do that. Now with social media, we might think, okay can go on social media or I’ll create a Facebook Page and then have a website. The truth is we just don’t have that much time, especially if it’s a business with a small team, can you really find time for all of it? How much conversion is it? For the time you are putting, how many sales do you get from it? So it’s good to think about that.
I know that especially now, with a tech-oriented society like ours, we might feel the pressure that having a website is important. There are many reasons why I can agree to this, indeed it’s important. Yet there are many things to consider such as the maintenance of the website, the costs it requires, time...If you are looking to really simplify your online effort you might consider other options such as having a Facebook page. If you Google it, you will find that many people say yeah, why would I have a website if now I can build a Facebook page that is free and on top of it there are millions of users that can just see my page on Facebook. Right? You can also find the opposite side where people say no, if you want to differentiate your brand or you want to really show people how serious you are with your business it’s important that you have a website. I did Google it and found both cases. I know how it can bring a lot of overwhelmingness and anxiety thinking about where is the right path to go. So let’s first say that there is not a right or wrong way, it’s more about getting enough information so that you can make the best choice that fits:
- Where you are
- What you have
- What you want
- Your business goals and what really resonates with you.
What I’m looking to achieve is to share my experience but also a bit of the analysis I have made and have shared with different clients in the past.
So I’m gonna go through the advantages and disadvantages of using a Facebook page and also the same for a website.
Before we start, I would like us to step back and I list 5 things I want you to consider before making this decision. I want us to take a deep breath and think about the things (If you need to take a break after I list the points please go ahead and take your time) Here are the 5 things to consider. Ready?
Number one: Do you have a presence online?
Do you have access to an audience? Do you have the traffic you already built-in? Maybe you have an Instagram with a bunch of followers or maybe twitter for your business or service you provide and you already have a lot of followers so you can drive them to your website.
Second one: Are you interested or you think it’s important for your business to build a community around the service or product that you are offering?
Third question: How much is your monthly budget for this type of cost?
Fourth question: How important is it to differentiate your brand from others? How important is it to make sure you don’t look like others.
The last question: Is it key for you to gather or collect information or a lead generation strategy? What does it mean? A lead generation is any type of information that you can get from the user that would lead you to convert that into sales. For example, If you notice some websites have contact forms, blog subscribers forms, or even session sign-ups or lead generation offers. What you do with all this is basically collecting information like emails, names, even now I see Whatsapp phone numbers! This way I can connect with users and do follow up. Now it’s very popular that you can offer some type of guide or resource for free but in exchange, the user will need to give you this information, so then the next step is, maybe you can follow up with an email saying hey! I noticed you downloaded this guide and I wanted to check how it is going (depending on what is the guide or the tool about) You can also say here there’s another tool I can offer. From there you can start building a relationship. The goal is that it will take you to convert the user and generate sales. I’m going to talk in another episode a little bit more about the marketing channels. I find it fascinating! Building websites, how can you have these conversions, lead generations, how can you use technology tools in your website (if you decide to go for the website) to automate things and make them run smoothly.
Those are the five questions I want you to put some thoughts on so feel free to take a pause and come back when you are ready!
Now that you have it clear, let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of both having a website or a Facebook Page. We can honestly build an entire ecosystem around those topics, different strategies, and paths available. Both options can provide real solutions for your business. Again there is no right or wrong in your decision.
Let’s start with the pros of having a Facebook page.
One of the main advantages is that it’s easier and cheaper compared to the website. It’s easy because you can do it yourself by filling out information (content, photos, contact info, graphics) and then build strategies around getting people to like the page and therefore build a community of followers. It’s cheaper because it's free! There’s no need to hire a developer or engineer to make it happen.
The second advantage implies more traffic to your page. You can argue it brings more people, there are over 1.5 Billion people who use Facebook daily! It means there’s huge potential for new business owners to reach large audiences. However, it’s important to notice that even though there are millions of people on Facebook, it doesn't directly mean they can see or would be interested in your product/service. So your fans will only see part of what you post on your news feed (unless you post the same over and over which might be damaging for your image). Basically you will need to work the same amount on your audience on both Facebook and on a website.
A third pro is a community approach. There’s something I like about this but still depends on what type of product or service you offer. I can see the great impact communities make on sales for the majority of business but there are also cases when communities are not on top of the properties. Yet having a Facebook page will allow you to create and share information with the community around your product or service by getting comments, testimonials, or reviews.
This takes us to our fourth advantage which is social proof. Having reviews and testimonials will form a great social proof for your page, so when new people (potential customers) see that will be prompt to buy your product because there is already some type of trust.
The fifth pro is the opportunity to chat. Messenger will allow you to chat in real-time with the visitors or even connect with them in your absence with automated answers.
The last advantage we will discuss is the opportunity to use video. If videos are a big part of your business then Facebook is a great platform. You can share pre-recorded videos, Facebook lives, run webinars, and even use them in your ads.
Now let’s look at the disadvantages of having a Facebook page.
The first one is a lack of control. You can indeed upload different kinds of videos, images, and content but the design itself is up to Facebook. If you have a particular visual brand or concept, you might not have the control of how it looks but rather settle for what is available.
The second cons are distractions. This can potentially become a huge con. We don’t know exactly how the layout is and where to put specific content. You cannot control if Facebook is showing your followers other types of content that don’t concern you (like other pages or groups). This means that even if your user came to your site, they might encounter another similar page in your wall that they were drawn to. Unfortunately, this will result in a potentially lost customer.
The third con is pay to play. If you really want to gain loads of followers and engagement, you will probably need to pay for it. You will still need to spend many hours building awareness around your brand even after paying for ads. It doesn’t mean you need to hire someone to manage your ads, it’s easy enough to do it yourself, but you still need some time to understand how to set up audiences, how to schedule campaigns, how to measure data, etc…
A fourth disadvantage is a limited content. Even though Facebook is a social platform it keeps communication somehow basic. It doesn’t provide the right channels to establish real conversations with your users.
The last one is about data ownership. At the moment of creating our page, you’re agreeing with Facebook Terms and Conditions. This means that you authorize them to share and distribute your content so you are agreeing to things like users can freely download your own content (images, videos, writings, things that probably took you time and effort). They can be embedded in non-Facebook platforms. For example, people can embed a video and get the link to use it on their own website. Users can also share your content in their timeline, messenger, screenshots, and every Facebook option. If you compare this with a website, the latter allows you to keep 100% ownership of your content so you won’t have to worry about it. If you post a product with a photograph on your business website that would be yours, but if you do so on a Facebook page it will be used indiscriminately. Definitely that’s something to keep in mind depending on your type of business. Another downside of the Facebook page reviews. If somebody writes a negative review about the product there's no way to remove it. Even if the review is unfair and unreasonable, unfortunately, you won’t be able to remove it and it will create a negative image for your business.
Now let’s talk about the advantages of having a website:
The first one is about control. Regardless of your visual brand or what type of design you are looking for, you can control the composition of the page, how you create the layout, what type of structure would benefit the overall aesthetic of the site. There is a selection of colors and templates you can use to improve it. This will also benefit your marketing strategy.
The second pro is identity. Having a domain will give seriousness to your project. You can buy a domain and share it with your users. This provides authority and reliability for your brand. There are also no Facebook offers or other types of distractions.
The third one is contact channels, you get to decide how visitors can contact you, what type of information they need to submit and this will allow you to create a good marketing strategy. It’s really important to think about how your visitors will learn about your service, how to engage with them, and provide the best information to ensure purchases. You own that right on the website. From that point, you can create strategies to convert them into sales. Your webpage will allow you to display your products or services, something that Facebook doesn’t have yet. Websites it’s also brilliant for lead generations. You can gather leads from a variety of places:
Contact Forms
Blogs
Free consultations
Free samples
Courses
Webinars
Offers
Websites are also beneficial for SEO, with the knowledge SEO tools provide you can rank on top of the searching result with key tags for example. You can use tools like organic searches, page searches, local searches, images or video searches, Google business...There is plenty of this available out there to help you reach visibility.
Another great advantage is automation. My mission is Digital Jump is to automate more so you can labor technology to your benefit. For example, you can leave a form on your website to set appointments so you’ll receive an email with a notification rather than waste time doing it yourself.
Now lets move to talk about the cons of having a website:
The costs of having a website. This is not particularly easy to set up. You might need to hire a developer depending on the complexity of the website or pay one of those web creation platforms like Wix, Squarespace or Shopify. Even though it’s easier you still need to invest time and effort in creating the website. I know people who had no tech experience and managed to do it themselves but also some others who contacted me for help customizing their webpage due to time or the complexity of it. If you were to do that make sure to hire someone with experience that knows how to do it right. Not necessarily a coding expert but definitely if you are building an eCommerce someone who knows what kind of information you need like SEO, metadata, and everything related to eCommerce and branding.
The other downside of having a website are costs. A lot of people often only consider the costs of creating a website but forgets about maintenance costs. Depending on the type of domain, hosting, and various tools that will steadily increase the cost in the long run. It’s not only paying a developer, but there are also monthly payments for the platform, technology, and the tools you are using. If your site has a lot of visitors, an insufficient hosting will make it go down, not literally but it will make it slow. You must also think about the number of people visiting the site compared to the capacity of it. It’s worth keeping in mind.
You might also consider how to keep security measurements, especially if you are receiving payments, how to maintain information fresh and updated.
An important disadvantage is growth. We are basically relying only on SEO to promote the website. There are a large number of people with a similar domain name and this greatly damages the possibility of being found! You might have an outstanding product or service, but this is useless if you can’t reach people! For a website, you also need an outstanding marketing strategy, not only a good product. How can you make sure people find your product? Indeed that requires a lot of strategy, experience, and thought. What if you don’t know how to do it? Then you will need to hire somebody else to cover that knowledge gap like a marketing strategist or social media manager.
Can you do all this on your own or rely on a developer to keep it working?
We have covered the pros and cons of both options. Now when it comes to the mentioned question: Should I create a website or a Facebook Business Page? There is not a right or wrong answer! It’s just a matter of what works best for you. Maybe you manage to merge the positives of both in an organic and functional way that gives you a strong social presence on Facebook and on your website! If you want to focus on keeping in contact with your community and the testimonials about your product/service then Facebook is the best bet. If you rather target specific audiences may be sending people through your Facebook page to your website during the selling process. However, I recognize that if you do both, it will be very time-consuming. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to think about cost-opportunity. The time required to manage those 2 things is time you could have used for making a difference in your business, so instead of focusing on marketing, you can focus on producing or improving the product or getting updated with new technologies. I understand that during the times of COVID-19 it’s important to establish our online presence and making this decision can feel overwhelming but I really hope this information gave you some good information to consider and most importantly helped to make the decision easier. Again there isn't a right or wrong answer but rather think about what fits best your business right now.
If you have further questions please feel free to leave me a comment. I would be happy to answer. Have a great week!
Have a great week!
Gabriela from Digital Jump
