Facebook is genuinely useful for tradespeople. Posting photos of finished jobs, staying visible in local community groups, keeping in touch with past customers. That stuff works and it's worth doing.
But a lot of tradespeople are running their entire online presence through a Facebook page, and it's costing them work they don't even know they're missing. Not because Facebook is bad. Because Facebook and a website do completely different things, and one can't do the other's job.
Here's the difference.
Facebook Can't Get You Found on Google
When someone needs a plumber at 8pm because the boiler's gone, they're not scrolling Facebook. They're Googling "emergency plumber near me" and calling the first person who comes up and looks reliable.
Facebook pages barely register in Google search results. Your reviews, your photos, your posts, your check-ins, none of it counts for much when Google is deciding who to show for a local trade search. So if a Facebook page is all you have, you're invisible to anyone who doesn't already know you exist.
That's a big group of people — anyone who just moved to the area, anyone who can't get a personal recommendation, anyone searching at half ten at night because something's gone wrong. If you're not showing up, someone else picks up the phone.
Worth thinking about: when did you last need a tradesperson you didn't already know? Most people reach for Google before they reach for Facebook — and that's especially true when something's gone wrong and they need someone quickly. Those urgent jobs are usually the best-paying ones too.
You Don't Own Your Facebook Page
Your Facebook page lives on Facebook's platform, under Facebook's rules, and Facebook can change those rules whenever it suits them.
Organic reach has been falling for years. A post that would have reached most of your followers in 2018 now reaches a small fraction of them for free. Facebook is an advertising business. Your content being seen for nothing is not in their interest. (If you're weighing up the cost of a website against ongoing ad spend, this article on website pricing is worth a read.)
There's also the practical risk. Accounts get hacked. Pages get reported and suspended. Policies change. It's happened to enough people that it's worth thinking about. Your website, on your own domain, is yours. Nobody can take it down or decide you've broken a rule you didn't know existed.
A Facebook Page Doesn't Build Trust the Same Way
When a customer finds you on Facebook, they're surrounded by ads, notifications, other posts and everything else competing for attention. Your business is just one thing in a feed.
When they land on your website, it's just you. Your work, your words, your contact details. Nothing competing for their attention. That difference matters more than people realise.
There's also a perception issue. A lot of customers use the presence of a website as a basic credibility check. No website, even subconsciously, can suggest: not established, might not be around in six months. A simple, honest website clears that hurdle before they've even read a word.
Facebook vs Your Own Website
Facebook Page Only
- Invisible to most Google searches
- Reach cut unless you pay to boost
- You don't own it, platform controls it
- Content lost in a busy feed
- Hard to find your services or area
- No control over layout or presentation
Your Own Website
- Can rank for local Google searches
- Free traffic that compounds over time
- Yours, on your domain, permanently
- Full attention on your business only
- Services, area and contact front and centre
- You control exactly how it looks
The Point Isn't to Drop Facebook
Keep using Facebook. Post your work. Join local groups. Reply to comments. It's a good way to stay visible with people who already know you.
The point is that Facebook and a website reach different people. Facebook reaches your existing network. A website reaches people who've never heard of you. That second group is usually larger, and a website is the only way to get in front of them.
Most tradespeople who get a decent website up find it works quietly alongside Facebook rather than instead of it. The Facebook keeps the warm leads warm. The website brings in the cold ones you'd never have reached otherwise.
The way I think about it: Facebook is for the people who already know you. A website is for everyone else. One keeps the existing relationships warm. The other builds new ones with people you've never met. They're doing different jobs — and you need both.
Questions Worth Answering
A few things I hear regularly when this comes up.
I get most of my work through Facebook recommendations. Why would I need a website?
You probably don't need it urgently, which is exactly why it's easy to put off. But recommendations only reach your existing network. A website reaches people outside it, particularly anyone searching Google when they need a trade in a hurry. It's not replacing word of mouth. It's a second channel running alongside it. There's more on what actually makes a trades website work if you want the detail.
My Facebook page has loads of followers and good reviews. Isn't that enough of a profile?
For people who already follow you, yes. The problem is everyone else. Anyone who Googles your trade in your area is not going to land on your Facebook page. That's a gap a website fills, and it's a gap you can't see because you never find out about the people who found someone else instead.
Can't I just boost posts instead of paying for a website?
Boosting puts your content in front of more people, but only while you're paying. The moment you stop, it stops. A website that ranks in Google works continuously without ongoing spend. One is rented visibility. The other builds over time and gets more valuable the longer it's live.
I'm not technical. Will a website be hard to look after?
Not if it's set up properly. The sites I build are designed to need almost no ongoing attention. When something needs updating, get in touch and it gets sorted. You don't need to learn anything or log in to anything.
How long before a website starts bringing in work?
Realistically, a few weeks before Google starts picking it up, and a couple of months before it's generating enquiries consistently. It's not instant, but it builds. The longer it's live, the more it earns its keep. Every site I've built that's been live six months is generating something.