We get it. When you’re starting out as a dog groomer or plumber, setting up a Facebook page feels like the obvious move. It’s free, it’s quick, and your mates can share it around. Job done, right?
Not quite.
A Facebook page might feel like your online home, but it’s more like renting a room in someone else’s house. And that someone can change the locks whenever they want.
You Don’t Actually Own Your Facebook Page
This catches a lot of people off guard. Your Facebook page belongs to Facebook (or Meta, as they call themselves now). You’re just using it.
That means Facebook decides how your page looks, who sees your posts, and what features you get. They can change all of that overnight without asking you first.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Facebook can disable or restrict your page at any time, sometimes without warning or a clear reason.
- They regularly change how their feed works. One month your posts reach hundreds of people. The next month? Barely a handful, unless you pay to boost them.
- If Facebook goes down (and it has, for hours at a time), your business goes down with it. No enquiry form, no phone number, no way for customers to find you.
- You can’t move your Facebook page somewhere else. If you want to leave, you’re starting from scratch.
Think about it this way. If you ran your business from a rented shop and the landlord suddenly doubled the rent or shut the building down, you’d be stuck. That’s what relying on Facebook alone is like.
“But Everyone’s on Facebook”
True, a lot of people are on Facebook. But that doesn’t mean they’re searching for local services there.
When someone needs a plumber on a Sunday afternoon, they’re not scrolling through Facebook hoping to spot one. They’re typing “plumber near me” into Google.
And here’s the thing: Facebook pages don’t always rank as well as a website in Google search results. Facebook pages can rank in Google, but they tend to struggle compared to a proper website for a few reasons:
- Limited SEO control: You can’t set custom title tags, meta descriptions, header structures, or schema markup on a Facebook page. Google gets very little to work with beyond your page name and whatever you post.
- Content is mostly locked behind interaction: A lot of Facebook content (posts, reviews, photos) sits behind “see more” clicks or login walls. Google can’t always crawl that content effectively, so it doesn’t get indexed the way website content does.
- Thin, repetitive pages: From Google’s perspective, most Facebook business pages look structurally identical. There’s nothing unique about the page template that helps it stand out in search results.
- Where they DO show up: Facebook pages often rank for branded searches (someone Googling the exact business name). So if someone already knows the business and searches for it, your Facebook page might appear alongside or instead of a website. But for non-branded searches like “dog groomer near me” or “plumber in Taunton,” a Facebook page almost never competes with an actual website.
It’s also worth remembering that not everyone uses Facebook. Younger customers tend to use Instagram or TikTok. Older customers might prefer Google. If your entire online presence is tied to one platform, you’re only reaching a slice of your potential customers.
What Happens When the Rules Change
Facebook changes its rules all the time. Sometimes it’s small tweaks. Sometimes it’s big shifts that affect how businesses use the platform.
In recent years, organic reach (the number of people who see your posts without you paying for ads) has dropped significantly. Facebook wants businesses to pay for visibility and keeps pushing you to pay for ads to be found.
And the platforms people use keep shifting too. Ofcom’s research shows that younger audiences are spending more of their time on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Facebook and Messenger are still widely used by adults (93% of UK online adults, according to Ofcom), but the younger generation is already elsewhere. If you’ve spent years building up a Facebook following, that audience might already be moving somewhere else.
So even if you’ve built up a decent following, there’s no guarantee those people will actually see your posts. The platform controls that, not you.
Your Facebook page is tied to your account. Have you considered what happens if your account gets banned or restricted? Good luck getting through to someone at Facebook to sort it out. If business pages are taken down, you can pay for verification which sometimes gets you access to support. But with personal accounts, there’s little to no support.
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You might currently be thinking “but I don’t do anything wrong, I don’t break Facebooks rules”. That might be true but there’s times when Facebook gets things wrong and people or their page get banned for the wrong reason.
There’s also secuirty risks. Every account connected to your page is a potential risk. If the account owner falls victim to a phishing attack or malware, there’s the chance that someone will gain access to your page. There are ways to decrease the chances this happens such as using 2-factor authenication, but still, mistakes happen.
Your Website is Your Digital Hub
A website that you own is different. It’s yours. You control how it looks, how fast it loads, what information is on there, and how people get in touch with you.
Research from Stanford University’s Web Credibility Project found that 75% of people judge a company’s credibility based on how its website looks. First impressions count, and your website is often the first thing a potential customer sees.
Think of your website as the centre of everything you do online. Your social media pages, your Google Business Profile, your online directories, they all point back to your website. It’s the one place where you set the rules.
With your own site, you get:
- A professional web address that customers can find on Google.
- Full control over your content, your images, and your contact details.
- A place to show off your work, list your services, and share reviews.
- An enquiry form or booking system that works whether Facebook is up or not.
- A site that loads fast, looks good on phones, and is easy for everyone to use, including people with disabilities.
Your website works for you around the clock. It doesn’t depend on an algorithm deciding whether or not to show your content to people.
“But Websites Are Expensive”
This is probably the biggest reason people stick with Facebook. And it’s understandable. With 5.7 million small businesses in the UK (according to the UK government figures), a huge number of them are sole traders or micro businesses watching every penny.
A few years ago, getting a professional website built could easily cost £2,000 to £5,000 upfront. Even more for eCommerce sites. For a small business just getting started, that’s a lot of money.
But it doesn’t have to work that way.
Our web design packages let you spread the cost with easy monthly payments. No big lump sum to find before anything even gets built. You get a professionally designed website, hosting, and ongoing care all included in one simple monthly fee.
Facebook Still Has a Role
We’re not saying you should ditch Facebook. It’s a useful tool for keeping in touch with your customers, sharing updates, and running promotions. Social media is great for that.
But it should work alongside your website, not instead of it.
Use Facebook to drive people to your site. Share your blog posts. Link to your services page. Let social media do what it’s good at, while your website handles the heavy lifting of being found on Google, looking professional, and converting visitors into paying customers.
The Bottom Line
If your only online presence is a Facebook page, your business is sitting on borrowed ground. One algorithm change, one account restriction, one platform outage, and you could lose everything you’ve built.
A website gives you stability, control, and a proper home for your business online. And with our monthly web design plans, getting one doesn’t have to break the bank.
Ready to stop renting and start owning? Take a look at our web design packages and see how easy it is to get started.
