Do I need a website if I have a Facebook page?

Plenty of good trade businesses run on a Facebook page and a phone number. If your calendar is full from referrals and you don't want more work, a page is enough, and this page will tell you so. If you want to be found by people who don't already know you, the page has three problems that don't go away.

• Photos of finished jobs, posted from the truck in thirty seconds
• Reviews and recommendations from people who know you
• Messages, which some customers prefer to a phone call
• The local groups, which are where a lot of Sarpy County asks for a plumber

None of that goes away when you add a website. The page stays the place you post the job you finished today and answer the message that came in at lunch.

1. 01

   Show up for "plumber near me"

   Google mostly ranks Google. When someone searches for your trade and your town, the results are Google Business Profiles in the map and websites below it. A Facebook page rarely appears in that list, and never in the map. The people who don't know your name are searching there, not scrolling groups.

2. 02

   Be read without logging in

   Some people don't have an account, and some won't log in to read a business page. They get a wall asking them to sign up, and they close it. A website has no wall; the phone number is on the first screen for anyone.

3. 03

   Belong to you

   The page can be restricted, hidden, or lost with the account, and there is nobody to call when it is. The domain and the site are property you own, in your name, on your card. The page is a room in someone else's building.

You're booked out on referrals. You don't want to grow. You do one thing in one town and everyone there knows it. In that case the money is better spent on the Google Business Profile than on a site: it's the free listing that shows up in the map when someone searches, it takes an afternoon to set up properly, and the setup guide walks through it. Do that, keep the page, and skip the website until the day you want more calls than you get.

• A page Google can rank for your trade and your towns
• The phone number as a tap target, on the first screen, for people on phones
• Your license number, your service area, and your hours, where a customer looks for them
• A quote form or an email that lands in your inbox with the details you need
• One address the truck, the business card, and the Google listing can all point to

One page is enough for most trade businesses. Five pages are for a shop with several services that each deserve their own search result: furnace repair and AC installation, or residential and commercial cleaning. Start with one; add pages when a service earns its own.

For a search like "electrician Papillion", Google shows a map with three businesses and then a list of pages. The map is drawn from Google Business Profiles: the category, the reviews, the distance, and whether the listing is complete. The list underneath is drawn from websites that say, in plain words, what they do and where. A Facebook page rarely passes either test, because Google can't read most of it and it doesn't state a service area the way a site does.

1. 01

   The first screen

   Who you are, what you do, the towns you cover, and the phone number as a button. A customer on a phone next to a leaking water heater decides here.

2. 02

   Proof

   Three real photos: the truck, you at work, a finished job. Your license number if the trade has one. A line about how long you've been doing this, if it's true.

3. 03

   The ask

   One way to get a quote: a short form or an email that arrives with the details you need. Not a chat widget, not a popup.

4. 04

   The links

   The Google listing, the Facebook page, and nothing else. Every extra link is a way to leave.

A one-page site built properly, with the files and the domain in your name, is a few hundred dollars once and a small monthly amount to keep it hosted and edited. It is not a subscription to a page builder that owns your site, and it is not a five-thousand-dollar project. If a quote for one page runs into the thousands, ask what the extra pages are for.

The page stays the place you post jobs and answer messages. The site is the place a stranger lands from a search. The listing is the map. Link the page to the site, the site to the listing, and put the same phone number and the same logo on all three, so the customer who sees you in a group at breakfast and searches you at lunch is sure it's the same business.

A ONE-PAGE SITE IS $100 À LA CARTE. IGNITION BUNDLES IT WITH THE LOGO, THE SEO AND THE LISTING FOR $375.