Can Facebook Replace Your Website?

It takes less than five minutes to get started on Facebook, and it will cost you nothing. But can Facebook replace your website? In short, no. Facebook does not provide you the same benefits as a website does. Here are the seven things you lose when you don't have a website.

1.) Branding

You spent time thinking of a name, a logo, a color scheme, and many more things about your business; Facebook does not let you reflect who you are on their business page. Yes, you can upload your logo and a background picture, but that is it. What about changing the color scheme to match your branding? What about the feel of your website to your visitors? If you wouldn't buy a plain white business card with nothing but your name, don't do the same to your site.

2.) Search Engine Optimization

This one cannot be stressed enough on how much you are missing out. You can't work on getting a good ranking on Google or Bing without this. Search engines will index your Facebook page as a business, and they will list it, but you have almost no control on how well or how fast they will index it. The first thing your website developer should do when they launch your site is to submit it for indexing on Google/Bing for SEO retrieval. You cannot do this when you are using Facebook.

3.) Analytics

Yes, Facebook does have an analytics tool, but it is nothing compared to the features of Google Analytics. With Google tools, you can see where your users are coming from, what they look at on your site, what device they view it from, and how long they are staying there. This information allows you to tweak your SEO to get better rankings to move along with your users.

4.) Attention

Facebook is driven to show what users care about and how often. With this motivation, a user who often ignores your posts will soon have your business removed from their timeline. Getting removed means that you then need to start using Facebook ads to get your business noticed by people again, and even then there is no guarantee they will see it also if they are searching for it.

5.) Competition is a struggle

With any business competition is a battle, why make it harder? Open your facebook app, how many posts are new since the last time you opened it? Most people who actively use Facebook get more content than they can consume meaning you are not only competing with other businesses that provide the same product or service, but you are now competing with pictures of Billy's new baby and let's face it, she is probably cuter than what you offer.

6.) Everyone is on the internet, but not everyone is on Facebook

Everyone, or at least almost everyone, knows how to get on the internet and look something up. But not everyone is on Facebook, and not everyone ever will be. Signing up for Facebook means putting yourself out there in a way some people are not comfortable doing. According to PEW Research, 69% of adults use Facebook, but half of those don't know how it works. That means 30% of your available market isn't listening and another 30% aren't sure how to use it. 60% is a lot of potential opportunities.

7.) Entertainment vs. Marketing

Facebook is a great place to entertain, to post funny things, but where is the real call to action for your users? "Email me to find out more?" Just posting on Facebook to engage your users is more entertainment than it is marketing. Posting that comment, or that deal and following it with click here to learn more taking the user to your site where they can easily see a treasure trove of information about you, what you do and who you are can make all the difference in the world.

Should you have a Facebook business page?

Even though the answer to can Facebook replace your website is a resounding no, you still need to have a Facebook page for your business.

Here are the top three reasons why.

• Users spend between 20-50 minutes a day on Facebook. Even though you get lost in with Billy's baby, it is still an opportunity you don't want to miss.
• Facebook is the third most visited site behind Google and Youtube
• There are hundreds of millions of users on Facebook and billions of access times daily.

The list can go on to why you should have a Facebook page, but it is not a replacement for your website, it is a supplemental channel for getting more attention to you and your users. Facebook is a great tool, but use it correctly. And if you are going to use it, use all of it, including Facebook analytics.