I hear this one a lot, especially from small business owners in Murray Bridge and the Murraylands. "I've already got a Facebook page, it does the job, why would I pay for a website?"

It's a fair question. And the answer isn't "delete Facebook and get a website instead." The answer is: they do completely different things, and relying on only one of them is leaving money on the table.

What Facebook is actually good at

Let's start with what Facebook does well, because it does do some things well:

  • Staying in touch with existing customers. People who already know you can follow your page and see your updates. It's a relationship maintenance tool.
  • Sharing quick updates. New menu item, changed opening hours, a photo of today's work. Facebook is good at "hey, look at this right now."
  • Community engagement. Comments, reviews, messages. It's a conversation platform.
  • It's free. No hosting, no domain, no maintenance. You make a page and start posting.

If your entire business model is "remind existing customers to come back," Facebook is genuinely useful. But that's not how most businesses grow.

What Facebook cannot do

Here's where it falls apart:

1. Facebook doesn't show up in Google

When someone in Murray Bridge searches "plumber near me" or "cafe Murray Bridge" or "electrician Tailem Bend," Google shows websites. Not Facebook pages. Your Facebook page might appear if someone searches your exact business name, but for the searches that actually bring in new customers — the "I need a [service] in [location]" searches — Facebook is invisible.

A website with proper SEO shows up in those searches. That's how strangers find you. Facebook only reaches people who already know you exist.

2. You don't own it

Your Facebook page lives on Facebook's servers, follows Facebook's rules, and exists at Facebook's discretion. If they change their algorithm tomorrow (which they do regularly), your posts reach fewer people. If they suspend your account by mistake (which happens more than you think), your entire online presence disappears overnight.

A website is yours. Your domain, your content, your data. Nobody can take it away from you or change the rules on you.

3. Only 2-5% of your followers see your posts

This is the one that shocks most business owners. If you have 500 followers, Facebook shows your post to roughly 10-25 of them. The rest never see it unless you pay for ads. Facebook deliberately throttles business page reach to push you toward paid promotion.

Your website doesn't throttle anything. Anyone who visits sees everything. And Google sends people to your site for free, every day, without you posting anything.

4. You can't control the experience

On Facebook, your business page looks exactly like every other business page. Same layout, same blue header, same cluttered feed with ads and suggested posts and notifications competing for attention. You can't customise the design, you can't control what appears next to your content, and you can't guide a visitor through a specific journey (like: read about our services, see our work, get a quote).

A website is designed around YOUR customer's journey. Every page exists for a reason, every element is there because it helps convert a visitor into a customer.

5. No real SEO, no structured data, no local search

A proper website has meta titles, descriptions, schema markup, a sitemap, and location-specific content. These are the signals Google uses to decide who ranks where. Facebook gives you none of this. You're completely at the mercy of Facebook's own internal search, which most people don't use to find local businesses.

What actually works: both, together

The best setup for a small business in the Murraylands is:

  • A website for being found by new customers through Google, presenting a professional image, taking bookings or enquiries, and owning your online presence permanently.
  • A Facebook page for engaging with existing customers, sharing updates, building community, and running the occasional ad if you want to boost a post.

They're not competing tools. They're complementary. Your website is the foundation — the thing that works 24/7, ranks in Google, and belongs to you. Facebook is the megaphone — the thing that keeps your regulars engaged and gets the word out when you've got something to share.

The real cost comparison

A Facebook page is free. But "free" comes with conditions: limited reach, no ownership, no Google visibility, no design control, and zero protection if the platform changes or your account gets flagged.

A custom website starts from A$1,500. That's a one-time build cost. Hosting runs A$149/month for a fully managed server with backups, SSL, and support. Compare that to what you'd pay for Facebook ads to reach the same number of people — most local businesses spend $200-500/month on boosted posts just to get seen by their own followers.

The website pays for itself the first time a Google search brings in a customer that Facebook never would have reached.

A real example from Murray Bridge

I run the Murray Bridge Business Directory. It lists 350+ local businesses. Some of them have websites. Most of them only have a Facebook page. The ones with websites consistently show up in Google searches for their services. The ones with only Facebook? They're invisible to anyone who doesn't already know their name.

That's not a theory. That's what I see in the data every week.

What to do right now

If you've been putting off getting a website because "Facebook is enough," here's a simple test: Google what you do, plus your town. Like "hairdresser Murray Bridge" or "mechanic Tailem Bend." Are you in the results? If not, every person who searched that today found your competitor instead.

Keep your Facebook page. It's doing useful work. But stop treating it as a substitute for a website. It's not the same tool, and it was never designed to be.