The short answer
Yes. If you want new customers to find you, trust you and contact you, you still need a website, even if your Facebook page is busy and your regulars find you without any trouble.
That might sound like something a web company would say. So here's the reasoning, and when you could reasonably get by without one.
What a Facebook page can't do
Facebook is useful. It's where a lot of Canadians still check for hours, photos and whether a business looks active. But it has some real limits as your main online home.
You don't own it. Meta decides what your page looks like, who sees your posts and whether your account stays up. Pages get restricted or hacked, and getting them back can take weeks. Everything you've built sits on someone else's land.
Most people never see your posts. Organic reach on business pages has been low for years. Unless people interact with you regularly or you pay to boost, most of your followers won't see what you post.
It doesn't show up for the searches that matter. When someone types "furnace repair Stratford" or "bookkeeper for small business" into Google, Facebook pages rarely rank. Websites and Google Business Profiles do.
AI tools lean on websites. More people now ask ChatGPT or read Google's AI Overviews before they click anything. Those answers are built largely from websites, reviews and directories. Content inside a Facebook page is much harder for those tools to use.
What a website does that social media can't
A website is the one place online where you control the whole message. It's where you can explain each service properly, list the areas you cover, answer the questions people ask before they call, and show proof that you do good work.
It also connects the rest of your online presence. Your Google Business Profile links to it. Your ads send people to it. Your social posts point back to it. Search engines use it to understand what you do and where. Without it, every one of those channels is weaker than it should be.
And there's a simple trust factor. When someone hears about your business and looks you up, finding a clear, current website reassures them you're established. Finding nothing, or a Facebook page that hasn't posted since spring, makes some people move on to the next name on the list.
When you might not need one yet: if you're fully booked through word of mouth, you aren't trying to grow, and you're happy with that, a well-kept Google Business Profile might be enough for now. Most businesses that want new customers get there faster with a website.
What your website actually needs in 2026
A website doesn't have to be big or expensive to work. It does need to get a few things right.
- Fast on a phone. Most of your visitors are on mobile, often on a weak connection. If the page takes several seconds to show anything, a lot of them leave.
- One clear page per main service. A single page listing everything you do won't rank well for any of it. A page for each core service, explaining what it involves, who it's for and where you offer it, gives search engines and customers what they need.
- Your location and service area, stated plainly. Town names, regions, the distance you travel. Don't make people or Google guess.
- Real text, not text inside images. Search engines and AI tools read text. Words baked into a graphic are invisible to them. Some website builders also load all the text with scripts, which some crawlers can't read either. If you view the page source and can't find your own words, that's a problem.
- Proof. Reviews, photos of real work, the people behind the business. Stock photos of handshakes don't build trust.
- An obvious way to get in touch. A phone number you can tap, a short form and, if it suits you, online booking.
- Google Search Console connected. It's free, and it tells you how people find you and whether Google is having trouble with your site.
What it doesn't need
You don't need fifty pages, a blog you'll never update, heavy animations or a homepage video that takes ten seconds to load. You don't need every feature a website builder offers. A focused site of five to ten good pages beats a sprawling one that's half empty.
You also don't need to publish lots of AI-written articles to "feed Google". Google's recent spam updates have specifically hit sites that pump out large amounts of thin, auto-generated content. A handful of pages written from real experience is safer and works better.
Your options, roughly
Do it yourself on a website builder. Cheapest upfront and fine for a simple site, if you have the time and patience. The common problems are slow pages, weak SEO settings and designs that look like everyone else's.
WordPress, built by someone who knows it. Flexible, easy to update yourself once it's set up, and good for SEO if it's built lean. It needs regular updates.
Shopify, if you sell products online. It handles hosting, payments and security so you can focus on the store.
A hand-built site. The fastest and most secure option for a site that doesn't change often, though changes usually go through your developer.
There's no single right answer. What matters is that the site is fast, clear, findable and yours. If you want a second opinion on which route fits, our web development page walks through how we decide.
A quick checklist
If you already have a website, run through this list. Every "no" is worth fixing.
- Does the main content appear within a couple of seconds on your phone?
- Does each main service have its own page?
- Does the site say clearly which towns or regions you serve?
- Can someone call you with one tap from any page?
- Do your business name, address and phone number match your Google Business Profile exactly?
- Is Google Search Console set up, and have you checked it in the last month?
- Is the domain registered in your name, and do you have the login?
Once the website is in good shape, the next step is helping nearby customers find it. That's what local SEO is for, and it's covered in more depth in our article on whether SEO is still worth it.
SEO Analyst at MapleRank IT Solutions. Gian has worked on SEO across several digital agencies before partnering with Bim Antenor at MapleRank.
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