5 Differences from a Website and a Facebook Page

Do I really need both?  –

5 Differences Between a Website and a Facebook Page

I was teaching a Facebook for Business workshop and an attendee asked me what the differences were between a website and a Facebook page. I was stumped and really had to think about it because I had never been asked that question. Then I thought I would like to know the answer in detail myself and other inquiring minds might like to know the real differences.  So I did a little research.

Websites and Facebook Pages are two very different forms of getting the word out about your business among the millions of people who use the Internet every day. They both work wonderfully together and should be used as partners and not competitors.

Below are the five main differences between a website and a Facebook page –

1) – Starting place: A post on a Facebook page should be the starting place to gain interest in your services and products. The Facebook Page is the worm to get viewers to the hook of your website. Direct your viewers to specific pages on your website and invite them to purchase. You should also make it easy to purchase from your website by using a call to action, a special offer and a way to pay. PayPal has Buy Now buttons that you can easily add to your website yourself.

2) – All eyes on you: When you go to a website, you are only searching for information, product or service offered by that business or organization. There is no competition and all the attention is on that website. But when you post on your Facebook Page, fans are seeing it in the news feed and not on your wall. So there can be plenty of competition from other businesses that post.

3) – Spread the word: A website is mostly used for “static” (a fixed or stationary condition) information to drive traffic there and get information about your company or organization. If you have a blog on your website, it is a little more interactive. Facebook has lots of opportunities for interaction. You can post on your wall or news feed, chat, comment and share something. This interaction means that people can quickly and easily spread the news about your company to the 850 million Facebook users worldwide.

4) – Skills: It usually takes some training to learn how to navigate a website using Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). Facebook requires no specific skills or training and you can do it all yourself. You can even use Publisher to design your own cover photograph for the Timeline.Cost: Websites usually cost upwards of thousands of dollars, depending on what you offer. A shopping cart, for example, can be very expensive to update and annual expenses. You will also pay for an annual domain name registration and monthly hosting fees. Facebook is FREE unless you purchase ads. But even the ads are very inexpensive and you set your own daily maximum and you can stop the ad at any time.

5) – Cost: Websites usually cost upwards of thousands of dollars, depending on what you offer. A shopping cart, for example, can be very expensive to update and annual expenses. You will also pay for an annual domain name registration and monthly hosting fees. Facebook is FREE unless you purchase ads. But even the ads are very inexpensive and you set your own daily maximum and you can stop the ad at any time.