I know, it’s amazing. Not everyone is a devoted fan of Facebook. Not everyone even has a membership to Facebook. For those who establish and use a Facebook professional page as your website, if you’re counting on that being enough for your business to continue gaining ground at its maximum potential, I’m here to ruin your fantasy. Facebook is a social network, not a domain host for websites. Having a Facebook page for your business, church, not-for-profit group is a great idea. It’s also a great idea to have the same sort of page on Google+ and Twitter. But, it’s still only a page on a social site. You can think of it as something akin to dropping your business card in the biz-card pot at a restaurant, or tacking it to a bulletin board in the post office. It isn’t a website. It’s Facebook. Now, if you’ve got a Facebook page set up with an image or text link so visitors on your page can just click-n-warp to your website, that’s perfect! If not, meh... Truth is, if you can take the time to set up a Facebook page, you can surely take the time to set up a website, or get someone to do it for you. You can have a website that’s totally free and still awesome. As for finding help to set it up, that’s often free or super-inexpensive, depending on how big and detailed you want it to be. Even a simple one-page website is better than no website at all. It only takes one page to house your business name, type, location and contact information. In a nutshell, that’s what clients need to get in touch with you at your own site, which is the online representation of your office/store/studio/gallery/whatever. A basic website is often the only thing needed in an online platform--making it super-simple for folks to find and contact you. Interactive sites are great, but often not necessary and certainly not the thing that will make or break a business. I do hours upon hours of online research and work weekly, and honestly, the basic sites are doing very well, even for artisans who have merchandise to display and sell. I’m seeing more and more of them working with their clients through email for information exchange on selection and purchases. Another plus to this is, it’s an easy method to work with for both clients and website owners, and especially for the techno-challenged folks who have little love for techno-widgets and what-nots. Might not be lightning fast, but it’s far more personal and more often than not, personal wins over warp speed. Recent example...Over the weekend I wanted to look up some info on a church. I went to Google. Input the search and ... zip. The only thing Google came up with was a Facebook page. What’s wrong with that? Glad you asked... What if I didn’t have a Facebook account? Should I have to make one and join a social network site just to get info on a church? If I’d not already had a Facebook account, I’d not have set up one to get the information. No business or organization is worth having to set up a social site account to get in touch with. I assure you, there are lots and lots of us out here who feel that way. I do have an account on Facebook. In fact, you can click here and warp to it if you like. I even have a shared business page with On Story Street on Facebook. Both of them are designed to give a bit of information but to ultimately direct inquiries to our websites, not a social network page. Not all of my website guests frequent Facebook. Some don’t even visit Facebook once in a while. Some have had accounts with Facebook and quit them, others have never had accounts with Facebook (or any other social network) and don’t intend to get one. Reason enough?Hope I’ve given you plenty. I, and other pro bloggers, have even declined to write about businesses (most specifically, but other entities too) that have truly newsworthy information to share. When they don’t have a website, we don’t have a viable place to direct our readers to so they can learn more about them or get in touch with them for services. Like you, potential clients are possibly working with a hectic schedule. They may not have time, or simply be disinclined to jump and answer every phone call as soon as it comes through. The prime ways of getting in touch with folks like that (me included) are via email or business websites. Those two things get attended to often because they’re connected with how we earn a living. Leave a message on a social site, and you might not get a reply for days, or even weeks. Attention is all on you, your message, your work on your own website. It’s your platform and all about you and what you’ve got to share with others. Consider allllllll the other stuff going on all over the page of a social network site. They’re like the midway at a carnival, with each distraction competing with all the attractions. Craziness. If someone(s) is interested enough to run a search on the web for your site, you ought to have one. Each search is the potential for a new subscriber, client, visitor to your church or club, or volunteer for your next neighborhood soiree or charity activity. Need help?If you find the idea of building your own site intimidating, there are boocoos of help out there for you. Lots of it is even free! Weebly.com (my personal and professional favorite among website hosting services) has a help desk that’s staffed with folks who will lend assistance and advise you at no cost in helping answer any questions you might have about building and establishing a Weebly-based website. They’ll help you even if you go with their free site offer and honestly, their free sites are perfect for all sorts of businesses and organizations. If you’re a blogger, Weebly is built to house multiple, independent weblogs, all within one site, each with their own unique style, purpose and design. There are others. You can do a search for webmasters and website building services and come up with page after page of people and businesses that will help you. You can also get in touch with me for basic to moderate website builds. If I can’t help you, I can probably point you in the direction of an individual or business who can. If you’re a part of a church that doesn’t have a website ... wait a minute ... for real? There are still churches that don’t have websites? No way! Just sayin’ ... ☺ ShoutOutsThe wrap!That's it for this one!
God bless you, thanks for the read and see you next week! femmeflashpoint
8 Comments
Hi femme,
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Angelia Phillips (femmeflashpoint)
12/7/2016 04:44:50 am
Hi Vicki,
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Kimmie Thompson
12/7/2016 07:56:38 am
Hello Femme
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femmeflashpoint
12/7/2016 09:58:34 am
Hi Kimi!
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crazyhorseladycx
12/9/2016 03:54:54 pm
Howdy, Ms. Femme!
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femmeflashpoint
12/10/2016 01:20:13 pm
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"Dropping your business card in the biz-card pot at a restaurant, or tacking it to a bulletin board in the post office"... is a great analogy to using FB as a promotional vehicle.
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