01When a Facebook page really is enough
Calling a Facebook page useless would be wrong. For a business that grew up on Facebook, the Page is often where the work already happens: customers vouch for you in recommendations and comments, ask questions in Messenger and see your events and offers. Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines, in the E-E-A-T section, say that a local business profile page on social media may be the authoritative and trusted source for what is on sale now. If the people who look for you already follow you, your work comes from word of mouth and nobody asks for a price list or a booking link, a Page can be the whole channel. The condition is that you keep it current: a Page with last year's opening hours sends people to a closed door.
- Your customers already follow you and found you through people they know
- Nothing to compare: no price list to publish, no booking beyond a message
- Someone keeps hours, offers and photos current
- You do not need strangers to find you through a search
02What a Page cannot give you that a site can
The gap is the address, not the quality. A Page lives under facebook.com. A web address of your own, and an email such as [email protected], come from a domain registered in your name. A person who searches Google for a service and a town wants a page about that service in that town. On a site you can write exactly that page, one per service, with the price, the area you cover and a booking link or form. A Page gives you the sections Meta provides. We do not measure how Pages rank, so we will not say where yours would appear. The difference we can state is that a service page is one you wrote for that search, and a Page section is not. Who owns the account is the other half, and our post on Instagram already makes that argument; it applies here too. For Facebook the source is Meta's own terms (in force from 1 January 2025): Meta may remove content, or block or restrict access to it, if it breaks the terms, and may suspend or disable an account after clear, serious or repeated violations. None of that says it will happen to you. With a PROOF48 build you own the code, the domain, the hosting account and the content once you have paid.
- Meta's terms: content can be removed or restricted if it breaks the terms, and accounts can be suspended or disabled after clear, serious or repeated violations
- Meta's terms: when Meta removes content for a Community Standards breach, it says it will explain your options to request another review, except in serious or repeated cases.
- A Page address sits under facebook.com; a domain registered in your name is yours, and so is an email address on it
- A Page has the sections Meta provides; a site has the pages you choose, such as a price list and a page per service and town
03A ten-minute test before you decide
Run it yourself, no tool needed. Open a private browser window and search for what you sell plus your town, then see whether your Page appears and what it shows. We do not measure how Facebook Pages rank and will not guess, so look at your own result rather than trusting ours. Then ask your last five customers how they found you and whether they looked for a price or a booking option first. If all five came through people they know and none wanted more than a message, a Page is probably doing the job. If any of them searched for you and found someone else, that is the gap a website fills.
- Search your service and your town in a private window and look at what appears
- Ask your last five customers how they found you
- Note how many wanted a price, a map or a booking link before they wrote to you
- Check who holds admin access to your Page and what happens if one admin leaves
04What the 48-hour alternative costs, and where PROOF48 is the wrong choice
PROOF48 builds a business website of up to about five pages, or a landing page, in 48 hours. You send one reference link, get a live preview at hour 48 and pay only if you want it: 500 to 2,500 EUR once, depending on pages and integrations, with no deposit on the standard build. Maintenance plans are optional and start at 27 EUR a month, and a site still needs hosting somewhere, as our hosting post explains. We are the wrong choice if your Page already fills your calendar and you never want a customer who has not heard of you. A store with cart and checkout is a different project, 2,500 to 4,500 EUR with its own timeline, not the 48-hour offer. Stores and web apps have their own scope and timeline, and larger or custom projects are quoted separately and, per our terms, may need a deposit.
- Website of up to about five pages, or a landing page: 48 hours, 500 to 2,500 EUR, paid after the preview
- You own the code, the domain, the hosting account and the content once you have paid
- Store with cart and checkout: 2,500 to 4,500 EUR, with its own timeline
- Wrong choice: your Page already fills your calendar and you want nobody new
What a hotel puts on a site of its own
Santorini Hotel in Eforie Nord has a site with rooms, a gallery, contact details and a booking enquiry flow. Its reception, restaurant and complaints phone lines are published on the site and in its structured data, so search engines read the hotel as a hotel and not as a generic page. Those are decisions about structure and markup, made on the hotel's own website. We claim nothing about the hotel's Facebook page, and we publish no occupancy or booking figures for it.
See the build: Santorini HotelQuestions, answered
Can I keep my Facebook page and also have a website?
Yes. Nothing about a website asks you to close your Page. The Page stays where your customers already are, and the site is the part you set up and own.
Is a Facebook page free and a website not?
A Page costs nothing to start. A PROOF48 website is 500 to 2,500 EUR once, paid only after you have seen the preview. Maintenance is optional, from 27 EUR a month.
Will a website put me first on Google?
We promise no Google position, and nobody can. A website gives search engines a page of your own to read. It does not decide where that page appears.
What if I need to sell online?
A store with cart and checkout is 2,500 to 4,500 EUR with its own timeline. It is not the 48-hour website offer.
Does Google treat a Facebook page as a real source?
Its rater guidelines say a local business profile page on social media may be the authoritative source for what is on sale now. That describes how raters judge a page. It says nothing about where your Page would rank.
Where PROOF48 fits
A Facebook page is enough when your customers already find you there, nobody needs a price list or a booking link, and you accept that Meta sets the rules. It is not enough when you want an address and pages of your own. Test it in ten minutes with a private search and five questions to recent customers. PROOF48 builds the website in 48 hours, 500 to 2,500 EUR, paid only after you have seen it.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.