THE SHORT ANSWER
If your route is full, your work comes from referrals and you aren't looking to change who you serve, a Facebook page and a complete Google Business Profile can be enough. A website earns its keep when you want to choose your customers: your towns, your prices and how you work, at an address you control, so the right people call and the wrong ones don't.
When Facebook is enough
For plenty of route owners, it is. We'd rather tell you that than sell you a site you don't need.
A Facebook page plus a complete Google Business Profile is likely enough if most of these are true:
- Your route is full, or close to it, and you're not looking to grow
- Nearly all new customers come from neighbors and existing customers who already know you
- You're not planning to raise prices or change the kind of customer you take on
- Your Google profile shows your hours, your area, your phone number, photos and reviews
In that case, keep the profile up to date and put your time into the route. Come back when one of those changes.
What a website gives you that Facebook doesn't
Control over what a stranger sees first, and an address that stays yours.
- Your own address. yourcompany.com can stay with you for as long as you run the business, whatever any platform decides about pages, layouts or rules.
- Your order of things. A Facebook page is built around posts. Someone deciding on weekly service wants the same answers every time: do you come to my street, what does a visit include, roughly what does it cost, are you licensed and insured. A site puts those first instead of under last month's posts.
- A first impression for referrals. When a neighbor recommends you, the next step is often a search for your name. A site that looks like the established company you are backs up that recommendation.
- Fewer of the wrong calls. Towns and a starting price on the page tell people outside your area, or shopping only on price, before they call.
None of this guarantees more customers, and you should be wary of anyone who says it does. A site helps the people who already found you decide.
You don't have to choose
Most owners with a website keep their Facebook page and Google profile too. They do different jobs.
69% of the websites of Florida's registered pool businesses link to at least one social profile (Study No. 03). But linking to social profiles isn't what made a site good: in our conversion study, links to two or more social profiles showed up at similar rates on the best-scoring sites and the rest, 72% against 60% (Study No. 01). What did stand out were a page for the towns served and a call button that stays on screen.
So if you add a site, put its address on your Google profile and your Facebook page, and let each do its own job: Facebook for updates and photos, Google for being found nearby, the site for the answers.
What we found on Florida pool businesses
About half of Florida's registered pool businesses have a website: an estimated 47% (95% range 34–69%). Licensed contractors were 1.7 times as likely to have one we could find as businesses without a state license, 32% against 18% (Study No. 03).
Having a site isn't the same as having a good one. On 1 in 10 pool sites listed on Google Maps in four Florida metros, the first screen on a phone showed no phone number and no call, quote or contact button (Study No. 01). A site like that can do less for you than a well-kept Google profile. If you build one, build one that answers the questions.
A five-minute test
Do this on your phone, as if you were a new customer who just heard your name.
- Search for your business name. What shows up first, and does it look like the company you are?
- Can a stranger see which towns you serve within a few seconds?
- Can they see what a weekly visit includes, and roughly what it costs or how you price it?
- Can they call you with one tap?
- If your Facebook page disappeared tomorrow, would customers still find your number?
Five yeses from your Facebook page and Google profile: you're fine for now. Two or more noes: that's what a website fixes. Our pool service website checklist goes deeper.
If you decide on a website
Keep it simple and make sure you own it. At Ruberio, a pool service site is $990, after a $49 preview that comes off the price, then $10 a month for hosting. You see a real preview at a private link before you decide, and if you don't go ahead, the preview goes offline after 14 days.
Once you've paid for the site, the design and the code are yours, and a domain we register for you moves to your name within 5 business days of asking. See what we build for pool service companies, how it works and what you own.
Questions
Will a website get me more customers than Facebook?
We don't promise that, and nobody honestly can. A website gives the people who already heard of you clear answers and a quick way to call. Whether that turns into more customers depends on your area, your prices and your work.
Do I have to post on a website the way I do on Facebook?
No. A pool service site isn't a feed. You update it when your prices, your towns or your seasonal notes change, and that can be a few times a year.
Is a Google Business Profile more important than a website?
For being found nearby, the profile does a lot of the work, so keep it complete either way. The website is where people go next to check you out and get their questions answered.
