The Facebook Page Isn't Working, You Just Don't Know It Yet
I talk to a lot of contractors. Roofers, electricians, guys who do kitchen remodels. Almost all of them have a Facebook page. Almost none of them have a real website.
Here's the problem. A roof starts leaking at 9pm on a Tuesday. Someone Googles "roofer near me." Nobody's scrolling through your Facebook posts from 2022 hunting for your phone number. They want a site that loads fast, shows your work, has a number they can tap. That's the whole job.
Facebook can't do that job well. It's slow, cluttered with ads for stuff you don't sell, and half the time people can't even see your page without logging in first. You're building a house on land you don't own.
What You Actually Need
You don't need a fancy site. You need a homepage that says what you do and where you do it. A phone number and a contact form that actually works. A few photos of real jobs, not stock photos of some guy in a hard hat.
And a domain name people can remember and trust. That last one matters more than most contractors think.
"mikesullivanroofing.com" looks like a real business. "facebook.com/mikesullivanroofing2019" looks like a hobby someone picked up during lockdown.
The Domain Is the Cheap Part
Here's what surprises people. The domain itself costs almost nothing. What's expensive is waiting too long. Someone else grabs the good name in your town, and now you're stuck explaining why your business is called "Mike's Roofing Solutions LLC Official."
Good local domains get scooped up fast. Sometimes by nobody in particular, just people sitting on names hoping to flip them for a few grand later. I've seen a decent one-word plumbing domain sit unused for six years while the "owner" waited for a buyer who never came. That's a bad game for a contractor to play. You've got jobs to run.
This is actually why I built NotRenewing. Domain owners let names expire constantly, good names, short names, names that would be perfect for a plumber or a fencing company. Instead of funneling those into a 7-day auction where speculators bid the price up, we list them flat at $99. No bidding war. No refreshing a page hoping you win.
Browse what's available right now at /browse and just buy it. Takes five minutes.
Stop Renting Your Storefront From Facebook
Your Facebook page is a rented stall inside somebody else's mall. The mall can change the rules whenever it wants. It can bury your stall, show your customers a competitor's ad right next to your post, and there's nothing you can do about it.
A domain you own is a storefront on the street. Nobody moves it. Nobody buries it in an algorithm update you didn't ask for.
Grab a name that matches your business or your trade plus your city. Put up something simple. Keep the Facebook page too, sure, keep posting job photos there if it makes you happy. But own your name first. For $99, this isn't a decision that needs a committee meeting.