We live in the information age, we all have in our heads the idea that "without it does not appear on the Internet, it does not exist", and even so, many people who could be described as technological rednecks (without wanting to offend anyone) continue to question the importance of web presence and of having a real corporate website. Ironic? not at all, because we also live in the era of misinformation, hoaxes, new myths, brothers-in-law online, sharing fake news, and believing everything they tell us through a screen. And the worst thing is that 75% of people don't give a damn about all that, because in their social network they have given them the title of the smart one among the smart ones.

What's this all about?

Well, lately I've heard and witnessed one of the biggest business mistakes of the last century: I don't need a website, I already have a Facebook page that is free on top. (insert sitcom-style canned laughs).

What is a Facebook page?

Basically it is a template provided by a company that benefits from the visits caused by your content. It really is nothing more than a miniblog to which you can add a header image and contact information, little else. It is not a corporate website, it is penalized by the algorithms of Google and other internet search engines, 70% of the views are your own contacts (people who already know you and who you do not need to advertise), it is limited to users from the social network itself.

It may be the social network with the most users, about 2000 active users each month, the problem is that 30% of these accounts are fakes accounts (bots or secondary accounts) so that the number of real active users each month will be approximately about 1200, and that is not even 35% of Internet users. To be clear, a Facebook page is no more effective than a flyer pinned to a private club's bulletin board.

What is the difference with a corporate website?

Basically everything. A web page is your online showcase, it is the first and possibly the only impression that you will be able to give to a potential client. Your website has to be professional, eye-catching, attractive and original; and most important of all: easy to find. You will only get this when you have your own corporate website.

Put yourself in the customer's shoes for a moment, you really do it every time you look for content, products or services on the Internet:

1. You are going to look for a hotel-spa to spend a weekend
2. You sit in front of your computer or take your smartphone
3. You open your favorite search engine and search for "spa hotel"
4. Your brain automatically discards all advertisements... and also discards Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and ThousandAnnouncements pages...

Think about the last time you searched for a product or a service on Google and entered a link to a Facebook page. Long ago, right? Maybe never? Why does that happen? It's easy, you know that if you advertise on Facebook and only on Facebook it is because it is a shabby hotel, and surely its services and facilities are too. When you are looking for a service, a product or a hotel on Google, you are going to choose those that have professional pages, those that have an attractive and updated corporate image, with their own domain, designed to suit the business, with an email that does not end in hotmail or yahoo, and it does not appear that the photos have been stolen from any other website. Because they are the ones that give confidence. You know it, and Google knows it, that's why they are never the first to be shown.

Your clients do exactly the same when they look for a service that your company offers: in the end they choose another company because you do not have a website that provides confidence and professionalism.

Where would you rather eat, in a restaurant or bar that looks clean, with professional and polite waiters and good service, or in someone's shabby garage, at a camping table sitting on a keg of beer and with whom they claim to be cook even though he uses a camping gas bottle. Well, that is the difference from having a corporate website developed by a professional to having a "free Facebook page".

Think again, do you still believe that your business doesn't need a real website?