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Comment by dont__panic | Hacker News Reader

The number of local businesses, from tattoo artists to breweries to coffeeshops to schools, that use Facebook as their only presence on the web is astounding.

I don't like Facebook, and I refuse to use it on moral grounds. But I do want to patronize some of those businesses. Without at least basic knowledge of how to register a domain, build a website, etc... what options really exist for these places, especially at the "totally free" starting point of Facebook? I've often considered building a web app that serves as a non-programmer friendly frontend for a Jekyll blog/website hosted on GitHub Pages, since most of these places don't have super high requirements.

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> Without at least basic knowledge of how to register a domain, build a website, etc... what options really exist for these places, especially at the "totally free" starting point of Facebook?

Wix? Squarespace? WordPress.com? All of these make purchasing a domain, and building a website very easy for the "average" business owner.

How easy is it to integrate your site on Wix or Squarespace or Wordpress with Google Maps, FB, and Instagram - compared with just having a FB page?

Also - if these business owners are already spending time on FB and Instagram personally - it's less of a stretch to have a page there. Once they have a page - then they need convinced that they need a full-fledged site. And maybe a lot of them actually don't.

People are going with facebook because it’s free, and because you’d “have” to do it anyway, and most importantly because it has a built in audience.

I recently made a website for my personal art projects - i got absolutely zero feedback. I’m sure many friends/family/random people have seen it now - but they’re not liking, sharing, or commenting anywhere that I can see so how am i supposed to feel that was effort well spent? If I made a facebook page, i’d get to see immediately who followed it - who likes it - who comments - etc.

Not to mention every time i put effort into adding content, i’d see some feedback for that.

If facebook is to be toppled, the feedback loop needs to be tightened for off-facebook content

Web hosting is easy. But what Facebook offers is the local advertising. Local businesses really should do both.

Some try to get away without the web page. But even if they have it, they need to get people to visit it. People searching for, say, a coffee shop will find you. But that can't match being shoved into the feed of somebody who says, "Hey, new coffee shop. I should try it."

Facebook, operated properly, is actually a pretty decent way to advertise within your community. It knows where people are and has at least some inkling of who might want a coffee/beer/tattoo.

Facebook isn't operated properly, along dozens of different lines. But a large subset of its users do still use it for that basic way of connecting to other people, including things that they might want but don't yet know about.

Those exist already really, especially something slick like Wix.

However, one big thing missing is like, free advertising, and communication.

With a website, people have to remember to come back. Or you can try email blasting them(annoying). With Facebook, you can just post your new wares and deals and followers see it in their feed.

Further, something I've noticed in other countries more than here, businesses will actually chat with you on Messenger. No need to email or call, just fire off a message and get a response.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like FB and don't have an account there, but I totally get why businesses do this, even if it costs them business from folks like me and you.

It's surprising how many around me are on facebook but haven't added themselves to google or apple maps.

Especially since I feel like people visiting are more likely to pull on their map app to find local places to go to.

I think it's a business problem rather than a technical one, how do I get people to even know my website exists? Google Maps, Facebook pages, Instagram are your immediate choices.

There are hundreds of alternative options to Facebook to host a website on the internet, there's really no excuse to be dependent on Facebook, it is a voluntary choice.

You mean something like Wix?

It is better to get some non-abusive Wix-like company to host you, but those have a non-zero start cost (there a re many of them). Looks like a price of zero on a service is only achievable through some customer abuse.

the moat that facebook have with their sheer number of users is their #1 feature. IMHO, this is why certain social networks exist for parts of what facebook offers but none quite encompass the entire breadth.

Just as an example, i have a facebook account with bogus info but i've had it for nearly fifteen years now. Over time, i've used it for chatting with friends, reconnecting with lost ones, buying and selling locally, finding events and even as a local rideshare.

No single platform can do all of this and despite the horrible things facebook does and enables, there is real value in their service.

I’ve noticed Google maps building out functionality of listings — e.g. deals and news embedded directly in the little pop up when you click on it (at least on mobile). Would hope this might be a viable alternative?

Building a website is easy. Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress, all can be used with zero technical knowledge.

Driving targeted local traffic to that website is a different matter. SEO is hard, takes time and money and technical know-how, and is not guaranteed to work. Search ads are expensive. Facebook and Instagram pages work perfectly for these small establishments.

Instagram account

If you want to avoid Facebook the product, this will work. If you want to avoid Facebook the company (now Meta), this will not work because Facebook acquired them in 2012.

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