Should Your Ads Point to Your Website or Your Facebook Page?

Your website, almost every time. An ad click that lands on your Facebook or Instagram page drops the customer back into a feed built to distract them. A page you own has one job: turning them into an enquiry. Same ad and budget, a very different number of leads by month's end.

What actually happens when an ad lands on your Facebook page

You paid for the click. The customer arrives on your page, back inside Facebook, where a notification, a message, or the next video is one thumb-flick away. Your posts are in whatever order you published them, your prices are three scrolls down, and the way to contact you is wherever Facebook put it this month. Most of those visitors drift off without doing anything, and you can't even see how many, because Facebook shows likes and hides how many people almost enquired.

One ad, two very different endings

Same ad and same cost, two destinations:

SponsoredSpring special: free quotes this weekLearn more
Lands on your Facebook pageScrolls away, lead lost
Lands on your websiteEnquiry captured
The click costs the same either way. Only one destination captures it.

Why a website turns more clicks into leads

A page you own can be built around one goal, getting the enquiry:

  • One job per page: the visitor sees your offer, your proof and a button, and nothing else.
  • A real way to capture the lead: an enquiry form or tap-to-call button, not "send us a DM and hope".
  • No competitors: Facebook shows other businesses' ads next to your page. Your website shows nobody but you.
  • You can measure it: a small piece of tracking code (a "pixel") counts visits and enquiries, so you know your cost per lead instead of guessing.
  • Your ads get cheaper over time: that same tracking lets you re-show ads to people who visited but didn't enquire, which is consistently the cheapest advertising there is.

The same $300 of ads, two destinations

Lands on your Facebook pageLands on your website
What they see firstYour latest postYour offer and a button
DistractionsThe entire feedNone
How they enquireFind the DM buttonForm or tap-to-call
What you learnLikes and followsVisits, enquiries, cost per lead
Follow-upNoneRe-show ads to interested visitors
The destination decides how many of those clicks become customers.

How to run ads that actually capture leads

  1. 1

    Pick one offer

    One specific thing, such as a free quote, a seasonal special or a package with a price. Ads that ask for one clear action beat ads that ask for attention.

  2. 2

    Give it one page

    A landing page (a single page built for one offer) with the offer, a photo of your work, a line of proof, and an enquiry form. Nothing else.

  3. 3

    Track it

    Have the tracking pixel installed before you spend a dollar. It's a one-off job for whoever built your site, and it's what turns "I think ads work" into a number.

  4. 4

    Start small and read the number

    $10–$15 a day for two weeks tells you your cost per enquiry. If a $600 job costs $40 in ads to win, the ads are paying for themselves.

When pointing ads at Facebook is fine

If you don't have a website yet, a boosted post is better than silence, especially for awareness jobs like an opening, an event or a giveaway, where you want reach rather than leads. You're paying full price for clicks and capturing a fraction of them. Once the goal is enquiries, land them on a page you own.

Where to next

Get a site your ads can land on

Every site we build ships ready for ads, with fast pages, enquiry forms and tracking installed. See examples, or ask us anything.