Daycare Website vs Facebook Page: Do You Need Both?

The daycare website vs Facebook page debate plays out in provider groups every week. One provider says she has filled every spot for years through Facebook alone and can’t imagine paying for anything else. Another says she lost a family because “a daycare without a website felt like a red flag.” Both of them are telling the truth, and that’s exactly why this question deserves a fair answer instead of a sales pitch.

So let’s give Facebook its due, be honest about where it runs out of road, and land on what most home daycares actually need.

What a Facebook page genuinely does well

Facebook earned its place in daycare marketing, and pretending otherwise would be silly.

Local parent groups are where recommendations happen. When a parent posts “any home daycares near Riverside with an opening for a toddler?” in a neighbourhood group, the answers come as comments within the hour, often with your page tagged by a current family. That kind of warm referral is the best lead there is, and it happens on Facebook because that’s where the group lives.

Posting is genuinely easy. A photo of today’s paint project, typed with one thumb during nap time, posted in thirty seconds. No login to a dashboard, no editing a page. For day-to-day “here’s what we did” updates, nothing beats it.

Parents are already there. They don’t need to remember your web address. Your updates appear in a feed they already scroll, and Messenger gives them a familiar way to fire off a quick question. Zero friction for the families you already have.

If your whole goal were staying warm with current families and their friends, a Facebook page alone would nearly cover it.

Where a Facebook page falls short

The trouble starts when a Facebook page has to do jobs it was never built for.

Posts don’t rank for “daycare near me.” When a parent who has never heard of you searches Google for a daycare in your area, the results are Google Business Profiles, directories, and websites. Facebook pages surface there rarely, and individual posts essentially never. The parents you’d most like to reach, the ones actively searching with no recommendation in hand, will not find a Facebook-only daycare that way.

Some parents avoid Facebook entirely. Plenty of younger parents deleted their accounts years ago or never made one. For them, a daycare whose only online presence is a Facebook page is a daycare they can barely see. Fair or not, some also read a Facebook-only presence as less established than a program with its own site.

The algorithm decides who sees your posts. Even parents who follow your page see only a fraction of what you post. You can’t control it, and Facebook can change it any quarter.

You don’t own the presence. Accounts get locked by mistake, pages get hacked, and policies shift. Providers have lost years of posts, photos, and reviews overnight with no meaningful way to appeal quickly. Everything you build on Facebook sits on rented ground.

Your basic facts are buried in posts. A timeline is the wrong shape for reference information. Your hours, your rates, your program details, and your openings live scattered across posts from various months. A parent who wants to know whether you offer part-time care has to scroll and dig, and most won’t. They’ll message you to ask a question your website would have answered at 9 pm without you.

Do daycares need a website?

For most providers, yes. Not because Facebook is bad, but because a website does the three jobs Facebook can’t.

It can be found by strangers. A website with your city and neighbourhood in the text is something Google can actually show to a parent searching for care in your area. That’s the front door for families with no connection to your existing circle.

It answers questions without you. Hours, programs, rates approach, photos of the space, and your background sit on one page in a predictable order, findable in ten seconds instead of ten minutes of scrolling.

It captures interest in writing. A contact form and a waitlist sign-up turn “I should message her sometime” into an enquiry with a name, an email, and a child’s age, sitting in your inbox instead of buried under Messenger threads about pickup times.

And a website is yours. Nobody’s algorithm sits between you and a parent who typed your address into a browser.

The verdict: both, with distinct jobs

You don’t have to pick a side, because these two tools aren’t competing for the same job.

Facebook is your word-of-mouth channel. It keeps you visible in local groups, gives current families an easy way to share your posts, and lets you show daily life in your program.

Your website is home base. It’s where searches land, where facts live, where credibility gets established with parents who’ve never met you, and where enquiries get captured.

The two feed each other. Your Facebook page’s website field and a pinned post should both point to your site, so every warm referral from a group comment lands somewhere that answers questions and takes an enquiry. And your website can mention your Facebook page for families who want the day-to-day photo stream.

What you should stop doing is asking Facebook to be your home base. That’s the setup where hours get buried, searchers never find you, and one account lockout erases your online presence.

Keeping the website side light

The usual objection is time and money, and it’s a fair one if you’re imagining a web designer and a monthly hosting bill. You don’t need either.

Every CubbyBook plan, including the free one, includes a website for your daycare at daycares.cubbybook.com/your-name. You click “Create my website,” fill in your details, and pick one of four styles (Hearth, Sprout, Civic, or Studio). The site has 13 sections to switch on or off, including parent reviews, a contact form, and a waitlist sign-up. The contact form and waitlist feed your Enquiries inbox with spam protection built in, and email notifications can go to up to five addresses. Google title and description fields, social previews, structured data, and a sitemap are handled for you.

Set it up once, point your Facebook page at it, and click “Publish changes” whenever something shifts. Facebook stays your quick, chatty channel. The website quietly does the finding, answering, and capturing underneath.

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See what goes into the site side on the daycare website builder page, or start free, no card needed.