When someone hears your name — on a yard sign, at a community meeting, from a neighbor — the next thing they do is predictable. They pull out their phone and search for you. Every single time.
If they find a clean, professional website with your photo, your platform, and a way to contact you, you've just passed the credibility test. If they find nothing — or worse, just a Facebook page with blurry photos and sporadic posts — you've lost ground you may never get back.
"But I'm Only Running for School Board"
This is the most common pushback, and it misunderstands how voters think. Nobody decides to Google a presidential candidate — they already know who's running. It's the local races where voters actively search because they don't know who you are yet.
School board races are the perfect example. Parents are deeply invested in who oversees their children's education, but they often can't name a single candidate until they see the ballot. When they go looking for information, your website is the difference between an informed vote and a coin flip.
The same logic applies to city council, township trustees, village council, and county offices. The more local the race, the more a website matters — because there's less media coverage to fill the gap.
What a Website Does That Facebook Can't
A Facebook page is not a substitute for a campaign website. Here's why:
- You control the message. Facebook's algorithm decides what people see. Your website shows every visitor exactly what you want them to know, in the order you want them to see it.
- It looks professional. A campaign website with your own domain name — JohnsonForCouncil.com — signals that you're serious. A Facebook page signals that you're doing this casually.
- It works for everyone. Not every voter has Facebook. Older voters, privacy-conscious voters, and anyone who's deactivated their account can still reach your website.
- It's permanent and findable. Google ranks websites. It doesn't reliably surface Facebook pages for candidate searches. Your website shows up when people search your name plus your office.
- It gives you a professional email. Voters emailing info@johnsonforcouncil.com feel like they're reaching a real campaign. Voters messaging a Facebook page feel like they're shouting into the void.
Think of it this way: A Facebook page is a conversation. A website is a handshake. Voters want both, but the handshake comes first.
What Voters Actually Look For
When a voter lands on your campaign website, they want to answer three questions in about 30 seconds:
Who is this person? A photo and a brief bio. Not a resume — a human story. Where you live, what you do, why you care about this community.
What do they stand for? Three to five clear positions on issues that matter locally. You don't need a 40-page policy document. You need to show that you've thought about the job and have a point of view.
How do I reach them? A contact form, an email address, or a phone number. Accessibility matters. If voters can reach you before you're elected, they'll trust that you'll be reachable after.
That's it. A campaign website doesn't need to be complicated. It needs to exist, look professional, and answer those three questions clearly.
"But I Can't Afford a Website"
You probably can. Campaign websites don't need to cost $1,000 or more. A clean, mobile-friendly site with your own domain, hosting, and email forwarding can cost as little as $100. That's less than a batch of yard signs.
The cost of not having a website is harder to measure, but it's real. Every voter who searches for you and finds nothing is a voter you may have lost. In a local race where the margin might be 50 votes, that matters.
When to Launch It
Your website should go live the day you announce your candidacy — or even before. It's the foundation everything else builds on. When you knock doors, hand out palm cards, and post yard signs, your website is where interested voters go next.
Don't wait until your website is "perfect." A simple, clean site with your photo and platform is infinitely better than no site at all. You can always add content later. What you can't do is go back in time and capture the voters who searched for you and found nothing.
$100. That's it.
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