Instagram or a website: do you need both?

The problem with relying only on Instagram

• Your prices and opening hours are buried under new posts.
• Instagram can ask people to log in before they can continue browsing.
• You do not control who sees your posts: the app decides.
• If your account is hacked or locked, your shop window disappears overnight.

What only a website can do

• Turn up on Google when someone nearby searches for what you do, even if they have never heard of you.
• Show the things people check before they visit, in the same place every time: prices, opening hours, the map and how to book.
• Open for anyone, on any phone or computer, without an app or an account.
• Take bookings or quote requests that come straight to you.
• Belong to you: your name, your address on the web, your words.

What Instagram still does best

• Showing what you made today: a fresh haircut, this week's specials, a finished kitchen.
• Keeping regulars up to date without them having to look for you.
• Behind-the-scenes posts and short videos that show the people behind the business.

The best of both

You do not have to choose. Most local businesses do best with both, each doing its own job.

1. Keep posting on Instagram: it is your gallery and your news feed.
2. Put your website link in your Instagram bio.
3. Let the website hold what people need in order to decide: prices, hours, location, reviews and booking.
4. Add your website to your Google Business Profile, so that people who find you on Google Maps can see it too.

Making the two work together

1. Add your website to your Instagram profile (Edit profile, then add a link), so every visitor to your profile can reach your prices and booking.
2. When you post something people can buy or book, say that the details are on your website.
3. Keep a few photos of recent work on your website too, so visitors who never open Instagram still see it.
4. Use the same name, photo and contact details everywhere, so people know it is you.