Instagram is useful for showing your work and staying in touch with followers. A website helps you appear in Google, explain your services in detail and receive enquiries in a place you control. For most businesses, the question is not which one to choose, but what role each one plays. If Instagram is all you have today, also read what happens when you lose the account and how to keep in touch with your customers.

What Instagram does well

  • Shows your latest work in photos and video.
  • Keeps you in touch with customers who already know you.
  • Allows quick messages and direct conversations.
  • Helps people recommend and share your business.

What a website adds

Customers find you when they search Google

When someone needs a lawyer, a rental car or a plumber, they often start in Google. Social profiles can appear in results, but a website where each service has its own page answers specific searches better, such as a service and a city.

Information stays organised

On Instagram, opening hours, services, prices and answers to common questions get lost among posts and messages. On a website, customers find them in the menu without messaging you and waiting for a reply.

You stay in control

How widely posts are shown depends on the platform and can change. Accounts can be hacked or suspended by mistake. Your domain and website are in your name, so customers always have an address where they can find you. What to do if it happens is explained below.

Credibility with new customers

A customer who does not know you, especially another business or a customer from abroad, often looks for an address, company details and examples of work before getting in touch. A website on your own domain, with business email, makes this easier.

More complete enquiries

A form can ask for the information you need in the first message, such as the service, location, date or photographs. This saves several rounds of messages before you can quote.

When Instagram may be enough to start

If you have just started, mainly serve customers who know you and receive few enquiries, Instagram may be enough for a few months. Even then, register a domain with your business name now so nobody else takes it. When customers keep asking the same questions or start looking for you in Google, it is time for a website.

Example: a beauty salon

Illustrative example: a salon posts its work on Instagram and takes bookings by message. Customers ask every day about prices, opening hours and the address. A simple website with services, opening hours, a map and a booking link answers those questions. Instagram continues to show recent work and sends customers to the website for details.

How to connect the two

  • Add your website address to your Instagram bio.
  • Add links to your social profiles on the website, usually in the footer and on the contact page.
  • Use the same name, phone number and address on your website, on Instagram and in your Google Business Profile.
  • When you share a service or offer on Instagram, send visitors to the relevant page, not only the home page.

If Instagram disables your account or someone takes it over

A business profile can disappear within a day. Instagram may disable it because it believes you broke its rules, or someone takes it over with a phishing message and changes the email, phone number and password. According to Meta, a disabled account is no longer visible to others. For as long as that lasts, customers cannot find you or message you on Instagram.

Your followers are not contacts you hold. You can download a copy of your account information, but Meta says the export can take up to 30 days. You can only reach customers whose email address or phone number you have, with their consent.

What to do if it happens

  • The account has been disabled: log in and follow the on-screen instructions to request a review, within the deadline shown in the notice. Under Account Status in the settings, a professional account can see what has been removed and which features are restricted, and can request a review. Meta says that in most cases you will get a warning before losing access, so check this page from time to time.
  • The account has been hacked: follow Instagram’s steps for hacked accounts. If the account has photos of you, you may be asked for a video selfie to confirm your identity.
  • Do not open a new account to get around the decision. Instagram’s Terms of Use say Instagram must not have previously disabled your account for breaking the law or its policies.
  • Tell customers where to find you: with a notice at the top of your website, an email to your list, a WhatsApp message and a post on your Google Business Profile.

What you keep if you have a website and a contact list

  • Your domain and website: the address on your business cards, packaging and in Google keeps working. Our .al domain guide explains how to register and protect the name.
  • Email on your own domain: an address such as info@yourbusiness.al stays where customers and suppliers write to you. See our business email guide.
  • Your Google Business Profile: your opening hours, phone number and reviews stay visible.
  • Your email list: subscribers receive your message without depending on a platform’s algorithm.

How to start building the list today

  • Add a short form to your website: an email address and what the customer wants to receive, such as offers, new products or event dates.
  • Ask for clear consent. Under Article 165 of Albania’s Law no. 54/2024 on electronic communications, marketing email is allowed only with prior consent. Even for existing customers, when you offer them similar products, you need their clearly expressed consent, and every message must let them opt out simply and free of charge.
  • Keep the consent box separate and unticked, including when the customer orders or books. Under Albania’s Law no. 124/2024 on personal data protection, withdrawing consent must be as easy as giving it, and anyone can object to direct marketing at any time without giving reasons (Article 19).
  • Send rarely, but send something useful. For senders of large volumes, Gmail requires marketing emails to support one-click unsubscribe and to include a clearly visible unsubscribe link (Google’s sender guidelines).

Steps that reduce the risk

  • Turn on two-factor authentication, preferably with an authentication app, and keep your backup codes somewhere other than your phone.
  • Make sure the business controls the email address and phone number on the account, not an employee’s personal address that leaves with them.
  • Give staff or your agency their own access without sharing the password; Meta allows this through shared access for eligible accounts.
  • Remove third-party apps you do not recognise, and never give your password to services that promise followers.

Where to start

A simple company website with your services, a few projects and contact details is enough to start. Read how to create a business website and what determines the cost, or explore our website design service. For gyms and guesthouses, which often rely on Instagram alone, we have dedicated guides: a website for a gym and a website for a guesthouse or agritourism farm.