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.

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.

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.

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.