A website or just Instagram?

Instagram is an excellent shop window, it just isn't yours. A website is your own home on the internet. Ideally you'd have both, but each has its own job, and it helps to know which is which. And don't worry, we're not trying to talk you into a website at any cost. We'd like you to finish this knowing for yourself what your business needs and what would just be a waste of time.

Instagram and a website compared

The difference is easiest to see side by side. The table doesn't crown a winner, it just shows where each channel does its job. And for most small businesses, you guessed it, the gap is in whichever column they haven't set up yet.

What Instagram does well

Social is excellent at what marketing calls the top of the funnel. It's where you reach new people and they discover you, where you share photos and news quickly, and where, over time, you build a community. There's no point replacing it there. If you run a cake shop, a salon, a studio or any visual business, Instagram is probably your best way of showing what your work looks like day to day.

• Discovery. People come across you even when they weren't looking for you, through reels, tags and a friend's recommendation.
• Proof that you're alive. When you post regularly, people can see the business is running, there's new work and you're available.
• Community and relationship. Comments, messages and stories build a closeness that a static page struggles to match.
• Speed. A photo from the job goes up in a minute, with no technical preparation at all.

In tourism it matters even more. Say someone is choosing a holiday apartment or a boat trip. They'll look at the photos and reviews on social first, and only then go looking for more information. That first impression is something Instagram handles brilliantly.

What only a website can do

Where social stops, the website takes over. These are things no algorithm can do for you, because they depend on the channel really being yours.

• It shows up on Google when somebody searches for your service, say “plumber Split” or “terrace builder Kaštela”. We wrote about how to rank for searches like that in SEO for small businesses.
• It builds trust, because your own design, reviews, clear information and ballpark prices are all in one place.
• You own it. It doesn't depend on reach or on an algorithm, and nobody can shut it down overnight.
• It turns visitors into enquiries and bookings, because the call to action is clear and your contact details are within reach.
• It has room for detail, like a price list, a description of the work, frequently asked questions, a before and after gallery and opening hours.

Wondering whether it's worth the effort for your particular business? We go through that in more detail in Does my small business need a website? What the process looks like and what's included is covered on our web development page. And if you'd like a rough idea of the investment, have a look at how much a website costs.

Social brings people to the door. The website lets them in and turns them into clients.

Ownership and Google, two things social can't make up for

These two differences are worth pointing out, because they're the easiest to miss while everything is going well. The first is ownership. You use a profile, but you don't own it. Rules change, reach drops, and an account can be blocked over a simple misunderstanding. At that point your few thousand followers are worth nothing if you have no other way to reach them. A website and a contact list stay yours, whatever a platform decides.

The second is Google visibility. A large share of people still start with a search engine when they need a tradesman, a salon or some other service in their own town. Social barely catches them, because that's the kind of thing they look up on Google. A website with tidy SEO optimisation is there waiting at the exact moment they're actively looking for what you offer. That's the audience that knows best what it wants, and it's hard to reach through a profile.

When Instagram alone really is enough

Let's be honest, there are times when the website can wait, and we're not going to sell you something you don't need today. Instagram on its own is a sensible choice in cases like these.

• Your work comes almost entirely from referrals and repeat clients rather than from search.
• You offer something strongly visual that people buy on impulse, so the photo does the selling.
• You're still testing an idea and aren't sure it will take off at all.
• You realistically have no capacity for even one more channel, and running one well beats running two badly.

In any of those cases, start with social, run it properly and keep an eye on where your enquiries actually come from. When you start losing people who “couldn't find anything about you on Google”, that's your sign it's time for the next step.

When you need both

Most small businesses that want to grow need both, but not all at once and not at random. It works best when each channel has its own role and does what it's good at.

• Social for reach. It grabs attention and shows what your everyday work looks like.
• The website for the decision. It welcomes interested people, answers their questions and leads them to an enquiry.
• Google for intent. It catches people already searching for your service and sends them to the site.

In practice it goes something like this. Somebody sees your post, taps the link in your bio, lands on the site, reads the details and sends an enquiry. Without a site, that journey ends in a DM that's easily lost. This matters especially for sole traders and small trades, which is why we set the whole idea out on our web development page.

How to decide in a few steps

If you're still not sure, ask yourself these few questions. If you answer honestly, the direction is usually pretty clear.

• Do people search for your service on Google? If they do, a website brings you traffic that social doesn't catch.
• Do your enquiries get lost in messages, or are they hard to keep track of? A website puts them in one place.
• Would it bother you to lose the profile overnight? If it would, it's time for a channel that's really yours.
• Do you have the time to post regularly? If you don't, a website is less demanding to keep up.
• Is your business visual and impulsive, or do people ask around before they decide? The more they ask around, the more a website is worth to you.

Our recommendation

Use social for reach and the website as the place where interest turns into clients. Both need a clear call to action, and both have to lead to the same goal: making you easy to contact. If you're choosing a first step, start with a fast, simple website and link it to your profiles. Everything else can come later. To begin with, a foundation you can build on as the business grows is enough.

We don't give a concrete price or deadline off the top of our heads. First we have a short chat, so we can hear what you do and where your clients come from today. Only then does it make sense to suggest a scope.