Imagine a potential customer is looking for your opening hours. They Google your name, land on your Instagram bio, find no link – or one that leads to an outdated page. They close the window. You've lost them.
Hidden information is a missed opportunity
Many freelancers and small businesses treat Instagram as a kind of digital business card. Prices in Highlights, contact details in the bio, services across Story saves – it might seem creative, but from a user perspective it's an obstacle course.
Information a customer needs to make a decision must be immediately findable. Not hidden behind a "swipe up" link from 2022, not in an unlabelled Highlight reel.
A proper website is built for exactly this. It has a clear structure: home, services, about, contact. Every piece of information has its fixed place. No scrolling through 200 posts, no clicking through Stories.
Instagram content disappears
This is technical, but decisive: an Instagram post has a half-life of hours. Even if you post something "important" – price changes, new offers, location moves – that post is gone into the feed abyss within two days.
On your website, the information is permanently available. You update the services page once, and from then on every new visitor sees the correct information – whether they visit today or in a year.
This is especially true for:
- Price lists and packages – always up to date on the website, quickly outdated in the feed
- Opening hours and contact details – belong on Google Business and your own site, not in a Story
- Booking or contact forms – only possible via detours on Instagram
- FAQs – can be answered thoroughly on the website, only touched on in a post
People who search on Instagram search differently
People actively searching for a service go to Google. People on Instagram are scrolling because they want to relax. These are two fundamentally different user intentions.
When someone types "yoga studio London beginner" into Google, they're ready to buy. They want information, want to make a decision, want to book. This person lands on a website – or they don't land on you at all.
Instagram reaches people who don't yet know they need you. That's valuable, but it's the beginning of the journey – not the destination.
Information on your website ranks on Google
This is the underestimated bonus: every well-built page of your website is a potential entry point via Google. A page about "vegan catering Manchester" can rank for exactly that search – and brings you visitors you could never have reached with Instagram.
Instagram profiles barely rank. Instagram posts almost never. Your website can.
The simple rule
Everything a customer needs to know before contacting you belongs on your website:
- What do you offer?
- Who is it for?
- What does it cost?
- How can they reach you?
Instagram shows who you are and how you work. The website answers the questions that lead to a decision. Both channels have their place – but they have different jobs. Confusing them loses customers who were already almost convinced.