Do I need a website for my business if I already sell on Instagram?

What does Instagram give you, and what does a website give you?

Instagram gives you the first impression: attention from people who weren't looking for you. Standing out there takes some showmanship and what we actors call "authenticity", which I learned in theater. A website gives you something else: showing up when someone already has the problem and types what you sell into Google.

A website does have technical requirements almost nobody sees, like structured data (Schema) or a crawl with Screaming Frog. They need to be handled precisely. But what holds the whole system up is something people often forget: the written content.

Marcus Sheridan proved it in the 2008 crisis, when his pool company was close to bankruptcy. He started answering his customers' questions on his website, beginning with how much a pool costs. As he told Pool Magazine, they were the first pool company to publish that; I did the same with what a website costs.

Without going too deep: my read is that the internet tends to reward people who show up on several channels with a consistent message. A message validated with results and testimonials, and meant to help.

Google says it in its own way: it asks for helpful, reliable, people-first content. And it says that, of everything it weighs, "trust is most important".

Do you have to choose between social media and Google?

No: here, more is more. If your expert message is consistent across channels, each one vouches for you to the next, and you get clients who already need you. The question isn't which one to pick, but how many your business can handle today and how it will scale.

Every new channel is a chance to present your offer in another version. Over time, you keep the one that brings in the most revenue.

Where would I start?

With the website, in this order:

• Start with the website. It takes a lot of work up front, but then it keeps working even when you don't post every day.

• Validate the offer with Google Ads. A small, well-planned campaign tells you whether people buy what your page offers, before you wait months for SEO. It's what I'm doing right now: testing campaigns before deciding where to invest.

• Find where the demand is. It might be a forum, a group or a social network. That's where your client describes the problem in their own words.

• Build a content plan. Or hire an agency for four months to keep the volume up.

• Help for free wherever people say they need it. Leave useful comments. The person is happy, and it's quite possible someone else reads it, lands on your site and ends up a client.

I wrote this years ago, while studying philosophy, and I still believe it (my translation): "These days I'm more interested in the genuine sharing of ideas and experiences."

I think it's the most efficient way to run a funnel: so many channels at once that failing becomes unlikely. But it takes some training in business, sales and funnels, to know what to adjust or whom to hire.

Luckily, Hormozi gives away almost all his content on this for free. He's true to his line "Give away the secrets, sell the implementation". And today we have AI, which, well directed, is an excellent employee.

What happens if Instagram changes the algorithm?

Your reach changes even if you don't change anything. Meta explains that Instagram Feed is ranked by an AI system, and that its models and signals change frequently. You don't control those changes; what you do control is owning a channel and measuring each one.

It happened to LittleThings, a big publisher that lived on Facebook traffic. In January 2018, Facebook announced it would prioritize friends and family, and warned that Pages could lose reach and traffic. In February LittleThings shut down, and according to its CEO, its most valuable traffic had dropped 75%.

Your account is also governed by Instagram's Terms of Use. There, Meta says it can remove content you share and change the service and its policies.

None of this is a reason to leave Instagram. It's a reason not to keep the only link between you and your clients there.

How do you know if Instagram is bringing you clients?

By measuring it outside Instagram, because if you don't measure it, deep down you don't really care about it. At the very least, set up Search Console and Google Analytics 4 for your website. They tell you which content brings you traffic and how to steer it toward clients or toward validating an offer.

Likes tell you how many people saw a post, not how many got in touch or bought. TikTok can work for you too; what matters is learning to judge which acquisition channel is your best. The 30X YouTube channel, the business school of Andrés Bilbao (Rappi cofounder), publishes long interviews with founders on sales, growth and AI (in Spanish).

In Google Analytics 4: UTM links

A UTM link is an address with tags at the end that tell GA4 where a visit came from. Google says to always use three: utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign.

• Bio link: your-domain.com/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bio

• Stories: the same link, with utm_campaign=stories

• A specific post: add utm_content with that post's name

With utm_medium=social, GA4 groups those visits as Organic Social. You'll find them under Acquisition, in the Traffic acquisition report, by source and by campaign.

A visit isn't a client yet. For that, GA4 needs to count a form submission as a key event. I walk you through it in the Google Analytics 4 guide.

In Search Console: searches for your brand

Search Console doesn't see Instagram. It only shows the Google searches your website appears for, with clicks and impressions. If you don't have it yet, the Google Search Console guide explains how to set it up.

Even so, it measures your social media indirectly. If Instagram works, you'd expect more people to search Google for your name, and that shows up in the Performance report.

To see it, filter queries with a regular expression that covers the ways people spell your brand, such as blue oak|blue oak bakery. Compare that number month by month, over the same date range.

What to check every month

On cardonaseo.com, GA4 only measures visitors who accept cookies. That's why it's worth counting the messages you get, too, and asking where people found you.

When don't you need a website yet?

When you're not yet clear on your product, your funnel or the need you know how to solve. A website amplifies an offer that already exists, but it won't invent one for you. Before paying for it, research who you'll sell to and what problem you solve for them.

There are several tools for that. One I use: ask the Claude extension for Chrome to analyze the funnels of the people you look up to. Then have it draft a plan to study your unique product and your ideal sales channel.

And a quick test: search for your service with your city and see whether businesses like yours show up. If your competitors show up, everyone running that search is choosing among them, and you're not on the list. In that case, yes, you need a website for your business.

What does it cost to show up on Google without a ranking website?

You pay for every click on Google Ads until your site ranks. Dinorank estimates about $66.86 per click for "seo website design" in the US (estimated CPC, Oct 17, 2026). That's for a single click, whether or not the visitor ever gets in touch.

Ads work, and they switch off when you stop paying, as I explain in SEO vs. SEM. A ranking page doesn't charge you for each visit, though it takes longer to get going.

If you decide to build one

Build it with measurement in place from day one, whoever builds it. If you'll build it yourself with AI, start with how to build a website with AI. If you'd rather I build it, my SEO website design includes GA4 and Search Console in your name, at a fixed price.

If you already have a website and don't know whether it's working, start with the free diagnostic.

Frequently asked questions