Website or Instagram
They don't compete: they do different jobs. Instagram shows your work to people already following you and helps them choose you; a website gets you found on Google and answers your pricing, areas, and hours while you're working. If your trade gets searched (plumbing, roofing, HVAC, locksmith, moving), the website comes first. If your trade gets looked at before hiring (beauty, weddings, decor, baking), Instagram brings people but they need somewhere to land, because a profile doesn't list prices and doesn't show up on Google.
Updated 2026-08-15
What each one does
| Your own page | ||
|---|---|---|
| Found by searching | Almost never | Yes, that's the point |
| Shows your work | Very well | Well, and organized |
| States pricing and areas | Crammed in the bio | Written out in full |
| Answers while you work | No, you have to reply | Yes, on its own |
| You own it | No, Meta does | Yes |
| Fades over time | Everything, within days | Still there next year |
| Costs | Free, plus your time | $400 once |
The first line matters most. Nobody opens Instagram looking for a plumber at eleven at night, and nobody opens Google to see how a set of nails turned out. Each one catches a different moment.
If your trade gets searched, the website comes first
Plumbing, roofing, HVAC, locksmithing, moving, pest control, taxes. Here the customer has a problem and types the trade plus their city. If you're not in that search you don't exist, however good the profile looks.
In these trades work comes through Google, and what wins the call is showing up, having the number at the top, and looking legitimate. An Instagram profile with two hundred followers does none of the three.
If your trade gets looked at, Instagram brings and the page closes
Nails, brows, hair, weddings, decor, baking, photography. Here the client discovers you on Instagram, and rightly so: she wants to see how the work comes out before booking.
The problem shows up right after. She likes what she sees and wants to know the price, the location, and how to book. None of that is on the profile, so she messages. You're working and reply two hours later. By then half of them have booked with someone else.
In these trades the page doesn't replace Instagram, it cashes it in. It's where your pricing, your location, and your booking live, and where your work is still visible a year from now instead of buried in the feed.
What almost nobody accounts for
- The account isn't yours. If Meta suspends it over a report, the whole business disappears overnight, and it happens more than you'd think.
- Instagram doesn't rank on Google. Your profile almost never comes up when someone searches your trade and your city.
- A feed doesn't read like a catalog. Your best work is mixed in with stories, greetings, and old posts.
- The profile doesn't answer at midnight. The page does, and that's when people decide.
Instagram being free is real, but the price gets paid in messages you answer yourself and in work that walks while you do.
What we actually recommend
- The Google profile, always, from day one. Free. See how to open it.
- If your trade gets searched, the page right after. That's where the work comes from.
- If your trade gets looked at, stay on Instagram and add the page once you're answering the same messages every day. That's the signal.
- Link all three: the Google profile points at the page, the page at Instagram, and Instagram at the page from the bio.
doubts
What people usually ask
Can I get by with only Instagram?
You can, and plenty do. What you lose is everyone who would have found you by searching, plus the time spent answering prices one at a time. In emergency trades that loss is most of the business.
Isn't a linktree enough instead of a website?
A linktree is a list of links: it doesn't rank on Google, doesn't state pricing, doesn't explain what you do. It tidies your bio, it doesn't get you found or convince anyone.
What if I don't have time to maintain a website?
A service page doesn't need maintaining: your pricing, areas, and services change once a year at most. Instagram is the one that needs feeding every week.
Will the page get me followers?
No, and that isn't what it's for. The page brings calls from people already searching for your trade. Followers come from Instagram. Two different things, and neither replaces the other.
What does a page cost?
Ours is $400 one time, no monthly fee, with the domain separate at about $12 a year in your name. See [where the money goes](/guides/how-much-does-a-website-cost).