How to drive traffic from Instagram to your website

If one of your main goals on Instagram is to get potential buyers onto and looking around your website, there are several ways to encourage this on the platform. In this blog we’re going to dive into 6 of the most effective ways to do this.

1. Link In Bio

Your bio is one of the first things a viewer sees when looking at your Instagram profile. It’s also the easiest way to get a brief overview of your business and to see whether the company seems legitimate. One of the ways to determine the legitimacy of a company is to check out its website, which will be easy to find if it’s the link that you’ve chosen. That is why putting your website as the link in your bio should not be underestimated. It could be the first thing people look for on your Instagram profile.

2. Direct Viewers To The Link In Bio

Once you have the link in your bio set up, you can start directing viewers to your website link. The commonly used phrase ‘link in bio’ is widely accepted and understood on the platform. You can use this phrase in the description of feed posts and in stories posts.

On feed posts, upload content and write descriptions that make sense for your followers to be directed to your website. You don’t have to use the phrase in every post, but you may find it beneficial to add relevant, regular reminders.

On stories posts, there are several GIFs and stickers you can choose from to point viewers to your ‘link in bio’ in a fun way. This is a great way to get your followers onto your website if you haven’t yet unlocked the ‘swipe up’ feature for direct links from your stories posts.

3. Swipe Up In Stories

If you have 10,000 followers, you can add swipe up links to your stories. If you are advertising through Instagram stories you can also add swipe up links and use different labels such as ‘Learn More’ and ‘Shop Now’. This directs viewers straight to your desired web page from the stories post, and is a versatile feature as you can use a different link with every story.

Here is an example of @pandco using a swipe up link, labelled ‘Shop Now’ by advertising on Instagram stories. You can tell this is an advertisement because under the Instagram profile name in the top left-hand corner it is labelled ‘Sponsored’ across these posts.

4. Stories Highlights

In addition to adding swipe up links to stories posts, you can highlight these stories to make these links easily accessible from your Instagram profile. Stories highlights are viewable indefinitely and you can even direct viewers to specific stories highlights in your posts, giving you more options for linkable content.

Here are some stories highlights from @boohoo all featuring the ‘See More’ swipe up link. The link directs the viewer to the relevant page on their website.

Check out the @boohoo set of stories highlights. They are clear so the viewer knows exactly what to expect from each highlight. This set up gives @boohoo several opportunities to get more potential customers onto their website and viewing the kinds of products that interest them.

5. Website Links In Shop

Notice the ‘View Shop’ button below the bio on the previous example? This leads to the Instagram shop tab by @boohoo with links below the products to ‘View on Website’. Alternatively you can get to the shop tab through the profile or by selecting clickable items in feed content. This is another example of how using the available Instagram features can help drive more traffic to your website. By making use of the shop tab and adding in your website links, you can encourage more sales on your website.

6. Advertising

Advertising on Instagram gives you a number of different options, one of which is to connect a link and encourage the direction of the viewer to click that link. The great thing about advertising is that it is highly targetable, especially if created through Facebook, and you can advertise no matter the size of your following or your budget.

You can choose to advertise on the Instagram feed, in Instagram stories, or both. Here’s an example of @squarespace advertising on the Instagram feed. Notice how the ‘Learn More’ button sends the viewer directly to their website.

While adding links is a really great move to encourage website views, it is only one of the several ways you can increase business through Instagram. Make sure to use the features that apply to you such as the shopping feature, which makes it easier for customers to buy directly in-app. Remember, there is no point optimising specific features if your profile as a whole is a flop.