How to Make the Most Out of Your Instagram Profile Link

On Instagram, it is not easy, or even sometimes possible, to link your photos to content off of the app. There are only a handful of ways to provide a link to your followers to view something on your website or shop. You can pay to run an ad with a link, you can add links to Instagram Stories if you have over 10,000 followers or you’re a verified user, and you can link to products in your shop if you set up an Instagram catalog and sell physical goods.

(Updated: Now everyone has access to adding links. They are located in the Sticker tool (top right corner, the rectangle with the little smiley face) you should find a blue Link button option.)

If none of that applies to you or your Instagram business goals, you are left with just one link: the link in your Instagram profile (also called your bio). What are your options for best utilizing that link?

Link to your website homepage

This is the option many businesses choose and might be best if you’re not really using Instagram to drive people to specific content or products. It’s free and requires the least amount of work of any of the other options.

Change the link with each new post

This option is often used by bloggers to drive people to their newest blog posts. While it works for followers who may be viewing your latest post and seeing your posts in chronological order (which is doubtful with the algorithm), anyone viewing an older post won’t be able to find the content that was referenced. And, it is time-consuming to go to your profile and change the link with every new post.

Create a landing page specifically for Instagram and use that link

You can populate the landing page with your latest blog posts, products, or anything you’re posting about on Instagram. This option works well for anyone with a specific goal in mind for their Instagram posts. For example, if you’re selling a course or trying to get more newsletter signups. It’s also a good option for blogs or shops that want to highlight the content they posted over the last week or so without having to change it daily.

This option may cost money if you need a developer to help you or if you use a landing page tool, like Leadpages. But, if you already know how to set up pages on your Squarespace or WordPress site, you could probably create a page on your own. Other free options would include using a free landing page builder, like Wix, or MailChimp if you already have an account. 

Use a free tool that creates multiple links

These tools create one link that, when tapped, produces a list of buttons linking to various content. These tools work well for anyone who needs to send people to multiple destinations, like a blog, a shop and/or a signup form. They require a minimal amount of time to set up and are usually very quick and intuitive to use and update. Many of these tools, like Linktree, have free versions that have their branding and limited offerings, but upgrades are available for a fee if you’d like your branding and more options.

Use a paid tool that reproduces your feed and makes it linkable

When you tap on the link in a bio using one of these tools, a reproduction of their Instagram feed is shown. These images are clickable if you provided links in the tool. This option works well for bloggers or anyone selling non-physical goods (like pdf patterns or courses). These tools, like Link In Profile, charge a fee but are fairly easy and quick to set up and maintain. Some social media scheduling platforms, like Later, include this feature in their paid versions. 

Have you tried sending people off of Instagram to your website, shop, or blog? We’d love to hear about what tools you’ve used and what has worked well for you. Tell us in the comments!