How To Sell Products On Instagram Without Website - Getsitecontrol

Can I sell directly through Instagram?

Yes, it’s possible to sell directly through Instagram, even without a website to house your products.

In fact, Instagram wants users to stay on their platform. This means keeping the entire customer journey on Instagram can have an advantage compared to pushing traffic towards outside links.

That’s why many business owners use Instagram Shopping to create an entire shop directly on the Instagram platform, including checkout and payment.

Not only can you create a shop directly on Instagram, but you can even tag your shoppable products directly in your posts. This makes it easy for customers to go from feed to checkout in a near instant – all without leaving the flow of the app.

☝️ This is just one way to sell on Instagram, and we’ll talk about alternatives in a moment.

Why should you sell products on Instagram?

First off, Instagram is a visual platform, which means it’s perfect to share beautiful images of your ecommerce products.

Whether you are a brand-new business owner making products by hand, or you’re selling print-on-demand shirts, your potential customers need to see your product first before buying.

If you’re not yet on Instagram, you’re missing out on an audience of now over 2.35 billion active users.

About 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account, while 62% of users say they're more interested in a brand after seeing them in an Instagram Story, according to the latest stats.

Long story short? There are plenty of Instagram users, and they’re interested in purchasing from businesses on the platform.

And while it may be true that a huge portion of these businesses already have an ecommerce website, many others don’t — and are still successfully making sales.

This means you can use Instagram to create some traction for yourself until you’re ready to build a full-featured website.

So how do you get started?

How to start selling on Instagram

To start selling products on Instagram without a website, you’ll need to set up your account properly.

Step 1. Create and set up your Instagram account

First, you’ll need an Instagram account.

There are two types of accounts: personal and business. Always pick a Business account, because it will unlock many features like:

• Adding a phone number and email address to your bio
• Creating Shoppable posts
• Using paid ads to promote your products
• Accessing insights on your data (very important!)

If you jumped the gun and already created a personal profile, don’t worry. You can always change a personal profile to a business one.

Simply log into your account, go to settings, and tap the “Switc

❗Heads up — you’ll need a Meta Business Account to do this.

With a brand new profile, you won’t have much data available in your insights. But once you start posting and getting engagement on your posts, you’ll learn about:

• Which posts, Reels, or Stories are getting more traction
• How many accounts you’ve reached in the past month
• How many profile visits and website clicks you received
• Who is part of your audience (locations, age range, genders, etc.)

This data will tell you what your audience responds to best and will help you plan out your future posts.

Step 2. Craft your bio

Okay, you have a business profile on Instagram. Time to make sales, right?

Hold up. First, we want to make sure your profile is attractive to your potential buyers.

If you have a phone number and email address, include those in your profile for sure. And when it comes to your bio, you’re pretty limited in the number of characters you can use, so use them wisely.

For example, sometimes a single emoji (and thus a single character) can speak a thousand words. Resist the urge to go overboard with the emojis, and only use them if you think they will be relevant to your audience’s style.

Your bio should communicate the essence of your brand and let your audience know how to buy from you.

Take Cents of Style’s account as an example of a great bio:

Their bio is simple, to-the-point, and tells the audience what to do. Additionally, they’ve added the possibility for users to be featured wearing their products, so this is a great way to build a raving fan base.

Step 3. Create first posts on your Instagram feed

It’s pretty simple — because you are selling products, you should feature your products.

If you’re starting your account from scratch, it’s important to build up at least 12-16 posts so that your account doesn’t look empty.

This doesn’t have to mean that you only post boring still photos of your product lying on a table, either. Get creative with it and feature:

• People using your product in various ways
• People doing fun activities either using or wearing your product
• Behind-the-scenes of how your product gets made
• Creative photoshoots involving your product
• Your product in a flat-lay-style photo

Just take a look at this feed from Odeata, a handmade ceramics shop:

Every shot feels carefully planned, and the result is a gorgeous feed that makes you want to stock up your own home with these beautiful ceramic products (or is that just me?).

Create your Instagram Shop

Instagram profile with an engaging bio? Check.

Beautiful posts showcasing your products? Check.

Now you’re ready to start selling. At this point you have a few options: you can create a shop directly on Instagram, or you can handle your own payment methods.

The first option is much easier — and what Instagram prefers. But just in case you want other options, or if you’re selling custom products, let’s first explore how to set this up without relying on Instagram Shops.

Option 1. Create your own shopping experience

The less friction you create for your customers, the more likely they are to buy.

One way to do it is by adding an online pre-order form to your Instagram bio. You can quickly create one using a tool like Getform.