Link in bio for a local shop: what to actually put on it
You do not need a website. You need five things in the right order, on one page that fits in an Instagram bio and on a sticker by the till.
A shop's link in bio has a different job from a creator's. Nobody arrives to browse. They have a tyre with a nail in it, or a birthday on Saturday, and four questions: do you have it, what does it cost, where are you, and how do I ask. A page that answers those four questions, in that order, is the whole website most shops need.
Most link-in-bio advice is written for influencers, so it tells you about newsletters and latest videos. This is the version for a shop.
1. Say what you are in one line
The first line under your name should tell a stranger what you do and where. Not a slogan. A description.
Sunrise Tyres · Tyres, alignment, puncture repair · Kothrud, Pune
That line does more than the rest of the page. It confirms the visitor is in the right place, and it is the text search engines show under your name. Include the area, because "tyres" means nothing without "near me".
2. A way to ask, one tap away
Put the message button above everything else. For most shops that is WhatsApp, with a phone number as the second option. Nobody wants to fill in a form to ask whether you stock a size.
A WhatsApp link can open the chat with a message already typed, so the customer only presses send. The format, and the three mistakes that break it, are here. On a Cueful page the helper next to each product writes the link for you.
3. Three things you sell, with prices
Not a catalogue. Three cards:
- The best seller. The thing people come in for.
- This month's offer. Something with a reason to act now.
- The popular service. The thing you do rather than sell: fitting, repair, delivery.
Each card has a price, one sentence, and a button. The button opens WhatsApp with the item named, so you know which card they tapped before they say a word. Put the price on the card. A page that says "call for price" gets fewer calls, not more.
Make sure the prices show in your currency. It sounds obvious; it is the mistake shop pages make most often when a tool assumes dollars.
4. Where you are, with directions
A map with a pin and a Get directions button is the most useful thing on a shop page, and the thing most link pages cannot do. The button opens the visitor's maps app with the route already planned, which is what "where are you" really means on a phone.
Write the address in words as well, with a landmark. "Opposite the bus stand" helps more than a postcode.
Setting the pin takes a minute. Search the address, paste the link from your Google Maps listing, or stand in the doorway and use your phone's location. Then drag the pin onto the entrance.
5. Hours, and one social
Put your hours in the bio text, and change them when they change. Then one social link, the one you actually post on. Not all five. A dead Facebook page from 2021 does not help anyone.
What to leave off
- Twelve links. Three things with prices beat twelve links without them.
- A newsletter. You are a shop.
- An "About us" essay. The one-line description is your about.
- A PDF menu or price list. It will not open properly on a phone and will be out of date in a month.
- Music, animations, anything that plays by itself.
Setting it up in one sitting
Cueful's setup starts by asking what the page is for. Choose Local shop and it asks for what you sell and where you are, with example wording already filled in so you are replacing text rather than writing it. The example cards are generic on purpose; a tyre shop, a bakery and a plumber all recognise "best seller" and "this month's offer".
The map picker sits under your location in the same step. Ten minutes, all of it on a phone, and the page exists.
Put the link everywhere
One address, used in every place a customer might look:
- The Instagram bio. (How to add it.)
- The Website field on your Google Business Profile. Most shops leave this empty, and it is the link Google shows next to your map listing.
- Your WhatsApp Business profile.
- A QR code on the counter, on the shop board, and on the bill. Cueful makes the QR from the same address.
Know what is working
A link page that counts taps tells you something a Google listing never will: how many people asked for directions, and how many tapped a product. If the directions count is high and the orders are low, people are finding you and buying in person, which is fine. If nobody taps anything, the page is not the problem; the posts sending people to it are.
None of this is a website in the sense that costs money and takes a month. It is one page, with the four answers on it, that you can change from your phone between customers. That is the right size for a shop.