In this blog post, I want to talk about how to create a strong Instagram profile and give yourself a better opportunity to attract leads. There are plenty of social media platforms available today, and although I have had an Instagram account for Roy Bretton Online for quite some time, I haven’t really been using it properly.
That has now started to change. I have been looking more closely at how Instagram can be used as part of an online business, particularly for affiliate marketing, internet marketing and working from home. Rather than simply leaving the account sitting there doing very little, I decided it was time to tidy it up, give it a clear purpose and make sure that anyone who visits my profile immediately understands what Roy Bretton Online is about.
Instagram certainly doesn’t have to become another full-time job. Like many people who work online, I already use several platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. However, if content can be reused sensibly across different platforms, Instagram potentially gives us another way of reaching people without necessarily creating everything from scratch.
Start By Deciding What Your Instagram Account Is About
One of the first things I realised was that my Instagram account wasn’t really focused on the Roy Bretton Online niche. I had followed quite a few accounts connected with Christian ministries and Christian content. There is absolutely nothing wrong with following those accounts, but they weren’t really relevant to an Instagram account that is supposed to be about affiliate marketing, online business, artificial intelligence and working from home.
I have therefore unfollowed those accounts from Roy Bretton Online and will eventually create a separate Instagram account for my Christian content. I already keep the two subjects separate elsewhere, and I believe that is a much better approach than trying to mix completely different audiences together.
This is something worth thinking about before doing anything else with Instagram. What is the account actually about, and who do you want to attract? If somebody visits your profile and can’t work out whether you’re talking about affiliate marketing, gardening, Christianity, travel and five other subjects at the same time, you are making it much harder for them to decide whether they should follow you.
The same principle applies to almost any online business. Before worrying about followers, Reels or complicated strategies, decide exactly who you are trying to help. I wrote more about this idea in After 20 Years Online, These Are The Questions I Ask First, where I talk about the importance of understanding who your content is actually for.
Make Your Instagram Bio Clear
Once I had decided to refocus the account, the next job was the bio. Instagram only gives you a relatively small amount of space, so this isn’t the place for your life story. The purpose of the bio is to allow somebody to look at your profile and quickly understand what you do and what sort of content they can expect from you.
My current Roy Bretton Online bio focuses on helping ordinary people build an online business, together with affiliate marketing, AI and working from home. There is also included the fact that I share what I learn along the way.
I particularly like that wording because I don’t want to pretend that I know everything. I have been working online for more than 20 years, but I’m still learning. The online world changes constantly, and when I discover something useful, test something new or learn from somebody else’s experience, I often create a video or blog post about it.
The important point is clarity. Somebody who lands on the Roy Bretton Online profile should not have to study it for several minutes to work out what the account is about. They should be able to see very quickly that it concerns building an online business, affiliate marketing, AI and working from home.
Give People A Reason To Take The Next Step
A good profile shouldn’t simply tell people who you are. It should also give them some idea of what they can do next. In my bio, I have included a simple call to action inviting people to send me a direct message if they want to learn more.
This doesn’t need to be complicated. A call to action could encourage somebody to send you a message, visit your website, read a particular article, look at a recommended resource or take some other simple next step.
This is where the idea of attracting leads comes in. Changing a bio doesn’t magically produce leads overnight. However, if somebody discovers one of your posts or Reels, visits your profile and then immediately understands what you do and where they can go next, you have created a much clearer pathway for that visitor.
If you’re fairly new to building an online business, you may also find my post How To Start Building An Online Business Now useful. In that article, I look at keeping the process simple and concentrating on the basic building blocks rather than trying to do everything at once.
Instagram Now Allows Multiple Profile Links
One feature that genuinely surprised me while setting up the profile was the ability to add several external links. I had assumed that Instagram would only allow one website link, but profiles can now have multiple links available from the profile area.
This creates some useful possibilities for an online business. Rather than having to choose between your website, a training platform, another social media page or a particular recommendation, you can provide visitors with several relevant options.
On my own account, I have added Roy Bretton Online together with links to several platforms and resources that I personally use. These include OLSP Academy, Wealthy Affiliate, Video Ranking Academy and my Facebook page.
I think there is an important principle here, I don’t want to fill a profile with links simply because Instagram allows me to do so. I would much rather link to products, services and resources that I have actually used and would genuinely recommend.
Affiliate marketing works best when there is trust involved. If every other post is simply pushing the latest product because it pays a commission, people will quickly notice. I much prefer being able to say that something is part of my own business and explain why I use it.
If you would like to learn more about the broader process of affiliate marketing and building an online income, you can browse my affiliate marketing articles here.
Don’t Fill Your Profile With Unrelated Links
Although having several links available is useful, I don’t think that means we should immediately fill every available space. Each link should have a reason for being there and should make sense for the audience we are trying to attract.
For example, if Roy Bretton Online is about online business and affiliate marketing, it wouldn’t make much sense for me to fill the profile with links to completely unrelated interests. That would create the same problem as following lots of unrelated accounts and publishing content that doesn’t match the purpose of the profile.
Your profile should feel joined up. The bio, links, posts, videos and subjects you discuss should all point in roughly the same direction.
Follow Accounts That Are Relevant To Your Niche
Another part of the process is following accounts that are relevant to the subject you are interested in. Since I have changed the direction of my Instagram account, I will gradually start following people and businesses connected with affiliate marketing, internet marketing, content creation, artificial intelligence and other relevant areas.
I wouldn’t recommend suddenly following hundreds of accounts for the sake of it. It makes much more sense to find people whose content is genuinely relevant and useful.
As you use Instagram and interact with relevant material, the platform will naturally start making suggestions based on the accounts and subjects you are engaging with. That can make it easier to discover other people within your particular niche.
Keep Your Content Consistent With Your Bio
There is little point creating a beautifully focused Instagram bio and then filling the account with completely unrelated posts. If your profile says you talk about affiliate marketing, online business and working from home, those should also be reflected in the content you publish.
This doesn’t mean every post has to look identical or say the same thing. There is plenty of room for variety within a niche. I can talk about affiliate marketing, YouTube, AI tools, websites, social media, working remotely, different pieces of software and lessons I am learning while building my online business. Those subjects are different, but they all fit under the wider Roy Bretton Online umbrella.
This is also one of the reasons I like video. If I learn something new or test a particular strategy, I can make a straightforward video showing what I did and what happened. I don’t have to pretend to be the world’s greatest expert on a subject before sharing something useful.
I have written before about why I find video such a useful way of creating content in Why YouTube Is Easier Than Blogging. The same original video can also provide ideas for blog posts, short-form videos and social media content.
Use Instagram As Part Of Your Wider Online Business
I don’t believe we should build our entire business around one social media platform. Platforms change, algorithms change and accounts can sometimes disappear unexpectedly. Social media is extremely useful, but wherever possible I want social media to lead people towards something that I have greater control over, such as my own website or email list.
Instagram can therefore be seen as one part of a larger system. Somebody may discover you through a Reel, look at your profile, click through to your website, read one of your articles and eventually become a subscriber or customer. Another person may prefer to contact you directly through Instagram.
The important thing is that there is a logical journey rather than simply publishing content without knowing what you want visitors to do next.
Internet marketing can become extremely complicated when we try to use every platform, tool and strategy at once. I covered this in more detail in How To Simplify The Process Of Internet Marketing. In my experience, it is usually better to understand why you are using a particular platform rather than simply being there because everybody else appears to be using it.
Use Products And Services You Can Genuinely Recommend
I mentioned earlier that some of the links on my Instagram profile lead to services and training platforms I use personally. This is something I believe is particularly important when working with affiliate marketing.
There are thousands of products that can be promoted online, but that doesn’t mean I want to recommend all of them. I would much rather recommend something that I use myself and can talk about from genuine experience.
For example, Wealthy Affiliate has been part of my online business for many years, and I have written extensively about my experience with the platform. You can see more of those posts in my Wealthy Affiliate section.
I also use Video Ranking Academy as part of my YouTube training. If you are interested in that side of online marketing, you can read How Do You Get More From Video Ranking Academy?, where I share some of my own experience of using the training.
The important thing isn’t the number of affiliate links you can fit into an Instagram profile. The important thing is whether those links are genuinely useful to the people who follow you.
I’m Still Learning Instagram
I want to make one thing very clear. I’m not claiming to be an Instagram expert. I’ve used many different forms of online marketing over the years, but I am now deliberately spending more time learning how Instagram works and how it can fit into Roy Bretton Online.
That’s actually one of the reasons I enjoy making these sorts of videos and blog posts. I can go through a process myself, document what I am doing and hopefully help someone else who is at a similar stage.
I believe there can be a lot of value in learning publicly like this. You don’t have to wait until you know absolutely everything before sharing something useful. Provided you’re clear about your own experience and don’t make exaggerated claims, people can learn alongside you.
Will A Better Instagram Profile Generate Leads?
A strong Instagram profile isn’t a magic button. Simply changing your bio, adding a photograph and inserting a few links isn’t going to suddenly produce hundreds of leads. However, it does create a stronger foundation.
If somebody discovers your content, the profile is often where they will go next. At that point, the profile needs to answer some very simple questions. Who are you? What do you talk about? Can you help me? What should I do next?
If those answers are obvious, you have made things easier for the visitor. If the profile is confusing, contains unrelated information and offers no obvious next step. Then you may lose somebody who could otherwise have become a follower, subscriber or customer.
Final Thoughts
My Roy Bretton Online Instagram account is still in the early stages of being properly developed. The account has been there for a long time, but I haven’t previously used it with the focus that I intend to use from now on.
The first job has been to make sure the profile clearly reflects what Roy Bretton Online is actually about. That means keeping the account focused on affiliate marketing, online business, artificial intelligence, working from home and the different things I am learning and using in my own business.
I have also added relevant links. These include a clear call to action and started removing some of the unrelated signals that had built up on the account over time. The next step is simply to start using Instagram consistently and see what happens.
I’m particularly interested to see whether repurposing some of the video content I’m already producing for YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. It can help me reach a different audience through Instagram without creating a huge amount of additional work.
As always, I’ll share what I learn along the way. If you’re also setting up or improving an Instagram profile for an online business, I hope this post has given you some useful ideas.
If you have any questions or you’ve discovered something that works particularly well for generating leads through Instagram, please feel free to leave a comment. I’m always interested to hear what other people are finding works for them.
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