A link-in-bio page is great for getting people from Instagram to WhatsApp. But at some point, a potential client asks for your website. They want to see an About page, a Services page, maybe a portfolio. They want something that signals you're serious.
The standard advice is: hire a developer. Get a proper website built. Expect to pay R8,000–R25,000 and wait six weeks.
For most South African small businesses, that's the wrong answer. There's a middle ground between a single profile link and a full custom website — and it covers what most businesses actually need.
What "Website Mode" Actually Means
LinkDeck's website mode turns your profile into a multi-page site. Instead of one long page, you can create separate pages — About, Services, Promotions, Contact, Portfolio — each with its own URL and its own content.
These pages link together through a sticky navigation bar that appears at the top of your site. Visitors can move between pages naturally, the same way they'd navigate any professional website.
The difference from a custom build: you're doing it yourself, in a visual editor, today. Not in six weeks, and not for R20,000.
What You Can Actually Build
The pages you create depend on what your business needs. Some common setups:
For service businesses (consultants, trainers, tutors, coaches): an About page that tells your story, a Services page that lists what you offer with clear pricing or packages, and a Contact page with a lead capture form.
For creatives (photographers, designers, artists): a Portfolio or Gallery page with your best work, a Services page with packages and pricing, and a Bookings or Contact page.
For retail (boutiques, market stalls, handmade goods): a Catalogue or Shop page, a Story page (great for building brand loyalty), and a Contact page.
Each page is built in a rich-text editor with support for headings, paragraphs, lists, images, and embedded blocks like your contact form or product catalogue. Drag to reorder. Toggle visibility to hide a page while you're still building it.
The Setup Flow
You don't need to design anything from scratch. Here's how it actually works:
Open the Pages tab in your dashboard. Click "Add page." Give it a name — that becomes the URL slug automatically (so "Services" becomes yourbusiness.linkdeck.co.za/services). Write your content. Save. Publish.
Your navigation bar updates automatically to include the new page. If you want to reorder the nav items, drag them. If you want to point a page to a custom URL (like linking to your booking system), you can do that too.
The whole thing — three pages — takes under an hour if you know what you want to say.
Why SEO Matters Here
Every page you create gets its own title, meta description, and canonical URL. That means Google can index each page independently.
A single-page link-in-bio gets one shot at ranking. A multi-page site gets multiple shots. Your Services page can rank for "graphic design services Johannesburg." Your About page can rank for your name or business name. Your Portfolio can rank for specific work types.
This matters more than most people realise. South Africans search Google constantly for local services. Being findable there is worth far more than a thousand Instagram followers.
A Real Example
A freelance photographer in Cape Town had a single link-in-bio page. It worked for Instagram. But when corporate clients emailed asking for her website, she had nothing to send them.
In one afternoon, she built three pages: a Portfolio page with 12 of her best shots, a Packages page with three pricing tiers, and a Contact page with an enquiry form. She pointed her Instagram bio link to the homepage. She added the URL to her email signature.
Two weeks later, a corporate client found her Services page through Google, filled in the enquiry form, and booked a shoot worth R12,000. Not from Instagram. From search.
What It Doesn't Replace
Website mode won't replace a complex custom build if you genuinely need one — an e-commerce operation with inventory management, a booking platform with calendar integration, a SaaS product. If your business needs that, you need a developer.
But for the vast majority of South African small businesses that just need a clean, professional, findable online presence? You don't need to spend R20,000 and six weeks. You need an afternoon. Your customers are searching right now — the question is whether they find you or a competitor who got there first.
Start building your second page today.
