Why Aren’t Your Ads Converting? You Quit Instagram & Didn’t Replace It

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Here’s the Deal:  Your ads aren’t converting because they’re “broken”—your website just isn’t built for strangers. Add proof, put you on the page, and make the next step painfully obvious.

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Let’s get this out of the way: wanting less social media in your life, even as a small business owner, is reasonable. It doesn’t make you lazy, bad at marketing, or  “not committed enough” to your brand’s future. 

Because showing up online isn’t just “posting”. 

It’s the emotional labour of being on—performing competence, charisma, and confidence on command. It’s feeling like you need to be interesting and strategic and consistent. It’s the quiet pressure to package your actual business into bite-sized content while pretending this is all very chill and organic. 

But if you try to ditch it completely, that low-grade anxiety creeps in.

The fun little spiral of: If I don’t post today…do I still have a business? Will I be forgotten and replaced by someone with better lighting and spicier opinions?

So yeah. Wanting to market your business without social media is a completely reasonable desire.

And this hits especially hard if you run an experience-based business. You know, one that you started because you wanted to be outside more, connecting IRL with people.

Not indoors, in front of a screen, making content about the experience instead of actually living it. 

Which is when ads start to look appealing. Plug info into Google or Meta, let the right people find you, no narrating your life required.

Except…that didn’t happen. 

The ads are running. The clicks are happening. You can literally SEE the spike in website traffic. And yet your inbox is seeing the boost…if anything, you’re getting fewer inquiries. 

Let’s talk about that: why your ads aren’t converting after you ditched Instagram

So, Why Aren’t Your Ads Converting?

Here’s the obvious but not so obvious thing: ads don’t send more of the people who already love you to your website. 

They send complete strangers.

Not “they’ve been following you for months” strangers. Not “they love your vibe” strangers. Just a person who clicked a thing and is now landing on your website like: okay… what is this and is it legit?

In other words: Ads bring you cold traffic.

And these new folks don’t start with “Do I like this?” when they land on your website. They start with: “Is this safe? Is this real? Am I about to lose my kidney or $10,000 to a scam and regret this?”

Especially if you sell anything with stakes—time, money, travel, safety, emotion, logistics.

On top of that, first-time visitors are in low-investment, no-time-for-BS mode. They skim, they click around, they bounce faster, and they decide in a few seconds whether you’re worth brainpower or the back button. 

Now compare that to warm traffic from social media. 

Your Instagram followers already know your face, your experience, the results, and maybe even your coffee order. They land on your site asking: Is this for me? Is this the right time? Not: Is this a scam?

So, when you quit Instagram and switched to ads, you didn’t just change where people come from. You changed what your website needs to do in the first 10 seconds. 

Your website used to be the “cool, more details” part. Now it’s the trust builder, the explainer, the proof, and the next step…all at once.

And if your site is still written like everyone already knows you? 

Clicks go up. Conversions stay flat. Your ad budget quietly evaporates into the Meta void.

Instagram Was Your Trust-Builder (You Just Didn’t Call It That)

Let me be very clear: this is not a “go back to Instagram” lecture. I say as someone who hired a social media strategist this year and has to plan their Stories days in advance.

But, Instagram was doing a lot more marketing work for your small business than you probably gave it credit for…even if your likes said otherwise. 

It was explaining you, over and over again. What you actually do, who it’s for, who it’s not for, what makes you different, what others love about you, and why someone should care.

Not in one perfectly crafted pinned Reel, but through casual repetition:

• Stories answering the same questions
• Respected accounts in your followers list
• Posts showing context and proof

All of these little reminders stack up to humanize you and build trust way before anyone clicks on your site.

So when your audience finally made their way to your website, they weren’t starting at zero. They already knew you existed, already assumed you were real, already trusted you a little. Your website just had to help them decide if now was the right time.

Instagram might not have convinced anyone to flat-out buy, but it made buying from you feel a hell of a lot less risky. 

Quitting Instagram isn’t the problem. 

The problem is quitting it and keeping a website that assumes all that trust-building is happening somewhere else. 

And if it’s not? Then you’ve either gotta bring the ‘gram back (ugh) or finally update your website to carry the trust-building on its own.

What Marketing With Ads, & Without Social Media, Looks Like 

If you’re sending ad traffic straight to your website without any of the social media warmup, your site can’t be all vibes/no substance. 

It has to do three things well. Immediately. For people who don’t know you and don’t care enough yet to be patient.

First? Proof that makes a stranger feel safe spending money.

I’m talking the kind of proof that answers the questions they’re already asking without saying them out loud: Has anyone paid for this? Did it work? What did they get? What changed?

Which means this isn’t just testimonials (but yes, definitely have solid testimonials from real people). It’s also showing the reality of the offer: what happens step-by-step, why your process works, and what they walk away with.

Second: Personality that puts you on the page.

Folks are just booking a ski trip, a yoga retreat, a photoshoot, or a therapy session. They’re booking you—your presence, your approach, your energy, your way of doing things. And when Instagram disappears, doesn’t magically transfer. 

In fact, a lot of businesses have a very professional, polished, zero-personality website because that’s what they were taught in some ‘Build Your Website’ workshop from 2011. But your website has to give your audience a sense of who they’re actually spending time with. 

Struggle every time you try to add personality to your page? Then find out what’s missing, right here.

And third: A clear path forward. 

Cold traffic doesn’t have a reason (or time) to “explore” your website. They want you to lead, to guide them on a journey that doesn’t involve 17 tabs to discover your offers or an email sign-up to get your pricing. 

Your job is to make it stupidly easy for readers to understand what you do, find the best-fit offer for them, and take the first step of working with you. 

So before you spend another dollar on ads, ask yourself: does my website…

• make a stranger feel safe?
• feel like a real human business?
• make the next step obvious? 

If the answer is “ehhhhh,” start there instead of throwing more money at Meta. We both know they don’t need it. 

Your Ads Are Fine. Your Website Is the Problem. 😬

Here’s the deal: if your ads are getting clicks, your ads are doing the thing.

The problem is what happens after the click.

Because when you quit Instagram, you didn’t just stop posting. You also stopped the steady drip of context that made people trust you without realizing they were doing it. 

So if the question is, why aren’t my ads converting? The answer you probably don’t want to hear but need is:

Your website was built for people who already trusted you.

And when you removed that social media layer, your site didn’t pick up the slack. So now cold traffic lands on a website that’s well-designed, well-meaning…and wildly underprepared.

Which means it’s time to rewrite your site for the people who don’t know you and don’t trust you, but want what you offer (even if they don’t know it yet). 

This is where I come in. 

My Done-For-You web copy is for business owners who want off the content hamster wheel without quietly tanking their conversions. I write websites that:

• replace social media trust
• convert cold traffic
• and don’t rely on you “showing up” anywhere except your actual business

Your ad manager will thank you. Your nervous system too.