Guide
How to Create Your WhatsApp Link
A WhatsApp link opens a chat with you without anyone having to save your number first. You can type it by hand in two minutes, it needs no tool at all, and there are two mistakes that break it without any warning.
«how do I create a WhatsApp link for my business»
A WhatsApp link is an address that opens a chat with you. It works on Instagram, on your Google profile, on your website, in an email, and on a printed flyer as a QR code. And you write it yourself:
https://wa.me/50762307595The number goes with its country code —507 in Panama, 1 in the United States— without the plus sign, and without spaces or dashes. That’s the whole format. There’s nothing else to it.
The two mistakes that break it
A badly written number. wa.me/6230-7595 goes nowhere, and wa.me/+50762307595 fails on several
keyboards too. The link doesn’t warn anyone: it simply opens WhatsApp with no conversation, and the
customer leaves.
Someone else’s link shortener. Many generators hand back a link on their own domain instead of yours. It works today, and the day that service changes its policy or closes, every flyer, every post and every QR code you printed stops working. If you need a short link, make it on your own domain.
Where to put it
- On your website, as a visible button on the first screen and again at the end of every page.
- On your Google Business Profile, in the website field or as the booking link, depending on the type of business.
- In your Instagram and Facebook bios.
- On a printed QR code: the counter, the shop window, a flyer, a product label.
- In your email signature.
About the pre-filled message
You can add text that shows up already typed:
https://wa.me/50762307595?text=Hi,%20I'd%20like%20a%20quote%20for%20a%20websiteIt sounds like a good idea and we used it for months. We removed it on September 11, 2026, and the reason applies to anyone: on a phone, that parameter doesn’t open the app. It redirects to an in-between page that shows the message —one the person didn’t write— inside a bubble, with an «open app» button. That’s one more step at the exact moment people give up.
If what you want is for customers not to start from a blank chat, there’s a better way: let your page tell them what to say. «Message us and tell us what you sell and where you are» does the same job without adding a step.
The QR code, done right
A QR code is your same link drawn as a picture, so there’s nothing to pay for. What you do need to get right is the usual stuff with print:
- Size. On a shop window, no smaller than 2 inches (5 cm) per side; on a flyer, 1 inch (2.5 cm) is enough if it’s scanned up close.
- Contrast. Dark on light, no gradients, and no logo on top of the center.
- A test with two different phones —one Android, one iPhone— before you send it to print.
- A line of text next to it. «Message us on WhatsApp» converts far better than a lonely square: a QR code without text doesn’t tell anyone what will happen when they scan it.
Which channel they came from, and why the link won’t tell you
It’s worth saying plainly, because a lot of people try to solve this and waste their time: a WhatsApp link doesn’t tell you where the person came from. It doesn’t accept tracking parameters the way a campaign link does, and what arrives in the chat is a phone number, not a source.
What does work:
- Measuring the click on your own site, which is yours and can be measured.
- Asking in the first message. Your greeting message can include «how did you find us?», and that gives you the answer no tool was going to provide.
- A different number per channel, only if the volume justifies it. For a small business it almost never does: that’s two phones and two sets of conversations to answer.
Measuring whether it works
A WhatsApp button without measurement is a guess. On our own site we measure every outgoing click, and that measurement taught us something you can’t see any other way: there were clicks and there were no conversations. A click says someone wanted to write; it doesn’t say they got there.
If your site doesn’t measure that yet, it’s one of the first things worth fixing — it’s covered in why your website isn’t showing up on Google, and it’s part of what we set up on every website we build.
Also worth asking
What's the correct format?
`https://wa.me/` followed by your number with its country code, without the plus sign, spaces, dashes or parentheses. Our Panamanian number, 6230-7595, becomes `https://wa.me/50762307595`; a US number would start with 1. The most common mistake is writing the number the way you'd type it into a phone.
Do I need a tool or an account to generate it?
No. The generators you'll find on Google build exactly the same address, and some of them also shorten it with their own domain — the day that service shuts down, your link stops working. Write it by hand.
Does it work with WhatsApp Business?
Yes, it's the same link: it depends on the number, not on the app. If you moved your number to a business account, the link keeps working exactly as before.
Can I leave a message already typed?
You can, by adding `?text=` at the end, but we removed it from our own site. On a phone that parameter doesn't open the app directly: it sends people to an in-between page with the message in a bubble and an «open app» button — one more step exactly where people drop off.
How do I turn it into a QR code?
Any QR generator works, because a QR code is just the address drawn as a picture. Point the code at your `wa.me` link, print it large, and test it with two different phones before you print a thousand copies.
Can I see how many clicks it gets?
Yes, if your website measures outgoing clicks. Ours records every click on the WhatsApp button, and that's how we learned something uncomfortable: there can be clicks and no conversations. Without that measurement you never find out the path is broken.
Still have a question the guide doesn't answer?
Write to us and we'll answer it, even if you never hire us. We'd rather you decide well.
We answer the same day, Monday to Saturday. Also at +507 6230-7595.