Linktree really sucks and you should stop using it right now. Here’s why!
A blogger friend reached out to me and said J change your Linktree it’s broken. Well, Instagram is very particular about third-party apps. Back in July Instagram temporarily marked all the Linktree apps as spam. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of Linktree links in bio broken.
Fortunately for me, mine was not broken. But it definitely got me thinking. What if I had a huge campaign that I’m focused on and trying to drive traffic to my site or campaign. Luckily for me, it was also around the time that Meg a blogger was speaking at the Houston WordPress meetup. Meg mentioned she did not use Linktree. So I went to snoop around and DM’d her on Instagram to ask her how she set that page up. It’s a landing page that lives on her site created by a web designer.
Smart. She is literally driving traffic directly to her site. Genius!
What is Linktree and why are so many people using it?
Linktree is a third party app. It allows you to store multiple links in your bio. As of today, Instagram only allows one link in bio. For that reason, apps such as Linktree, allow you to display multiple links on a landing page you create on the app. The app then provides a link that you can customize as needed. However, the Linktree link looks like this.
www.linktr.ee.com/thejfranco (not a valid address I canceled my account)
Here is what’s wrong with Linktree.
- For starters, unless you are on a paid plan there are limited branding options. They only offer a handful of color schemes on the free version.
- Let’s not forget to mention the annoyingly huge Linktree logo.
- There is also no option to personalize your linktree. Linktree gives you no room to add a bio, personalize with a signature, or any other means of letting your brand personality shine through. Unless you get a paid plan but it is still as limited.
- It requires 2 clicks for your audience to click through to your website or any landing page you have.
- As a result, you are losing valuable website traffic. Linktree does not give you full analytics other than which link has the highest clicks.
- Since the free plan on Linktree has no analytics you miss out on figuring out which of those links are converting. Which also means no data for possible re-targeting.
- Equally is important is SEO. With Linktree, when a person clicks on your links you are giving the boosting their SEO ranking. Keep in mind that every time a person clicks the link in your bio it’s an opportunity to boost your webpage rankings
- Why pay for the Linktree pro when you can drive traffic directly to your site and use google analytics for free to track: users, country, behavior, and much more.
- You’ll loose on recall, be top of mind with a branded link. For instance im @thejfranco across all social media and my link in bio is thejfranco.com/links. Keep you link easy to recall so your audience can find you quickly.
- Finally, there is no guarantee that Linktree will not be banned and leave you vulnerable to broken links. Remember that at any moment Instagram can deem it against community standards.
You are missing a huge opportunity to market your business effectively if your only link is a 3rd party service like LinkTree. Instagram views Link.tree as SPAM!
HERE’S WHAT TO DO INSTEAD:
- First, I created a custom page on my website using either mylinks or bio links plugin which are great linktree alternatives. I’m currently using the mylinks wp plugin.
- Next, took inspiration from Meg’s page so that I could control how it would look on mobile.
- Then, personalized my message when you land on that page.
- Followed by adding a personalized signature from an image created on Canva.
- Finally, play with the sizes of the fonts, buttons, and images until it is optimal for mobile viewing.
Although this is an additional page on my website, I did not add it to my navigation menu on my website. It’s customized for mobile views and driving traffic from Instagram directly to my website.
Instead of giving Linktr.ee the traffic, I am driving all traffic to my site and I can see the volume of my traffic from Instagram directly on Google Analytics. Instead of giving Linktr.ee the traffic, I am driving all traffic to my site and I can see the volume of my traffic from Instagram directly on Google Analytics. Click To Tweet
I can customize my links as needed or keep them general for my youtube channel or blog.
If I’m focusing on a new campaign a new button can be created with the specific linked landing page. For instance, at the moment I am focusing on the 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge. I created a special button using MaxButtons with the landing page link.
Here’s an example a Linktree like Page On your Own Website.
This is the best way to add an Instagram link in the bio that really works for you. It allows you to track data for your business, track conversions, set up Facebook Pixels for each link and retarget people who click, and more
If you are not using Linktree in your Instagram bio, this is a great way to set up a page that allows your audience to have all the resources you want them to view in one page. These types of pages reinforce your branding, messaging, and calls to action.
Every brand needs a unique landing page on Instagram that drives traffic to your site and where you want your audience to go.
You can also see the page in action by visiting my Instagram Profile.