Instagram is a great place to grow your brand, your blog and connect with your audience. But one thing Instagram lacks is the ability to add links in order to drive users to your own content.
As of right now, the only places you are allowed to add links to your Instagram is in your bio, the “swipe up” feature in Instagram Stories (but you need to have over 10,000 followers to use this feature), and if you have an e-commerce shop you can take advantage of Shoppable Instagram posts.
Currently, adding a link into your Instagram bio is the most popular way to drive traffic back to a specific page.
But that’s still limited as Instagram only allows one link in your bio, which is why Linktr.ee is a popular option among bloggers and business owners.
This is a huge topic that would need thorough discussion around it as it includes many details. Discuss this topic on your podcast on the world’s largest audio streaming platform and get numerous views. If you are not getting the results you want, buy soundcloud plays.
Table of Contents
WHAT IS LINKTREE?
Linktr.ee is a service that many bloggers and businesses use as a landing page directory for their Instagram bios. You can tell if someone is using Linktree because the link will look something like this:
Screenshot of Instagram bio with a link
What Linktree looks like in a user’s bio
The root of the domain will consist of “linktr.ee”. Once you click on that link, you will be brought to a page that contains colored blocks of text that each link to specific pages of the owner’s choice.
Screenshot of linktree on an iPhone
Linktree landing page example
Linktree is very popular as it allows users to link to multiple items with just one link in their bio, but Linktree isn’t the best option and it is actually hurting your SEO.
HOW TO USE LINKTREE
Your first step for using Linktree is to sign up with an account.
Screenshot of Linktree’s banner on their website with a big purple button that says “Get started for free”
Linktree signup page
From there, you should land on a page that asks you to input some information such as your name, username and password.
Screenshot of the Linktree signup form where you can enter your email, username and password.
The next page will ask you for your name and ask you to select three different categories that describe your business/blog.
The last step in the sign up is to select a plan. Linktree offers both free and paid plans. Here are the current Linktree plans:
Screenshot of a pricing plan from Linktree’s website
Linktree plans as of 2020
The last step is to confirm your email address and build your landing page via Linktree.
Linktree is quite simple to use! The interface is very user-friendly and straightforward. You can add links, view the “Links” panel and customize the appearance in the “Appearance” panel (although with the free account, you are very limited in customization).
Screenshot of a cell phone mockup with a landing page of links.
Where you build your landing page in Linktree
To the right, you’ll be able to see in real-time how your Linktree landing page looks on a mobile device.
Linktree is a nice option for those who aren’t tech-savvy and don’t feel comfortable building out their own landing pages.
However, before I get into the nitty-gritty details on why I think Linktree isn’t the best option for your blog, let’s look at some of the positive aspects of Linktree,
WHY LINKTREE CAN BE GOOD
Before diving into why Linktree isn’t the best option for your blog, let’s talk about why Linktree is good (because it does have good qualities).
NO TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
First, Linktree is the perfect option for those who don’t have their own website. If you don’t have your own website where you can edit and create pages, then Linktree is actually quite an appealing option.
Many microbloggers rely on blogging on Instagram exclusively and don’t have their own website.
Creating a Linktree is incredibly simple. There is virtually no technical knowledge required which is great for someone who is just starting out or needs a quick fix.
CUSTOM-(ISH) BRANDING
Second, Linktree allows you to customize the colors of your clickable buttons. That’s great for branding purposes, but with the free account, the branding is incredibly limited. If you want to further the branding for your Linktree landing page, you will need to pay for a premium account which works out to $72 USD a year.
So, here’s my take: Linktree is a great alternative for those who aren’t able to create their own custom landing page, but if you have your own blog, you will want to consider ditching Linktree for something custom.
THE CONS OF USING LINKTREE
Rather than create a Linktree with important links back to your website, you should create your own landing page right on your site!
Here is what my URL looks like for my own “Linktree” page that I have set up myself:
Screenshot of instagram bio with a link
As you can see, the link is to my own website, and not “linktr.ee/”. When you click on the link in my bio, you are brought to a specific page on my website:
Mockup of an iPhone with links on a landing page
I have full control of my landing page including the typography, the style of the buttons, the text before and after, imagery and so much more.
Let’s dive into why it’s better to create your own link landing page rather than use a service such as Linktree.
PRICE
To access any of the good features of Linktree, you will need to pay $72 USD per year. That’s often more than web hosting is, which in my opinion, is a steep price to pay for something you already have.
If you are paying $4 per month to host your website, you already have access to many of the features that the premium Linktree plan offers such as:
branding
Google analytic tracking
Facebook pixel tracking
Email newsletter integration
No Linktree logo
So essentially, if you have a website and choose to upgrade to the premium Linktree account, you will be paying to access services that you already have access to through your own blog.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
When you send visitors to your Linktree page, you are sending them to a third-party website. If you get 1,000 clicks to your Linktree every month, you are basically waving goodbye to an extra 1,000 pageviews if you were to send them to your own website.
Now, I can’t get into SEO in full here (that’s what my free SEO workshop is for. You should definitely sign up if you haven’t), but here are a couple of reasons why it’s better to host a link landing page on your own blog.
First, by creating your own landing page you are giving your blog a boost of SEO by creating internal links. Internal links are links that link to your own content. For example, if you visit my homepage and click on my “services” link in my navbar, you will be brought to my services page. That is an internal link! However, if you click on a link and it takes you to a page that isn’t from my website, it’s classified as an external link.
Both types of links (external and internal) are good for SEO, but internal links in particular help Google and search engines understand the hierarchy, structure and important pages of your website.
By creating a Linktree page, you are stripping your website of those additional internal links.
ANALYTICS
If you pay for the premium version of Linktree, you will get access to analytics, but like I mentioned above, if you are already paying for hosting, why would you pay extra for a service that you already have access to?
The free version of Linktree does offer basic analytics, but nothing that you’ll be able to gain any valuable insight from. Adding your own link landing page will allow you to view ALL the juicy data from it such as what links are most popular on which days, how long people are spending on your website, how many people aren’t clicking on the links and so much more.
PS – if you don’t know what on Earth to do with your Google Analytics, you need to check out my beginner’s guide to Google Analytics!
TRAFFIC
We talked about this earlier, but every click to your Linktree page is one less click for your website.
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD
If you’re ready to graduate from Linktree and create your own link landing page, all you need to do is create a page on your website with your links!
I titled my page “Start Here” but you can call your page whatever you’d like.
The beauty in doing this is that your new link landing page will:
be branded with your fonts, colors, logos and imagery as you wish
be hooked up to your analytics
provide you with internal site links
not cost a single cent to maintain
make it easy to collect leads
And now, when your followers click on your link in your profile, they will be instantly be met with your brand. It’s incredibly important to keep your audience’s experience consistent throughout their journey with your brand, and creating your own custom link landing page will help you do just that.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN INSTAGRAM LANDING PAGE
I coded my landing page out manually, with HTML and CSS. If you are familiar with HTML/CSS, you can use my code to whip up something nice and quick.
Make sure you don’t have any CSS overriding the elements on your pages for the above to work.
If you aren’t familiar with HTML/CSS, your next best bet is to download a page builder plugin to your website such as Elementor.
Elementor is a beginner-friendly WordPress plugin and there are tons of tutorials on YouTube to help you build a simple landing page, such as this one!
Even though that tutorial features a landing page that is much more complex than what you need, it’s still a fantastic resource to get you up to speed with Elementor.
For your landing page, you’ll simply need a page that consists only of links or buttons to the pages you wish for your followers to click on.
LINKTREE SUMMARY
So, what are my thoughts on Linktree?
I don’t hate Linktree. Far from it! I think it’s an excellent tool for business and bloggers who don’t have their own website or have the technical ability to build out a custom landing page.
However, if you have a website already where you are paying for hosting, it’s a much better idea to build your own landing page where you have access to analytics and data.
