Creatives Drive More Traffic To Your Site Without Using LinkTree
Before I tell you why you need to stop using Link.tree lets first talk about what link tree offers and what it is.
What is Linktree?
According to their site, "Linktree uses your Instagram handle for consistent branding. When users click your custom link, they see a page with multiple links you want to share, such as links to your email signup, products, a blog post, and so on. You can share up to five links with Linktree."
At it's core Link.tree is a landing page with all your links. It provides a landing ground for those who want to direct their followers to their links when they visit their profile on Instagram or other social media. It's a way to link followers to multiple links. Overall it serves as a landing page for those followers.
Now every time that you have a follower from a social media they will see anything you have link to.
Now you may think well why would I want to STOP that from happening?
Here's the thing I don't want you to stop your followers from accessing all your links. BUT I do think it's important that you do it differently and much more INTENTIONALLY than you are doing it with linktree.
Full disclosure I used Link.tree and I have a Link.tree page, but I stopped using it. I stopped using it when I realized a few things. Some of which I will be discussing below. I will share my 5 reasons and I will offer solutions as well!
5 Reasons To Stop Using Linktr.ee
Limited Personalization and Branding
I'm willing to bet that when you opened your Link.tree account you didn't buy the service. Instead you went with the free version, which doesn't offer much personalization. There isn't anything wrong with this. However, even if you decided to buy the monthly service you are still going to be limited in what you can do with your page.
Pay to capture emails/newsletter sign up
We all know that growing our email list is vital to the work that we do. If you have a Link.tree you will have to add another payment to capturing the emails of your visitors.
Your website isn't the getting traffic
I'm sure you're thinking wait, I signed up for Link.tree to drive traffic to my website, what do you mean I'm not getting traffic. Well you aren't getting the initial traffic to your website. In most cases if you are using link tree you are sending the initial traffic to Link.tree (it's their own url after all) then it's going maybe to your site or maybe to your other social medias.
If Link.tree is down or marked as spam, so are your links
This may not have happened often enough that it's an issue. However, even once is enough for me. It turns out that a lot of spam accounts were using Link.tree, so Instagram for a moment recognized Link.tree url as well spam. So followers couldn't access Link.tree for many accounts.
Analytics are limited
On the free version your analytics are limited. On the paid version more analytics are open to you. Which sounds great, but the reality is you don't need to pay to have access to this information. It's already available to you!
Okay so now lets look at what solutions are out there for you. Be INTENTIONAL with your social media!
The number one solution is to have your own website and your own domain. This puts YOU in control of the content you are providing to your audience.
You can purchase your domain through google domains which includes a privacy option at no extra cost.
There are so many website builders and hosts out there from squarespace, to wix, to wordpress. Choose the one that suites you the best.
Limited Personalization and Branding
Solution:
Once you have your site simply create a page specifically for your links with your own branding and information.
Here is how I created my own links page
Pay to capture emails/newsletter sign up
Solution:
If you are not capturing emails already I highly suggest it. I like mailchimp. Through mail chimp you can add a code to your site so that it pops up or you can embed the code directly to your page. They offer a free plan if you are just starting out!
On my site, my website builder has an integration already available so I don't need to pay extra for this. I just connected my mailchimp account and it was available to me.
Your website isn't the getting traffic
Solution:
If you opened your site you now solved this problem. All the clicks you receive will go directly to your site. Which is important for search engines to see that you are receiving traffic.
If Linktr.ee is down or marked as spam, so are your links
Solution:
Unless your website/domain is actually a spam site you won't have any issues with being marked as spam. Unless there is some issue with your website host your site won't be down. You aren't at the mercy of linktree anymore.
Analytics are limited
Solution:
Once you set up your site all you need to do is go to google analytics to get a code that you will insert into your site. With this you will receive your analytics. You can see where your traffic is coming from, which links are being clicked, etc.
(Need more help setting up google analytics? Click here)
Let me know in the comments below what are your thoughts on this. Have you thought about the effects that using a third party app are having on your site traffic?
PSST....pin me!
