Social media is an important tool for promoting your work online, but almost every social media app has one big flaw: you can only add a “website” link to your profile. For most people, that’s not enough – most of us have multiple profiles, projects and portfolios to promote, sometimes for different audiences – sowhich that is, link aggregating services such as Linktree are an increasingly important part of your online life.
Linktree isn’t the first website of its kind (and we feature some of its main competitors below), but it’s one of the easiest to use as it focuses solely on the links and avoids additional features like blogging and media posting. It’s free to use too, and even the paid version ($ 6 / month) is a lot cheaper than building and hosting a website, and gives you access to tons of helpful analytics tools.
If you’ve spent some time on social media over the past few years, chances are you’ve checked out someone’s Linktree and you may be curious about the service. Linktree profiles are easy to create, but there are plenty of extra features hidden in the site’s rigorous user interface so we’ll walk you through the process.
How to create a Linktree page
The first step is to sign up for a new account Here. Even the free Linktree options allow you to add unlimited links to your profile page, but there is one Pro plan ($ 6 per month) that adds analytics tracking and allows you to set priority links, schedule links to go live at a later date, and more. For most users, however, the free option will be enough.
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Once you’ve signed up and logged in, it’s time to add and customize your list of links from the “Left” Tab.
- Press the “Add new link” Surprise button to add a link tab.
- Paste a URL in the field.
- To make the link public, click the slider so it turns green. Later, if you want to hide a link, click the slider again so it is grayed out.
- You can also click the trash can to permanently delete a link from your profile.
- Drag and drop the link tabs to rearrange their appearance on your Linktree page.
Some links have additional options depending on what you are linking to. For example, YouTube links can be set to open in a separate tab and prompt visitors to subscribe to your channel.
Free members can add thumbnail images to any link and view limited analytics. You can also display individual tweets on your page or automatically display your most recent tweet with a Pro membership.
Once your links have been added, click on “Look” Tab to change your profile picture, customize your bio, and change the theme of your page. There are currently 10 free themes, most of which are solid or simple gradients, while Pro members can choose from five additional themes, from Night Sky to Rainbow, or create their own with unique backgrounds and fonts (Pros can do that too Hide the “Linktree” logo). I personally use one of the free themes, and it does the job well.
The last thing you have to do is go to “The settings” Tab where you can update your account information, change your security settings and add other helpful links – including payment integration with Paypal and Venmo, links to social media profiles, email addresses, messaging accounts like WhatsApp or Telegram, Substack and SMS subscriptions, and more. These additions will appear as icons at the bottom of your main stack of links. Here you can also change your account settings if you link to “sensitive material” (read: content for adults).
After you’ve added these last links and configured your settings, your Linktree profile is ready. Copy that “My link tree” Link in the top right corner and paste it into your various Profiles, Portfolio Pages etc or click “Share” to share with your contacts via a message, email or post on social media.
The best alternatives to Linktree
Just in case Linktree doesn’t cut it for you (though it’s by far the most popular service of its kind), there are a few alternatives. Most are limited in terms of price and / or features, or go well beyond the simplicity Linktree offers, but here are a few choices to get you started:
- Lnk.bio: Like Linktree, Lnk.bio allows users to add unlimited links to their pages. You can also embed videos and premium subscribers ($ 1 / month) get access to analytics data for their links. The only downside is that it requires an Instagram login to use it.
- Shorby is also very similar to Linktree and offers almost all of the same features and even some advantages like the integration of Snapchat Stories. However, it’s a paid service that starts at $ 15 per month (or $ 144 annually) and there is no free option.
- Milkshake is another worthy contender that lets you create multiple pages and add .gifs and other visuals to your links, but it’s only mobile (Android and iOS) and cannot be used on the desktop. The good news is it’s free!
- Finally, if you’re mostly on Twitter and looking for a low-maintenance solution, you can put all of your links in a pinned tweet that will stay on top of your profile for as long as you keep it there. You could even link to the tweet directly from other social media profiles – although this is certainly an inelegant solution compared to what you get with a dedicated service.
