I bet you're wondering why I would be knocking on the tool that everyone has in their instagram bio.
Don't get me wrong -- the concept of Linktr.ee is absolutely genius. How wonderful to have all the links you want to share with your audience in one place?! It's convenient, easy to use and just smart. In essence, it's a great tool for bloggers except when their servers are down which is exactly why I opt out.
Why I Don't Like / Use Linktr.ee
Reason No. 1 :: when I was using Linktr.ee, I noticed that
they don't notify you when their servers are down and in my opinion, that's disservice to it's users. Essentially, you are using their product which has their logo plastered at the bottom of the screen on the free version and it's brand name is in the url even if you pay to use their upgraded services, so you're technically giving them free publicity.
The least they could do is tell you when the service isn't working -- I mean, it's a hinderance to your blog / brand if someone clicks the link and they find a broken page leading them nowhere. It looks unprofessional and you wouldn't even know... possibly resulting in that person / brand not wanting to do business with you or never attempting to visit your blog again each time someone clicks the link in your bio.
Reason No. 2 ::
It's an unnecessary step that doesn't help your numbers. I know that I click on a lot of links when I'm roaming instagram and sometimes I stop at the first page it shows me which is usually Linktr.ee. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if that first click contributed to
your numbers instead of linker.ee's?
Reason No. 3 ::
It's ugly. I know that's kind of blunt and slightly rude, but it's honestly how I feel about it. The page displaying your links is not only bland, but it's color options are boring.
I know that if you pay $5 per month, you have a few font selections and you can tweak the colors a bit, but $60 a year really isn't worth it when you can have the same type of thing for
free.
What I'm Using Instead
What if I told you, you could have all the links you wanted to share with your community..
- all in one place,
- be atheistically pleasing / look professional,
- represent your brand and your brand only
- and contribute to your blog's -- all at the same time?!
It would be a dream, right? Well, hold on to your hats mom bosses because I'm going to tell you that such a tool exists ... drum roll please .... within your own blog!
That's right, I have a hidden page on my blog with a collection of all my links and I've posted it's url in my instagram's bio -- it represents my brand and my brand only, looks how I want it to look, helps my numbers, and I don't have to worry about servers being down or constantly check if everything is working properly.
It's really that simple ladies. I've listed the steps you need to take in order to get this going on your blog for anyone who's interested down below.
How To Set Up A Collection Of Links Within Your Blog
Step No. 1
Make sure that your blog is mobile friendly website.
This is important for the aesthetics of the page, but also because most people access these links from an app on a cell phone.
Step No. 2
Make a page within your blog.
Title it "resources," "links" or whatever best describes your collection of links. I'd advise you to keep the title short and sweet because usually the title of the page becomes part of the url you'll be placing in your bio and the shorter it is, the cleaner it will look.
Step No. 3
Get Creative & Customize!
Do this by using buttons, graphics, script / fun font for your list. I used the dimensions 800 width x 100 height for my buttons, but how big you want them is up to you -- there are also a few websites online that can help you make a widget with pre-made buttons if you don't want to start from scratch! REMEMBER... This is a where you can put your brand's personal touch on the layout and really make it yours. You can add your @ighandle at the top of the page if you really liked that about Linktr.ee -- the possibilities here really are endless.
Step No. 4
Link Everything & Make Sure All Links Work.
Because we want everything to run as smoothly as it looks.
Step No. 5
Publish Page & Add Page URL To Your Instagram's Bio
& Y O U A R E D O N E -- see how simple that was?
