We see it all the time around Brighton: a business with a gorgeous Instagram, loyal regulars and great reviews, and a Linktree where the website should be.
There’s nothing wrong with Linktree. But if it’s the only home your business has online, it’s quietly costing you customers. Here’s why, and when it’s still the right call.
What a Linktree is good at
Linktree solves a real problem: Instagram gives you one link in your bio. A Linktree turns that one link into a tidy list of everything else, from your menu and booking page to your shop and your latest news.
It’s free, quick to set up and easy to change from your phone. For a brand-new business, a pop-up or a market stall, it’s a perfectly sensible place to start.
It isn’t your address
Your Linktree lives at linktr.ee/yourname. That’s Linktree’s address with your name on the end. Every card, menu and sticker you print with it points somewhere you don’t control.
A domain of your own, like yourbusiness.co.uk, goes wherever you take it. It also gives you a proper email address, which looks a lot more trustworthy on an invoice than a Gmail.
Rent the shop if you like. Own the address.
Google has nothing to go on
When someone searches for brunch in Kemptown or a tattoo studio in the North Laine, Google looks for pages that answer that search. A Linktree is a list of buttons. There’s no menu, no opening hours and no description of what you do or where you are, so there’s nothing for Google to match.
People who already know your name can still find you. The people who don’t, the ones searching for what you do nearby, end up with someone else.
A list of buttons can’t answer a search.
Every extra tap loses someone
Instagram bio, then the Linktree, then a PDF menu that won’t zoom, then back again for the booking link. Every extra step is a chance for someone on a phone to give up.
A website can put the answer on the first screen: what you do, where you are, when you’re open and one button to book or call.
It looks like everyone else’s
Link pages are built from the same handful of layouts. Your Instagram might be bursting with personality, then the very next tap looks like a thousand other businesses.
Your website is where your brand can actually breathe: your colours, your photos and your way of talking.
When a Linktree is fine, and what to do next
If you’re testing an idea, trading at markets or opening in a few weeks, keep the Linktree. It’s doing its job.
When you want to be found by people who don’t know you yet, a simple website does what a link page can’t. It doesn’t need to be big: one good page with what you do, where you are, your hours and a way to get in touch is a huge step up. You can even keep the Linktree in your bio and make the website the first link.
A Linktree is a signpost. A website is the place people arrive.
Not sure where you stand? Run your site through our free website check, or just ask us. STKR Studio is a small web studio in Brighton, and we’ll tell you honestly if your Linktree is still doing the job.