How to move from Linktree to your own website without losing followers on the way
A link list does its job, but it's a page on someone else's address, with their branding and their rules. When you move from Linktree to your own website, the bio link points at a domain you own, the page can collect email sign-ups and take payment through a link, and you can add a proper About or Work page later. The switch itself takes an afternoon; the care goes into not breaking the link people already tap.
What the new page should do better
Copying the same eight buttons onto a new address gains you very little. Decide what the move is for. Most people want one or more of these:
- An address that's yours, such as yourname.com, so the link in your bio survives any change of tools.
- A way to keep in touch that doesn't depend on a platform's algorithm: an email sign-up.
- A way to get paid for the thing you sell, without sending people through three screens.
- A sentence or two of context for brands, bookers or new followers who don't know you yet.
Plan the page
Open your current link list and rank the links by how often they're tapped, if your current tool shows that. Keep the top five or six; fewer choices get more taps. Then sketch the page top to bottom: your name and a one-line description, the most important link as a large button, the rest as a short list, the email sign-up, and a contact route. If you sell more than one thing, see the note on payments below before you design the buttons.
Build and switch over
- Describe the page in a sentence, for example "a link-in-bio page for a ceramicist, with shop, workshop dates, newsletter sign-up and press contact". Add your current link list's address so the Architect can read the links.
- Pick a look. One of the seven design systems and an action colour. Playful and Organic suit most creators; Editorial suits writers.
- Add the newsletter form. It asks for an email address. Connect Mailchimp or Kit so sign-ups go straight into your list (Mailchimp sends its own confirmation email first), or let them collect in the dashboard.
- Add your payment link if you sell something. Buy buttons open a checkout from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop.
- Publish to the free anticode.dev address and tap every link on your phone.
- Connect your domain on a paid plan: Anticode asks for a CNAME or TXT record and issues the certificate.
- Swap the bio links one platform at a time, starting with the one you post on least. Check each new link from a phone where you're logged out.
- Leave the old link list up for a month with a single link to the new page, so anyone with an old bookmark or a screenshot still finds you.
A note on payments
There's one payment link per account, so every buy button on every site in it opens the same checkout. If you sell one thing, that's simple. If you sell several, point the button at a product list at your provider, such as a Gumroad profile or a Shopify collection, and let people choose there. Payments are taken by that provider; Anticode doesn't handle the money.
How you know it's working
The dashboard shows views per site per day, by source, so a rise in visits from the platform where you just changed your bio confirms people are arriving. New sign-ups appearing in Mailchimp or Kit confirm the form works. Analytics are per site, not per link or button, so if you need to know which link gets tapped, ask the destination (your shop's own stats) rather than the page.
Limits
Anticode doesn't count taps on individual links, can't embed a video, playlist or social feed (link to them instead), and doesn't send newsletters: your email tool does that. There's no import from a link-list tool. A free site shows a small "Made with Anticode" badge; paid plans don't. For ideas on what to include see link-in-bio page, and for selling, add a buy button to a website.
Questions people ask
Why move from Linktree to your own website?
So the address in your bio is yours, the page can collect email sign-ups for a list you own, and you can grow it into a fuller site later.
Will my followers notice the change?
Only if a link breaks. Swap one platform at a time and keep the old page pointing to the new one for a month.
Can I sell several products from the page?
Every buy button opens the same payment link, so link to a product list at your provider and let buyers choose there.
Do I need my own domain?
No, the free anticode.dev address works. A domain you own is what makes the link permanent, and needs a paid plan.