As summer in many areas of the world starts to wind down and kids make their way back to school, it’s only a matter of time before the leaves begin to turn and pumpkin-spice-everything season is upon us (is it fair to give pumpkin spice a whole season?!). While people were out getting reacquainted with friends, family, and traveling in a post-pandemic world, we quietly rolled out some pretty cool things you may have missed. One of the best parts? All of these awesome features are Free-plan-friendly!
Here at Bitly, we believe that customers on our Free plan are essential to helping us deliver on our mission to be a catalyst for all your connections. Read on to make sure you’re getting the most out of your Free plan.
Build Your Own Microsite with Bitly Link-in-bio
Imagine a world where you don’t have to be limited by a single link in your social media profile. A world where that one link is actually a portal to a wide range of possibilities that allow your followers to engage more deeply with more of your content. Enter: Bitly Link-in-bio.
Bitly Link-in-bio is your personal mini-website, aka microsite, where you can consolidate all of your best links to share with your audience. It’s your fully customizable, on-brand virtual front door. Your choose-your-own-adventure introduction or deep dive into your products and services. Your chef-created-pre-fixe brunch menu (and you’re the chef!). Your … well, you get the picture! It’s your microsite to bring your brand and business to life for your followers, right from your social profile and beyond.
When we say on-brand, we mean it. Without any coding or tech expertise, you can:
- upload images for your background or profile.
- choose from a wide variety of colors, font styles, and button shapes.
- use your own custom color palette.
You can even schedule links to go up and come down for limited-time promotions or just to create pFOMO (positive FOMO!).
Not only do you get a Link-in-bio that houses your personal online presence, but since it’s a microsite, you can share and use it everywhere … and we mean everywhere! Bitly Link-in-bio comes with its own QR Code that helps you bridge the gap between the physical and digital world. It also comes with the full power of the Bitly Connections Platform, which means all of your shortened links, all of your QR Codes, all of your Link-in-bio links, and all of your analytics and performance metrics are all in one place. Did we mention that you can put GIFs in your profile and background image, too?!
And, if you want to take your Bitly Link-in-bio one step further, you can completely customize the URL with a custom domain on our Growth plan. Say goodbye to bit.ly/m/SFLivingShop and hello to sfliving.shop/m/home.
Bring Online and Offline Worlds Together with Bitly QR Codes
QR Codes have become a part of life over the last few years. They’re the ideal way to bring the digital space to the physical world. Scan, tap, connect. What could be easier?
Whether in place of a physical menu, on a product box, or on your favorite TV show, QR Codes can provide your audience with a richer experience and help you extend your reach. That’s why we’re so excited to have launched QR Codes to our customers on Free plans.
As of this summer, every link you shorten or create comes with a QR Code that you can access with a single click or tap. That’s right! QR Codes can be generated from both the Bitly web experience (click!) and the Bitly mobile app (tap!).
Create QR Codes From Anywhere with the Bitly Mobile App
Speaking of our mobile app, we’ve updated that too! We’ve made it easier to use, giving you the ability to more easily manage links, generate QR Codes, and track performance on the go. You can also effortlessly download QR Codes and share links with your audience, all from within the app.
What about Link-in-bio, you ask? It’s not available in the Bitly mobile app today, but we’ll have an update for you soon! If you don’t already have the Bitly mobile app, it’s available to download for free from the Apple App Store and the Android Play Store.
Check out the Bitly Connections Platform
We’ve started delivering on our promise of the Bitly Connections Platform: A single, powerful platform where you can manage links, generate QR Codes, and create your own Link-in-bio. The Connections Platform allows you to edit, manage, and track the performance of our products, while also giving you the freedom to customize all three to make them reflective of yourself, your business, and your brand.
We offer robust personalization and customization for our Free plan customers. For anyone wanting more, we also offer increased levels of customization with our paid plans. This summer marks the general availability of QR Codes and Link-in-bio to all customers in addition to our already powerful link management offerings—marking the true arrival of the Connections Platform. If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll notice a new look and feel because the Bitly Connections Platform got a makeover.
While we’re really excited for you to start using all three of our core products—Link Management, QR Codes, and Link-in-bio—in one place, we can’t wait for you to experience everything we’re working on. Stay tuned for more!
Meet the New Annual-Only Core Plan
We heard from our customers that sometimes the anxiety is real as you approach your monthly link limits; that you need more links and want the option for redirects, but not quite as many that come in the Basic plan.
When you’ve outgrown our Free plan, the new annual-only Core plan has got you covered with 100 links per month, 5 QR Codes per month, three redirects, and customer support (plus everything you get in the Free plan!). If you need more convincing on why Bitly’s Core plan is right for you, more custom back-half links means more links to use as standalone shortened links and for your Link-in-bio. You can also go worry-free with redirects, meaning you’ll never have to worry about typos, incorrect links, links that expire, or outdated content. Redirects help ensure you’re pointing your audience to the most up-to-date content—without having to create a new custom back-half link. Sign up for the Core plan today to take your growing business or brand to the next level.
Start Your Journey Now
We love our customers at Bitly! We do our very best to make your experiences with all of our products into moments that are catalysts for connections between you and your audience. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about all the great updates we’ve made to our Free plan. And, because we want all of our customers to find greater value in their Bitly experience, we’ve also made some big updates to our paid plans, too—including welcoming our new annual-only Core plan to the Bitly family. No matter where you are in your business, brand, or personal growth trajectory, we have a just-right plan to support your needs.