What to put in your link in bio as a tattoo artist

It's 11pm and you've just finished a ten-hour back piece. Your phone has nine new DMs. Four ask "how much for a small rose?", two ask if you're taking clients, and one is a screenshot of a Pinterest board with no message at all. You answer them tomorrow, or you don't, and either way the next batch is already on its way.

Part of the fix lives in your bio link. If that page answers the easy questions and collects the details you need in one go, fewer of those messages ever reach your inbox.

Say whether your books are open

The first thing a stranger wants to know is whether you're taking clients at all. Rat King Tattoo's booking page puts the logic bluntly: if a client can't find an artist's booking form, they should assume that artist isn't booking. Your bio link should make that unmistakable in both directions.

Put a one-line status at the very top of the page: "Books open for November, form below" or "Books closed until January, join the waitlist." Change it the day it stops being true. A closed-books page with a form still on it brings back the DMs you were trying to avoid.

Alex Weso, a tattoo artist, handles this with a single post that works as the source of truth, and updates it as things change. His page says that as of November 2023 his books are open indefinitely, subject to change. That gives him one place to point people at and one place to edit.

Make one inquiry form do the work

Booking forms exist because they put the information you need into designated fields. According to the tattoo booking guide at tattd, a good one asks for the idea in detail, the body area, the size, the style and any inspiration images. Those answers cover most of what you need to say yes, no or "let's talk."

On Linky, the Form block can hold up to 10 fields: text, email, long text, select and checkbox. That's enough for the first four, and a few more:

• A long text field for the idea: "Tell me what you want, and what it means if it matters."
• A text field for placement, and a select for size, with ranges like "palm-sized" and "half sleeve."
• A select for style, limited to what you actually do.
• An email field, because it's how you'll reply.
• A checkbox: "I've read the deposit and cancellation policy."

The Form block has no file upload, so it can't take reference images. Say so in the last line of the form: "After you submit, email your reference images to me at this address." Or link your own upload form below it. Submissions show up in Linky, and you can export them as a CSV.

Booking forms never promise an appointment, and Rat King's page is explicit that artists choose projects based on many factors. Say the same on yours: "Sending this doesn't guarantee a slot." It sets the expectation before the silence does.

Put your deposit and cancellation rules where people read them

Price comes up in almost every first message, and the deposit follows close behind. Answer both on the page instead of one DM at a time.

Weso's page is a good model for what to include. Sessions of one to three hours take a $100 deposit, and sessions over three hours take $300. The deposit is non-refundable but goes toward the final cost. He asks for 48 hours' notice to cancel, and a late cancellation forfeits the deposit. Those numbers are his. Yours will differ, but the shape is worth copying: amounts, what the deposit is credited against, and the notice you need.

Keep it to three or four lines on the bio page, with a link to the longer version if you have one. Linky doesn't process payments, so if you take deposits online, link to wherever you collect them and put that link below the form, not above it. Clients should fill in the form first, then pay once you've said yes.

Show your work without a grid of links

Your Instagram grid is your portfolio, so don't rebuild it in your bio link with a button for every style you do.

Instead, give visitors two or three ways to see current work:

• Your latest post. Linky's Latest Instagram post block pulls your most recent post onto the page, so it reflects what you finished this week without you editing anything.
• A flash sheet link, if you do flash. Weso says he doesn't offer pre-drawn flash and draws custom pieces instead, which is a good reminder to say which kind of artist you are. A client who wants a custom piece shouldn't land on a flash sheet.
• A link to healed work, if you keep it on a highlight or a separate account. It shows how your lines hold up over time.

Then stop. How many links you should have is a real question, and for a booking-led page the honest answer is fewer than you think.

Tell people where to find you

A new client needs to know where the appointment actually is. Add a Map block with the shop's location, and write your working days next to it. Weso's page lists Wednesday to Saturday, 1 to 7 PM, and notes that Saturdays tend to book out for several months. That one line tells a new client to ask for a weekday.

If you guest-spot, give each stop its own short line with dates, and delete it when you leave. Nothing looks more neglected than a "Guesting in Berlin" banner three months after you got home.

What about the five links Instagram already gives you?

Since April 2023, Instagram has let you add up to five links to your profile. That covers a simple setup, such as a booking form, a flash sheet and your shop's site.

It stops working when your booking status needs a line of explanation, or when you want the form on the page rather than behind a click. A single Linky page lets you put the status, the form, the deposit terms and a map in one place, and the same link works in every bio you have. For a starting layout, see Linky's page for artists shows the starting point, and the wedding photographer guide covers a similar booking-first layout.

Set it up this afternoon

Write your status line, build the form, paste your deposit terms and add a map. Put the link in your bio, and the next person who wonders if you're taking clients finds the answer on the page before they open a DM.

You can build it free at lin.ky. The Free plan covers one page with five blocks, which is enough for a status line, a form, a map and your latest post.