# Link Management for Agencies: A Workspace and Branded Domain per Client

Source: https://lots.link/blog/link-management-for-agencies
Published: 2026-10-21T03:30:49.67659+00:00

The cleanest way to run links for several clients is one workspace per client: that client's short links, QR codes, domain, team and click reports, kept apart from everyone else's. In LotsLink, workspaces, links, QR codes, clicks and teammates are free and unlimited, and you pay only for each client's own domain: $4 a month on pay as you go, or $9 a month for three, $24 for ten and $59 for thirty.

Below is the setup I use, step by step: a workspace per client, the client's branded domain, your team and the client's staff with the right roles, a project per campaign, and reports you can send every week. I ran it end to end in my own LotsLink account on 20 October 2026, and I'll show what came back.

## The setup at a glance

| Per client | How it works in LotsLink | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A workspace | Its own links, projects, domains, members and analytics | Free, unlimited |
| A branded domain | The client's domain (for example `links.example.com`), DNS-only CNAME to `customers.lots.link`; the client keeps the registration | $4 a month per domain, or a plan: Starter $9 (3 domains), Pro $24 (10), Business $59 (30) |
| Your team | Admins manage the workspace; members create links and edit their own | Free, unlimited |
| The client's staff | Viewers read links and analytics and can't change anything | Free, unlimited |
| Campaigns | A project per campaign, with the client's name on it | Free |
| Short links and QR codes | Custom slugs, UTM tags, expiry dates, QR codes as PNG; change a destination any time and printed codes still work | Free, unlimited (up to 1,000 new links per person in any 24 hours) |
| Reports | Clicks by country, city, device and referrer, daily timeline, CSV or JSON export | Free |

Prices are from the [LotsLink pricing page](https://lots.link/pricing) and the live catalogue, checked on 20 October 2026. Yearly billing is ten monthly payments: $90, $240 or $590 a year.

## Step 1: Give each client a workspace

A workspace is the wall between clients. Links, projects, custom domains, team members and analytics all live inside it, and people see only the workspaces they've been invited to. A client's staff never sees another client's campaign, and your reports never mix two clients' clicks.

In the dashboard, open **Workspaces** and create one per client. Name it after the client so your team can find it at a glance. There's no charge for the workspace, so a client you run one campaign a year for gets one too.

Who creates the workspace matters: the person who creates it is its owner, and the owner's plan or credits pay for the custom domains in it. Most agencies own every client workspace and cover domains from one plan. If a client wants to hold the account and pay for its own domain, the client creates the workspace and invites your team as admins.

## Step 2: Put links on the client's own domain

Branded links are the reason most clients ask for this at all. `links.example.com/spring-menu` reads as the client's link; a generic short domain doesn't.

1. In the client's workspace, open **Settings** and add the client's domain or subdomain.
2. Ask whoever manages the client's DNS to add a DNS-only CNAME record pointing to `customers.lots.link`.
3. LotsLink checks the hostname and issues the HTTPS certificate. Once the domain shows as verified, new links can use it.

The client keeps the domain registration with its own registrar. LotsLink never needs access to the registrar account, only the one DNS record.

Two details worth knowing before you print anything:

- **A domain with links on it can't be removed.** Remove or move its links first. That protects every printed QR code and shared link from breaking because someone tidied up settings.
- **Every person gets one free `*.lots.link` subdomain**, ready at once with no DNS. It's handy for your agency's own links or a pitch, but one per person, so give each client its own domain.

### What domains cost an agency

Only custom domains are paid. Everything else on this page is free on every account.

| Clients with their own domain | Plan that covers them |
|---|---|
| 1 or 2 | Pay as you go: $4 a month per domain from credits, charged daily |
| Up to 3 | Starter, $9 a month |
| Up to 10 | Pro, $24 a month |
| Up to 30 | Business, $59 a month |

Between blocks you can stay on the smaller plan and add domains at your plan's rate, so you never jump a tier for one new client.

New accounts get 4,000 free credits, valid 90 days, no card needed, which covers one custom domain for about a month. Purchased credits never expire and work across Lots products. If funding ever runs out, existing links keep redirecting and analytics stay readable; only new links on the unfunded domain pause. The full breakdown is in [LotsLink pricing explained](https://lots.link/blog/lotslink-pricing-explained).

## Step 3: Invite your team and the client's staff

Teammates are free and unlimited on every account, so there's no reason to share one login across your team or to keep a client out of their own numbers. Open **Team** in the client's workspace and invite people by email. Each invitation link is valid for 7 days.

| Role | What they can do | Give it to |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Everything, including the workspace itself; pays for its domains | You (or the client, if the client holds the account) |
| Admin | Manages the team, domains and projects; edits any link | Your account managers |
| Member | Creates links and edits their own | Freelancers, junior staff, the client's marketer if they make links |
| Viewer | Reads links and analytics, changes nothing | The client's owner or marketing lead |

A few rules keep this safe: an admin can't change or remove another admin, the owner can't be removed, and ownership can't be handed over through an invitation or a role change. When someone leaves the agency, remove them from each client workspace; the links they made stay in the workspace.

## Step 4: A project per campaign, a link per placement

Inside a client's workspace, projects group the links for one campaign: the spring menu, the trade show, the newsletter. Each project can carry the client's name and a color, so lists and reports stay readable.

Then make one short link per placement, not one link for the whole campaign. A link for the Instagram bio, one for the newsletter, one for the printed flyer. Fill the UTM fields (source, medium, campaign) and LotsLink adds them to the destination, so the client's website analytics groups those visits too. I covered the naming in [how to track link clicks by channel with UTM](https://lots.link/blog/track-link-clicks-by-channel-utm).

For print, make a QR code from the link. The code holds the short URL, so every scan goes through the same redirect and shows up in that link's clicks, with device and location when available. When the client's offer changes after the flyers are out, change the link's destination: the short URL and the printed code stay the same, and scans keep counting on the same link. Keep the slug of any link you've printed, though: changing a slug changes the URL inside the code. More on that in [how to track QR code scans](https://lots.link/blog/track-qr-code-scans).

## Step 5: Send each client a report

Every link has its click analytics: all-time total, clicks in the period, a daily timeline, top countries and cities, devices and referrers. Each workspace also has analytics across all its links. Bots, link previews and prefetches aren't counted, so the numbers are real opens of the link. LotsLink doesn't store visitor IP addresses, so it reports clicks, not unique people; say "visits" in the client report, not "visitors".

For the report itself, export the workspace or a single link as CSV for a spreadsheet, or JSON if you build your own dashboard. Clients with viewer access can open the numbers themselves whenever they like.

## What happened when I ran it

On 20 October 2026 I ran the per-client flow in my own LotsLink workspace, with a fictional client:

1. **Project with a client name.** I created a project "Spring menu launch" with a fictional client name in the client field and a green color. It came back with its own ID, the client name and the color.
2. **Branded short link with UTM tags.** I created a link with the custom slug `agency-guide-menu` on my free `mybrand.lots.link` subdomain, assigned to that project, with `utm_source=flyer`, `utm_medium=qr` and `utm_campaign=spring-menu`. The response showed the stored UTM fields, the project and the short URL `https://mybrand.lots.link/agency-guide-menu`.
3. **QR code.** I asked for a 512-pixel QR code in a dark green. It returned a PNG URL and saved it on the link. A HEAD request to the short URL returned a 307 redirect to the destination with the three UTM tags attached (HEAD requests aren't counted as clicks).
4. **Team and billing.** Listing the workspace's members showed each person's role and whether I can manage the team; the billing check showed how custom domains in my account are funded and the three plans.
5. **Clean-up.** I deactivated the link and archived the project. Within a minute the short URL returned 410 Gone. Archiving keeps the project and its links retrievable; nothing was deleted.

On a real client, step 2 would use the client's verified domain instead of my subdomain, and the client's staff would be invited as viewers.

## Doing it from your AI agent

Everything above works in the dashboard. LotsLink also works with the AI agent you already use: connect it once to Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex or Cursor ([setup on lots.link/mcp](https://lots.link/mcp)) and it acts as you, within your role in each workspace. Everything it does shows up in the dashboard.

Prompts that match the steps:

- "Create a workspace for Example Cafe and add links.example.com as its custom domain. Tell me which DNS record to send their developer."
- "Invite maria@example.com to the Example Cafe workspace as a viewer."
- "In that workspace, create a project Spring menu launch for the client Example Cafe, then make short links for the flyer, Instagram bio and newsletter with UTM tags, and a QR code for the flyer link."
- "Point the Example Cafe flyer link at https://example.com/summer-menu and keep the short URL."
- "Send me last week's clicks for every Example Cafe link by source and device, and export them as CSV."

The agent uses the same tools I used in the run: `lotslink_create_workspace`, `lotslink_add_custom_domain` and `lotslink_verify_custom_domain`, `lotslink_invite_workspace_member`, `lotslink_create_project`, `lotslink_create_link`, `lotslink_create_qr_code`, and `lotslink_get_workspace_analytics` or `lotslink_export_analytics`, plus `lotslink_update_link` to change where a link goes. A walkthrough of a full session is in [how to create and track short links from Claude or ChatGPT](https://lots.link/blog/create-track-short-links-claude-chatgpt).

## Before you set it up

- **Printed codes stay editable.** Change where a link goes any time, in the dashboard (Edit Link) or through your agent. The short URL and QR code stay the same and keep counting scans, and the change reaches every visitor within a minute. Admins can change any link in the workspace, members their own, and client viewers none.
- **Up to 1,000 new links per person in any 24 hours.** Nothing else is capped: not links in total, clicks, QR codes, workspaces or teammates.
- **LotsLink counts clicks.** If a client needs conversion attribution, A/B tests, geo redirects or deep links into a mobile app, that's a different kind of tool.

The agency page with the short version is [lots.link/use-cases/agencies](https://lots.link/use-cases/agencies).

## FAQ

### Can each client have their own domain?

Yes. Add the client's domain to their workspace and point a DNS-only CNAME record to customers.lots.link. LotsLink verifies the hostname and HTTPS certificate, and the client keeps the registration. Each custom domain costs $4 a month on pay as you go, or comes from a plan: Starter $9 for 3, Pro $24 for 10, Business $59 for 30.

### Can client staff see their links without editing them?

Yes. Invite them to the client's workspace as viewers. Viewers can read links and analytics but can't create, edit or delete anything, and they only see the workspaces they're invited to.

### Can I change where a client's printed QR code goes?

Yes. Edit the link's destination in the dashboard or ask your agent. The short URL and the printed QR code stay the same, scans keep counting on the same link, and the change reaches every visitor within a minute. Admins can change any link in the workspace, members only their own, and viewers none.

### How many workspaces and teammates can an agency add?

As many as you need. Workspaces, team members, links, clicks and QR codes are free and unlimited on every account. Plans cover custom domains only.

### Who pays for a client's custom domain?

The workspace owner's plan or credits. If your agency owns the client workspaces, one plan's block of domains covers your clients. If a client owns its workspace and invites your team as admins, the client pays for its domain.

### Can I send clients click reports?

Yes. Each link and each workspace has click analytics by country, city, device and referrer with a daily timeline, and you can export them as CSV or JSON. Clients you invite as viewers can open the numbers themselves.

### Can my AI agent manage client workspaces?

Yes. Connect LotsLink to Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP client at https://api.lots.link/mcp. The agent can create workspaces, add and verify domains, invite people, create projects, links and QR codes, change where a link goes, and pull reports, within your role in each workspace.