# Square Town for agencies and freelancers: a $1-per-client favicon portfolio

> How agencies and freelancers use Square Town, the $1 favicon wall: every client site's favicon in one block as a live portfolio, with counted clicks per square.

Source: https://square.pov.town/for/agencies-and-freelancers

Square Town (square.pov.town) is a favicon wall where each 1×1 square costs $1, one-time, and shows a site's favicon linked to its URL. For an agency or freelancer it works two ways: one square for your studio, or — with each client's permission — one square per client site, bought in adjacent cells so your whole portfolio sits together as a block, each square with its own counted clicks and deed.

> **TL;DR for agencies.** $1 per square, paid via Stripe, no account, no upload. Buy a run of adjacent cells and put a client site's favicon in each; the block *is* the portfolio. Each square has a secret deed URL with views, clicks and kisses; $5 one-time adds per-day charts. Ten client sites = $10, once. Get client permission first. Rulebook: [/how-it-works](/how-it-works). Prices: [/pricing](/pricing).

## The problem: portfolios are static and nobody visits them

A studio's work page is a grid of screenshots that go stale, on a site whose visitors are already prospects. Directories for agencies charge for placement and rank you against people paying more. There's no cheap, live place that shows *the actual sites you built*, in one view, where the built sites can be clicked and where a stranger might wander in.

Square Town is a wall of favicons — and a favicon is the smallest, most recognisable piece of a site's identity, which is often something you designed. Twelve client favicons in a block is a portfolio a person can take in at a glance.

## What a $1 square gives you

1. **A block that reads as a portfolio.** Squares are 1×1 and $1, so ten client sites are $10. Buy them in adjacent cells and they form a visible group. Anyone who clicks one sees the rest around it. Layout ideas in [Showcase all your projects as favicons](/blog/showcase-all-your-projects-favicons); the block mechanics are the same as for a developer with many projects ([that page](/for/developers-with-many-side-projects) has a worked $22 example).
2. **A permanent square per site.** No expiry, no renewal. Forever*, where * means "until someone pays $2 to evict you".
3. **A counted click-through per client site.** Clicks go via `/go/:id`, are counted per square, and arrive at the client's site tagged `utm_source=square.pov.town&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=square`. If you run the client's analytics, that's a referral row you can point at.
4. **A deed per square, with views, clicks and kisses.** Each purchase yields a secret deed URL. $5 one-time unlocks per-day charts on that deed. Useful for the one or two client sites you'd like to report on; unnecessary for the rest.
5. **Towers.** Ctrl+drag tilts the wall; each favicon is a box as tall as its click count, tinted with the icon's colour. A block of client sites becomes a skyline. It's a screenshot worth putting in a pitch deck.
6. **Your own studio's square.** If you'd rather not involve clients, one square for your studio site is $1, and it's still a spot on a wall with a click-through and stats.
7. **The kiss.** Anyone can kiss any icon, free, publicly, and it's counted; an unkissed icon fades to grayscale after 90 days. Kiss your clients' icons when you check in with them. It's a stupid, pleasant ritual.

## How to do it

1. **Get permission per client.** You're placing their URL and favicon on a public wall with a public click count, and their site will receive UTM-tagged referral traffic. Most will say yes to a dollar's worth of visibility; ask anyway, in writing. Some contracts already cover "may we show this in our portfolio" — a favicon on Square Town is a reasonable reading of that, but confirm.
2. **Check every favicon.** You probably made them; make sure each site still serves one. A missing favicon means a clown emoji on the wall and a public Hall of Clowns entry — under a client's domain, which is a bad look. [How to add a favicon](/blog/how-to-add-a-favicon) if any need fixing.
3. **Open [square.pov.town](/) and count out a block.** Only the central 16×16 is live at launch; the gold Throne is the 4×4 centre and its surrounding ring can't be built on. Find a run of empty cells the size of your list — a 2×5, a 3×4, a single row.
4. **Buy them one at a time, in one sitting.** Click a cell, paste the client's URL, pay $1 via Stripe. The cell you're checking out is held; its neighbours aren't, so keep going until the block is filled.
5. **Save every deed URL, tagged by client.** Each square is a separate deed. Put them in the client's folder in your password manager, or one shared note. No accounts, no recovery. The browser's "My deeds" button is a convenience, not a backup.
6. **Decide who owns the deed.** If the client should be able to open the deed page or buy analytics later, send them the deed URL and delete your copy — or keep it and be their agent. Say which in the email.
7. **Unlock analytics** ($5, once, per square) on the deeds where a per-day chart would go into a client report.

## Tips

- **Pick a spot near the Throne if you want the block seen.** The centre rings get the eyes and the evictions. For a portfolio you'd like to keep intact, a few cells out is the safer buy — see [How to pick a good square](/blog/how-to-pick-a-good-square).
- **Put your studio's own square at the corner of the block**, so it reads as the signature.
- **Kiss the icons.** 90 days unkissed and an icon fades to grayscale — under a client's domain. Add it to your monthly maintenance checklist; it's free.
- **Don't let a client be a clown.** Re-check favicons after redesigns and platform migrations. There's a recheck button on each square.
- **Buy the analytics unlock only where it lands in a report.** $5 once per square. Free lifetime totals (views, clicks, kisses) are enough for the rest.
- **Save your deed URLs by client, and hand them over on offboarding.** A deed is the only key to a square; treat it like DNS access.
- **Use the API for a live portfolio widget.** `GET https://square.pov.town/api/state` returns every listing's domain, coordinates, clicks, views and kisses as JSON. Filter for your clients' domains and you have a live block on your own site. See [/api](/api).

## What it won't do

- **It won't give your clients backlinks or SEO value.** The wall is a WebGL canvas and clicks are 302 redirects. There is no link equity. Don't put it in a proposal as an SEO deliverable; put it under "visibility, $1".
- **It won't promise traffic.** Clicks are counted; volumes aren't guaranteed. Set client expectations at "a dollar's worth".
- **It won't stop evictions.** Anyone can take a $1 square for $2, including one out of the middle of your block. It's announced in the live feed. Re-buying costs $4, or you take another cell for $1.
- **It won't recover lost deeds.** No accounts. Lose a deed and that square's deed page is gone (the square stays up).
- **It won't show a logo, a case study or a caption.** Favicon and URL only, every square 1×1.

## FAQ

### Do I need a client's permission to put their site on Square Town?

Yes, ask. You're publishing their URL and favicon on a public wall with public click counts, and sending UTM-tagged traffic to their site. It's a small thing, but it's their domain — get it in writing.

### How much does a 10-client portfolio block cost?

$10, one-time — one square per site. Per-day analytics is an optional $5 per square. Kisses, views and lifetime click totals are free.

### Can I buy the whole block in one payment?

No. Each square is its own purchase and its own deed. Buy them back to back in one sitting; a cell is only held while you're in checkout for it.

### Who should hold the deed URL — me or the client?

Whoever should be able to open the deed page and buy analytics. There are no accounts, so the deed URL is the only key; agree on it and write it down. Hand deeds over on offboarding.

### Does this count as a backlink for the client?

No. Clicks are counted redirects through `/go/:id`, and the wall is a canvas element. No link equity, no ranking benefit. Bill it as visibility, not SEO.

### What if a client site gets evicted from the middle of my block?

Someone paid $2 for it and it's announced in the live feed. You can evict them back for $4, or take a nearby cell for $1. For a $1 square, that's the game rather than a crisis.

### Can I just put my studio on the wall and skip the clients?

Yes. One square, $1, your studio's favicon and URL, with the same click count, deed and analytics option.