LinkedIn is one of the most popular social networking sites, particularly for business people and career-oriented people. It's also a great place to build relationships, share your content and expertise, and drive traffic to your blog. Following are 10 tips to increase the traffic to your blog using LinkedIn.
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How to Grow Your Blog Audience by Networking on LinkedIn[/caption]1. Create a Relevant Profile to Meet Your Goals
Your LinkedIn profile does not have to read like a chronological resume. On the contrary, your LinkedIn profile should be a place where you can lead with your strengths and present the most relevant information to help you reach your online goals first. If your goal for using LinkedIn is to increase traffic to your blog and establish yourself as an authoritative source for the type of information you publish on your blog, then make sure those are the kinds of credentials and experience that are presented first on your LinkedIn profile.
2. Find People to Connect With
Search for people you know and send them a connection request via LinkedIn. The more connections you have in your LinkedIn profile, the more people can see your LinkedIn status updates, make additional connection introductions for you, and so on. You can connect to people if you work (or have worked) at the same company, attended the same school, or if you know their email addresses. Even if you don't know someone, you can connect with them through LnkedIn by requesting an introduction from one of your existing connections who is directly connected to that person. It can get a bit confusing, but the important thing is to simply continue working on making new, relevant connections.
3. Give and Request Recommendations
One of the best parts about LinkedIn is the recommendations feature where you can write recommendations for the people you're connected to, and you can send requests asking them to write recommendations about you. Recommendations are published with your LinkedIn profile and act as endorsements of your work, abilities, and so on. They're a great way to establish your authority in your field or area of expertise. If those recommendations are related to your blog content or topic, then they can help build your reputation and drive traffic to your blog.
4. Ask and Answer Questions
The LinkedIn Answers feature is a gold mine for business people who are trying to learn new things or establish themselves as experts in their fields. Simply, log into your LinkedIn account, and visit the LinkedIn Answers page where you can answer questions that other people have already asked or ask your own.
5. Join Groups or Start Your Own
LinkedIn Groups are very active. Search existing groups and join those that are related to your blog and have audiences who would be likely to be interested in your blog content. Then join the conversation going on in that group and build relationships with other members. If there is not a group that fits your niche already on LinkedIn, start one!
6. Be Active
Once you create your LinkedIn profile, don't forget about it. In order for LinkedIn to be an effective tool to increase traffic to your blog, you need to actively participate by joining group discussions, answering questions, making recommendations, and so on. You also need to make sure your status is frequently updated. Be sure to take the time to link your blog feed to your LinkedIn status, which is easy to do from your LinkedIn account.
7. Share Your Best Blog Content Links
Make sure you spend time sharing links to your best, most helpful and useful blog content. This is particularly important to do in the groups related to your blog's topic. Don't inundate groups with your content links, but do demonstrate that you can truly add value to the conversation by sharing your amazing blog content.
8. Share Your LinkedIn Profile Link
Make sure you promote your LinkedIn profile in an effort to boost your connections. Include the link in your blog's sidebar, your email signature, and anywhere else you can.
9. Acknowledge Other LinkedIn Members
10. Use the Automated LinkedIn Features
Feed your blog updates into both your own LinkedIn profile as mentioned above and into the groups that you belong to (any group member can add an RSS feed to a group they belong to), so an update (with a link to your blog post) is posted to the group whenever you publish new blog content, leading to direct blog traffic. Also, sign up for automated email status updates to see what your connections are doing on LinkedIn each day. This can make it quick and easy to join relevant conversations and continually build relationships, which can indirectly lead to increased blog traffic.
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