By Michele Scism
The Results Lady
Are you getting the traffic you want from your social media efforts? How about LinkedIn in particular?
I am so excited about the traffic results that I have been getting from LinkedIn and I wanted to share with you what I have been doing.
I have to admit that I have been really struggling to figure out how to use LinkedIn to promote my business. Then recently I listened to a class on blogging that Carrie Wilkerson, The Barefoot Executive and Barry Chandler from BarBlogger.com held and got this idea.
How I am using groups to drive traffic!
Yes, I have had my blog attached to LinkedIn but that only pulls it into my personal profile and for a moment in time it shows on the updates list but then it is just sitting there. What I learned from Barry was to start posting my blog entries to the groups I am a member of.
What does this accomplish? Several things.
Every day each group sends out an email that shows the activity in the group for that day. Every time you post a new discussion (your blog post) you are added to the email for that day.
If your discussion (blog post) is the most active thing of the day then your name is included in the subject line of the email. Within the first week of me doing this I was in the subject line of 4 of the groups I am a member of.
Due to the sheer numbers of people seeing my posts the traffic to my website has risen drastically. I started using the tactic on July 2, 2010 – in the 10 days since then I have had as many unique visitors to my site as I had in the first 22 days of last month.
My Alexa.com ranking for my website has improved by 25% in the past 10 days as well.
OK, seems simple right? All you have to do is go to a group that you are a member of and click on the “attach a link” button under discussions and enter the URL for your blog post.
So what's next? It is time for me to start answering questions in LinkedIn related to my main keywords. I will let you know how that goes.
Would you like to share what you are doing to drive traffic using LinkedIn? Please leave me a message below!
Michele, These are wonderful tips. I joined LinkedIn over a year ago but haven’t done much with it as I’ve not taken the time to learn all the different ways it can benefit my business, even though I’m a member of several groups. I will apply the recommendations given and give you a feedback in a few days. Thank you.
Yvonne
Hi Yvonne – Thank you so much for commenting. I can’t wait to see what happens to your blog. Be sure to let me know. Michele
Hey – Yvonne made it over here! Hooray!
I was talking to her today, Michele, and so she went to her Linkedin account and found you as a fellow member of a group there. She came across your post and I then I said …
It’s a MUST READ!!
This is excellent and very beneficial information.
Thank You!
Melanie
Thank you so much Barry. Your class was really helpful and packed with great tips but I have to say this one has really worked well for me. Thanks again, Michele
Well that sounds pretty simple. What a great idea! I will try it out.
Michele,
I think this is brilliant. 9Why didn’t I think of this? lol)
Love it and shared it everywhere.
Elaine
Thank you Elaine, I am so excited that you liked it. It is really working for me and I know it can do a lot for you as well. Thanks, Michele
@Michelle Thank you SOOOO much. I have two blogs and have been wondering how to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to my blog. What you said makes total sense. I can’t wait to see what happens!
Hi there
This is a great idea. I will definitely try it – thank you.
I am wondering if there is a way to automate this process through LinkedIn ?
Amanda
Hey Amanda, There actually was an easier way to do it – one where you could post to all your groups in one entry. However, recently LInkedIn changed the way you post to groups and the ability to post to all at once went away. But as soon as something comes up, changes or I figure out how to automate I will gladly let you know. If you figure it out please let me know. Thanks, Michele
Hi Michele
I have not been as active as I should be on LinkedIn. Great advice and tips on how to drive more traffic to one’s blog/website. Congratulations on moving up Alexa ranking. Thank You.
Regards,
Jane
Hey Jane – I know how you feel girl. It is not like Facebook or Twitter which are more open. The great thing about it is though that your efforts are more targeted which should bring you better results. Thanks, Michele
Hi Laurie – Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. LinkedIn is a very confusing tool for so many – including me. This really works and naturally starts those conversations we want to have on LinkedIn. Thanks, Michele
Excellent information on driving traffic to your blog via LinkedIn. Most groups welcome outstanding information that we post on our blogs. I did have a situation recently where one member of a group I belonged to told me this was very self promoting. My solution, get out of the group.
The funny part was that i was mentioning another expert’s information in my post and that’s what he considered too self promoting.
Besides this isolated incident I have never had a problem posting a permalink to one of my postings.
Thanks for your great tips.
Hey Kathleen – LOL – Sounds like they really were just looking for something to complain about. Thanks so much for commenting. Glad you like it. Michele
Michelle
I love your tip. I am a member of several groups but have not used this strategy. I was afraid it was considered spam. I tried it the other day. Did you know that when you post on your status you can then hit the share button and add all of your groups? It saves lots of time.
What are your suggestions for asking for connections? For instance If I am looking for small business owners how would I get that information to my current connections?
Well Julia – You rock!! LOL Sometimes something so easy is just staring us in the face. I didn’t even think about doing it that way.
So are you asking how you could add small business owners to your connections list? I really like to find them in groups – it is really easy to see the members list and it tells you what their position is. Another way would be to do an advanced search with the keywords you use. Although it does work easier if you have a group in common. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for commenting,
Michele
Fabulous comment Beth! I really appreciate you expanding on the discussion about working with the groups – it is so important that your post be informative, non self promoting and applicable to the audience. Also the post was about creating discussions but it is so important to also participate by commenting on others posts. Several times a week I find 2 or 3 discussions to comment on. Thanks again for a great comment.
Michele
Or you could add/use a LinkedIn share button on your blog. I use mine to send my blog posts to my groups, all in one go!
And you might also consider “pinging” your blog posts to all your networks (with a Ping share button). Time and effort saving!
Great Oma – Excellent points. Thanks, Michele