LinkedIn.com is a specifically targeted social networking site that is geared towards connecting business professionals who share common interests. According to Nielsen online, LinkedIn, with just over 10 million users grew by 193% in 2008 with a median age of 35-49 year olds.
Recruiters and Human Resources professionals love to use LinkedIn to recruit prospective employees. It also boasts an international membership with about half of the members located outside of the United States.
Your goal with LinkedIn should be to establish yourself as a leader in your industry or niche, not to simply find a way to get traffic.
Make meaningful connections with customers and colleagues that you already have a working relationship with, and build outwards from there. When it comes to connecting with new people, it pays to tread lightly. The rules on LinkedIn suggest that people should only be connecting to people that they already know.
The focus really should be on developing relationships not on amassing a huge number of followers that you don't know. If your profile is robust and you come across as a knowledgeable authority on your topic, then you will become a resource, and people will begin to seek you out to make connections.
Be mindful of the fact that LinkedIn is focused on building professional networking relationships with business colleagues.
Everything that you post there will either build or diminish your professional credibility.
LinkedIn Answers provides the opportunity for you to display your knowledge on your web site's topic keywords. When you answer a question you can include a link to your blog in your answer.
Asking questions is another opportunity to share your link along with your expertise.
Here are a few tips for getting targeted traffic from LinkedIn:
- Fully complete your profile and include links to your blog or web site. Your profile is your first impression, so make it impress! You only get one chance for a first impression.
- Join groups in your industry or niche and participate in the discussions. You can post news articles in your groups containing a link back to your web site or blog.
- Use the status updates to inform your network about what you are working on, new projects that you are launching and upcoming events that would be of interest to them
- Edit your profile's headline, which is the line under your name to include your web site address.
Now when people are browsing through lists of profiles, your web site address will be visible and curious people will click on it to see what your web site is all about
LinkedIn is a site that is used by smart business professionals from around the world. Take the time to develop useful content to share, nurture your connections by providing recommendations for your colleagues, and participate in the conversations and you should see a steady uptick in traffic and leads from this powerful social networking site.
