7 Ways to Drive Traffic from LinkedIn to Your Website LinkedIn is perhaps the premier networking platform for professionals and business owners, but there are great ways to make it pay additional dividends.
By Ross Jenkins Edited by Matt Scanlon
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Currently, LinkedIn has 740 million members worldwide, and almost 65 million in the U.S. alone. According to a 2015 Recruiter Nation survey, a stunning 87% of recruiters use it to look for new talent, so clearly, this is a platform that offers members vast access and visibility. As a business owner, it offers additional opportunities.
For online enterprises, success is about increasing website traffic and conversions, but what are the best ways of boosting user attention amidst all the noise? One method that relatively few industry pros know is via LinkedIn, which can be a great pathway to increased traffic. But how?
1. Create a profile that attracts
An engaging LinkedIn profile is a pivotal first consideration, but you actually don't need to do anything terribly complex in order to draw attention. You do, however, need to cover the basics. In general, a winning profile contains a clean and presentable headshot, a brief introduction of what you do and a concise and straight-to-the-point history of work experience. Additionally, the more organized and professional a profile is, the more credible it appears to a target audience.
2. Acquire more connections
Another way to boost website traffic from your profile is by creating more connections, specifically the first-degree variety (people you choose to accept as a connection or friend). Having more doesn't just expand your network on the platform, but it also increases the chances of driving people to your website. How so? The higher the number, the more likely it is that other users will see you on their list of "most viewed connections", and it also broadens your reach on the platform. Not only will users be more likely to visit your website, but the number potentially clicking on that link will be higher as well.
The goal should be to start with at least 500 first-degree connections, then continue building from there by personalizing connection requests, exploring various LinkedIn groups and engaging more with your current network of connections.
Related: 5 Critical Website-Traffic Metrics You Should Know
3. Join relevant groups
Another way you can drive traffic from your LinkedIn profile is by joining relevant groups. Not only can you use these to build and gain more connections, you can also post your content there to entice target audiences to visit your site and so gain access to more content. Joining groups is also, of course, an excellent way to find like-minded individuals in an industry and connect with them, which can additionally boost traffic. (Some groups sport more than 500,000 members, and so can come in very handy for this purpose.)
4. Create a group
In addition to joining groups, you can also create your own — the advantages of which include establishing yourself as an expert in an industry; the more people who join your group, the broader your reach (and so driven traffic) will be. You can also send members messages with resources or articles from your website that can be helpful to them, thereby further solidifying your reputation as an expert. If they share the link with others in the industry, traffic benefits will further amplify.
Keep in mind that managing your own LinkedIn group comes with responsibilities, such as constantly engaging with an audience. You can do this by regularly posting content, asking questions and commenting on posts.
Related: How to Maximize Your Impact on LinkedIn: 3 Tips from a LinkedIn Product Manager
5. Make frequent updates
LinkedIn is similar to popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter: Although it has a slightly different target audience, one shared principle is that if driving more traffic is the goal, you need to offer an audience a steady stream of engaging content. Sharing new content (perhaps including images, videos and other striking elements) at least once a day can effectively keep an audience's attention and entice them to visit your site for more. Make sure, however, that you avoid oversharing (meaning sharing too much and too often) or spamming, because this can have the opposite effect. Keep your updates engaging and relevant, and make sure to post at a reasonable rate.
6. Create engaging headlines for links
Another proven traffic driver is including engaging titles for links that pique curiosity and interest. For example, instead of a link simply called "My Blog," consider something like "Boost Your Page Rankings with These X Tips" or "Top X Ways to Increase Your Website's Traffic". Titles should be simple and concise, appeal to what a target audience is looking for, and should effectively summarize what they will get by clicking.
Related: LinkedIn is already a $ 10 billion a year business for Microsoft
7. Add an RSS feed
Did you know that you can also display your blog's latest posts on LinkedIn, and add integrations to a profile to improve its overall functionality? One great improvement is the addition of a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed that displays the last couple of posts you published on your website's blog. You can do this through the "Applications" section of your profile, then by selecting the application of your choice in "Add an Application", then copy-pasting a website's blog URL in the relevant field. Once that's done, you can display a site's latest blog posts on your LinkedIn profile. Not only will this add to the overall look of the profile, but also give extra motivation for an audience to check out your site.
