6 Ways to Drive more Website Traffic from LinkedIn

[Jon_Rivers]

Maximize your Social FootprintIt shocks me every day the number companies that still haven’t embraced the power of social networks and/or don’t fully utilize them. Ask a skeptic why they don’t use social and I am sure one the following reasons will come into the conversation somewhere:

“We just don't see the ROI of social media”

“We don't have the time”

“We don't feel that our consumers are on social media”

Let’s talk ROI as I know I hear that one a lot. It is true that is becoming more and more challenging making sure you are getting ROI from all the effort you are putting in. But the bigger question is you must define what is the ROI you are looking from your social presence, is it better brand awareness, more followers, more leads, more website traffic or something else. Defining what you ROI goal(s) is key to make sure social is successful for you.

But let’s say our ROI is to drive more website traffic which I often think is an area that companies overlook as a reason why they should be using social networks. It still amazes me the amount of traffic that is driven by Marketing Monarchs various social networks plus we notice it when we stop and start campaigns as the traffic drops off and restarts when restart new campaigns. One social network that always seems to standout for us is LinkedIn which I believe is still overlooked today by many companies and business leaders when it comes to driving B2B website traffic.

I must admit I was an early adopter of LinkedIn and have grown with the platform as it has grown as well but along the way I have tried and tested the various features to see how they affect website traffic.

Before I jump in to my “6 Ways to Drive more Website Traffic from LinkedIn” let me remind you not, LinkedIn is filled with many professionals and decision makers that could be your next customer so apart from increasing your website traffic you will be increase your brand awareness as well on LinkedIn. Also, let me share some impressive statistics over the last 6-months, I have seen over 50% of my traffic driven to my site because of social network activity! Here are my 6 Ways to Drive more Website Traffic from LinkedIn:

Profile – Top the of the list is your profile. The trouble with this is, still too many people overlook the importance of having a complete profile. And I see it daily because I every time I get a new invitation from someone asking to connect to me on LinkedIn

I must say I see a lot of incomplete profiles, as I get a high volume of invitations to connect on LinkedIn and I will review every single one before I will even except the invitation. If they are not completed to my liking I will not connect. So, make sure to complete your profile 100% with a high-quality image and that the profile shows the company value proposition.

But most importantly, don’t forget to include your website link on your profile page.

Connections – I understand everyone one has their own views on how they want to grow their connections. Maybe you only want to connect to people you personally meet whereas maybe you’re more of an open connector like I am where I have built a valuable targeted audience on LinkedIn. The bottom line is the smaller your connections list is, then the less amount of traffic you will drive to your website. Why, well it simple it’s a number and quality of connections game where the more first degree focused connections you have the better chances you have of them seeing the updates and actions you make on LinkedIn.

Company Page – Like your personal profile make sure that your company profile is completed, updated and showcasing what you do as a company today. I say today because may companies do not go back in and make sure to update their social network profiles on a regular basis. Another area that is import is getting as many of your key staff on LinkedIn and connected to Company page as well so people can see those people when they evaluate you. And lastly, don’t forget to

Articles – My secret weapon when it comes to driving more traffic to your website is publishing articles on the LinkedIn platform. I have two approaches I like to take, 1) When I have a new blog for example like this one is that I will write a tease piece and publish it on LinkedIn and then add a link to read the full article thus driving the reading to the website 2) Now in some cases I will publish the whole article but when I do I make the article has link within it that drive the reader back to the website. The added value to not only driving website traffic if you write the correct type of articles it will show your domain expertize. Another value added is that your connections could see these articles which turns gives them the opportunity of course to click to your website but more value share, like and/or comment on your article which means their connections will see the article which means the possibility of more website traffic. Now you see why this my secret weapon on LinkedIn?

Share Content – When you don’t have your own content to publish make sure to share blogs and other content that your company is creating to your status up date. Also, make sure that whoever is owning the management of your LinkedIn Company page they are updating that on regular basis. People do like to see content frequently of course only if its relevant to them, so make you are pushing the right content. By checking your “All Activity” under the Views of your article on your main LinkedIn Page you can get could feel for what is engaging you audience or not. 

Groups – Not to be left out LinkedIn groups are also a very valuable place to share with other members your articles, posts, answer questions and links not only to gain more traffic of course, but also it will help assist you establishing yourself as the domain expert in your industry. Now remember to make sure you don’t over spam the groups as that can very quickly go against you. Likewise, don’t make it a sales conversation make it more educational and only give links where relevant as people can find the links on your profile to your website if they need because you added it to your profile right?

Now if a group doesn’t exist around a topic then create the group, be the leader of the pack. I have done that on many of occasions and have built some successful groups.

You have heard my top 6 Ways to Drive more Website Traffic from LinkedIn that I live by and build into many of the social strategies for my clients.

Do you have any successful stories that have driven more Website Traffic from LinkedIn that you would like to share?

Jon Rivers

[PerWerngren · Accepted solution]

Well written Jon! Clever content driven digital marketing is the modern way to go!

[Jon_Rivers]

Thank you Per. As I pointed out in the article I believe LinkedIn for many is so under utilized.

[Anonymous]

Love this! We are big believers of LinkedIn here at Palmetto Technology Group.  I especially love the tip on articles - something I am trying to get better at with my social selling efforts. 

A tip that I've used to help with some of my Twitter content that could be used with LinkedIn is this: I use the Feedly app on iOS to subscribe to content that I find interesting.  When I have a few minutes to spare, I will scan through Feedly for interesting content.  Anything that I find interesting I will push to a Wunderlist called "Content Ideas".  Once a week I will scan through that list to help fill up my Buffer feed for Twitter.  I am going to try to use this method to prime the pump on creating some LinkedIn content and articles as well. 

[Jon_Rivers]

That is a great tip for twitter and I would recommend you take that apply the same principles to LinkedIn as well. I also have feedly as well as other alerts alerting me on content that might interest me. So when I do find content that peaks my interest I will then decide to share across my social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter. And then of course that content might also trigger me to go off and write my own piece of content that I will publish as well as you need to balance out what is curated and what you create.

Thank you for sharing and let me know once you start updating LinkedIn with content how your traffic changes over time.

Jon.