Okay, people… we need to talk. Why didn’t anyone tell me about the awesome webby goodness that is LinkedIn? I knew a little about the platform and I thought I could skip it, but last week I learned just what a horrible mistake I’d made.
LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for webmasters. On Site-Reference, we’ve drilled the power of community-building into readers’ heads for months now. That’s because creating a network of like-minded peers in your niche is what will catapult your website to stardom – and deliver highly-targeted traffic directly to your homepage.
And guess what? LinkedIn can streamline that process.
What LinkedIn Can Do
LinkedIn allows you to build a niche network twenty times faster than you ever could manually. It’s different than Facebook or Twitter because it’s full of professionals and webmasters who are specifically looking to network. You can hunt down profiles of webmasters who have sites in your niche – no matter what your industry may be.
Here’s how. First, sign up for the service. Then, take some time to make your profile sing – add a professional photo of yourself, enter all your info, and make sure to link to your website, of course. Use your site’s keywords wherever you can, but make it look natural (translation: don’t force it). Set your LinkedIn profile to “public” so that people can check it out without needing a connection. You’re going for exposure here, so don’t close yourself off.
LinkedIn just updated the way you can craft your profile. In fact, Social Media Examiner recently published a great piece about updating your profile to incorporate the new features. Here’s a screenshot to illustrate what you should go for when you set yours up:
Next, you need to set up your baseline list of connections from your existing contacts. If you’ve been online for a while, you likely have relationships with fellow webmasters in your niche. Simply opt to import your contacts, and LinkedIn will do the rest. It’ll import your contacts from both your email and Microsoft Outlook. Then, search for others you know who aren’t in your contact list and send a manual connection request.
Now for the fun part. Use the Find People search tool and enter your niche’s main keywords. You can even tailor your search to your particular industry. Check out the connections of those you find, and begin reaching out and expanding your network from there.
The Next Steps
If you really want to step up your LinkedIn game, use the LinkedIn Answers section to position yourself as an expert in your field. The format is similar to Yahoo answers, only these askers happen to be highly-targeted peers in your industry (bonus!). If you begin answering questions with rich, detailed responses, you’ll quickly garner a reputation as a true knowledge-builder in your area of expertise.
Plus, if you answer enough questions over time, LinkedIn may list you as an expert in a category on the home page! The exposure would exponentially build your credibility (and, of course, your connection list).
Here’s another great way you can use LinkedIn Answers: peruse questions in your category of interest, keeping an eye out for themes that repeat themselves over time. That’s an indicator of a common problem faced by those in your niche – and it makes for a fantastic content idea swipe file for your website or blog.
Community-Building with LinkedIn
Once you’ve built a respectable list of connections, it’s time to leverage their power. First, seek our groups in your niche and join them. You can join up to 50 with a free account, and more if you spring for the paid version. Use the Groups You May Like feature to view LinkedIn’s personalized suggestions for you based upon the info you’ve provided in your profile.
Once you’ve joined a group, jump in on conversations and help out your peers. Build a reputation. If your group has enabled the News feature, you can create a feed that will spit out updates for the group every time you publish a new post. That’s automatic exposure: posts delivered directly to webmasters of sites that perfectly match your own.
Think about the power of that feature alone!
Talk about linkbait! Your fellow webmasters will have a never-ending supply of posts to potentially feature or link to on their own websites and blogs. If you’re an active, helpful, highly knowledgeable member of your group, chances are, they will. Make sure you lift up your peers as well – publish regular “roundup” posts that feature a collection of new content from other members of your group. This will encourage them to return the favor.
So, wow – I learned quite a bit about LinkedIn for building my niche community this week! And I thought it was nothing but a social network for people looking to quit their jobs. Now I’ve jumped in with both feet, and I can’t wait to learn more.
How about you? Have you expanded your own niche using the power of LinkedIn? Give this newbie some pointers in the comments below!