By using LinkedIn marketing, you can drive large amounts of traffic to your Web site/blog by leveraging the various discussion groups within the system.  If you don’t have a Web site or blog, be sure to check out my free Web Design Tutorial which will help you build your own professional looking site.

This article will help you  understand the steps necessary to get stated with LinkedIn marketing and start driving additional traffic to your site.

For those of you who don’t know, LinkedIn is a network where over 120 million professionals exchange information, ideas, and opportunities.  LinkedIn is one of the largest social media sites on the Internet today and most people don’t even know that it is possible to create a LinkedIn Marketing plan that will drive traffic.  By using the discussion groups within this professional community, you will be able to create your own LinkedIn Marketing strategy that will produce results, guaranteed!

LinkedIn Marketing Keys To Success

1.  If you haven’t already created an account, please do so right away.  You may sign up for a free LinkedIn account my clicking HERE.

2.  Now it is time to create your profile.  Follow the step-by-step instructions that LinkedIn outlines to create your profile.  Be sure to take your time doing this and provide as much detailed information about yourself as possible.

Also, be sure to add your other online media outlets such as your blog, company Web site, twitter account, Facebook page, etc.  You want to be sure that the people visiting your profile page will click through to your other outlets.  This is the main reason we are putting together this LinkedIn marketing tool set.

Add a profile picture that is the same as your other profiles such as Twitter and Facebook.  Having a consistent profile picture creates a consistent brand and makes it easy for people to remember you.

3.  After you have created your profile, start adding as many connections as possible.  Connections are people who you have done business with before or who you are acquainted with.  Think about the people who you have done business with in the past or have worked with on various projects and would be willing to write a recommendation for you.  Add them!  Having recommendations on your profile will add credibility which in turn will improve your overall LinkedIn marketing success.

4.  O.K., now you have completed your profile and added some connections.  We are now ready to ask for some recommendations.  This is one of the steps that the system will prompt you to do so that you can create your profile.  Now is the time to go through your list of connections and ask for recommendations.  Be sure to pick people who are definitely going to help promote your overall LinkedIn Marketing plan!  Another good way of receiving recommendations is to write a recommendation for one of your connections and the system will automatically prompt them to write a recommendation for you.  This may be the way to go if you are too shy to ask for a recommendation outright.  Keep in mind that these are very powerful and they will show up in your profile which will positively build up your LinkedIn marketing mojo!

Now, The Important LinkedIn Marketing Steps – Pay Attention

5.  Now it is time to start joining discussion groups.  Discussion groups are simply forums that members of LinkedIn have created.  You can think of these as an online forum for a certain topic.  Find the tab at the top of the page that reads “Groups” and click it.  Once you do this, you will see a search box in the menu bar which will allow you to search various groups.  Go ahead and type in the subject of the business that you are involved in.  More than likely a group will appear that is related to your search.  Go ahead and join the group and if you find more than one that fits your business model, join the others as well.  The next step is the most important LinkedIn marketing step out of the bunch.

6.  The LinkedIn groups is where the magic is going to happen.  You will notice when you look inside one of the groups that you joined, you can comment on any of the active discussions.  I suggest that you visit your groups daily and join in on the discussion of a topic within your chosen area.

Try to drop links back to articles or resources on your Web site or blog when you have the opportunity as this will spur readers to visit your site.  Be very careful doing this because you don’t want to come off as a spammer.  If you don’t have a worthy link, don’t drop a link just for the heck of it.

Another LinkedIn marketing strategy is to create your own discussion within a group by referring the readers to a link on your Web site/blog of an article that you just wrote.  In the summary of the discussion before placing your link, leave your post open ended with some sort of question regarding your new web post to get the group members talking about it.

Do not try to sell something in your discussion posts, nobody will want to read it and your reputation will go down the drain in a hurry.  Provide valuable information and insight into the topics discussed in the groups. Be yourself and your LinkedIn marketing will get better as each genuine word is typed!

This step is the most important step in building your LinkedIn Marketing arsenal.  The more you can actively participate in discussions relating to your business, the more traffic you are going to push to your site.  This might sound like a lot of hard work but it is well worth it and your LinkedIn marketing success depends on it.

7.  The last step that I want to outline is for you to create your own group if there is an opportunity.  The great thing about this is that you will be the group moderator in charge of the entire group.  You will also have easy access to contact everyone on a regular basis.  Take your time in deciding what you want the group to be about and try to find a niche that isn’t already taken within the discussion groups.  Lastly, devote time to keeping the group active.  If your group is good, you may be able to attract thousands of members which will definitely help your LinkedIn marketing rank.

LinkedIn Marketing Summary Sentence

Join LinkedIn groups and share your genuine thoughts and ideas on your business related topics and link back to your site whenever possible.  

I hope that you have found this article useful.  If you have anything to add, feel free to post in the comments.

Best of luck on your LinkedIn Marketing journey!