LinkedIn Articles

[Carl Nixon]

I'm experimenting with publishing articles on LinkedIn's Pulse platform and I'm starting to see some signs of a return on my investment of time.

At the moment I'm playing around with different formats (quick tips, top 10 lists, infographics etc) to see which works best. (Top 10's are working really well).

The trouble I'm having is getting people from the LinkedIn article to my website. I don't really want to go down the route of turning my articles in to full on advertorials so I have just been using small bio's at the bottom of the article. So far the conversion rate is just under 1%.

How do I get this conversion rate up? What do other people do to convert articles in to site visitors?

[Business Attorney]

Is the link in the bio just a bare link or is there a call to action (e.g. "if you are interested in how a robust spreadsheet can help you monitor your business and plan for the future, visit ...")?

[Harold Mansfield]

Here's the thing about Linked In articles and content marketing in general; People consume information and are always looking for free tips or to just stay updated on the latest..whatever. However, if you're posting full articles on Linked In they have no reason to go to your website.

We're at a stage where people are getting tired of clicking through to websites because the ads are so overwhelming these days. If they can get the info without being bombarded, they will. And most times they don't care about you, they just want the free info. This is a huge issue right now and it's not just you, major publishers are taking a hit too.

Everyone on Linked In who posts articles is trying to get people to their website. It's non-stop, all day, every day. People are numb to it. So the question is the same question that people have been asking for years, "How do I rise above the noise and establish myself as an expert in my field and build a following of loyal readers, or get people to see my stuff?".

I say that you're thinking too shallow. You're going for drive by hits. Post an article to try and attract website traffic and then hope that a percentage of that traffic turns into some kind of business. That's what everyone is hacking wildly at, and it doesn't work.

You need to play the long game. Try using your articles to attract people to sign up to your newsletter or be return readers and as you build your list start subtly selling to those people as part of the exclusive info that you're giving them. Put some real effort into building a very nice, and informative newsletter program or awesome looking blog with NO ADS other than your own promotions. Don't just plop a sign up box in a sidebar and hope for the best.

The way you're doing it (and everyone else) is that you're trying to sell them drinks on the street with everyone else who is selling drinks on the street, instead of trying to get them in the door so that they can sit down, enjoy the atmosphere, and get in the mood to buy multiple drinks, and be return customers.

But the bottom line is, merely posting articles on Linked In isn't a well thought out marketing strategy. It can be a part of one, but you can't put every egg in that basket alone and expect to see any measurable results.

[veritasvisions]

Here's the thing about Linked In articles and content marketing in general; People consume information and are always looking for free tips or to just stay updated on the latest..whatever. However, if you're posting full articles on Linked In they have no reason to go to your website.

We're at a stage where people are getting tired of clicking through to websites because the ads are so overwhelming these days. If they can get the info without being bombarded, they will. And most times they don't care about you, they just want the free info. This is a huge issue right now and it's not just you, major publishers are taking a hit too.

Everyone on Linked In who posts articles is trying to get people to their website. It's non-stop, all day, every day. People are numb to it. So the question is the same question that people have been asking for years, "How do I rise above the noise and establish myself as an expert in my field and build a following of loyal readers, or get people to see my stuff?".

I say that you're thinking too shallow. You're going for drive by hits. Post an article to try and attract website traffic and then hope that a percentage of that traffic turns into some kind of business. That's what everyone is hacking wildly at, and it doesn't work.

You need to play the long game. Try using your articles to attract people to sign up to your newsletter or be return readers and as you build your list start subtly selling to those people as part of the exclusive info that you're giving them. Put some real effort into building a very nice, and informative newsletter program or awesome looking blog with NO ADS other than your own promotions. Don't just plop a sign up box in a sidebar and hope for the best.

The way you're doing it (and everyone else) is that you're trying to sell them drinks on the street with everyone else who is selling drinks on the street, instead of trying to get them in the door so that they can sit down, enjoy the atmosphere, and get in the mood to buy multiple drinks, and be return customers.

But the bottom line is, merely posting articles on Linked In isn't a well thought out marketing strategy. It can be a part of one, but you can't put every egg in that basket alone and expect to see any measurable results.

I agree with this post completely. There is no such thing as immediate results when it comes to content marketing but the results are MASSIVE if you do it right. And the long term effect is tremendous too. Keep writing REALLY HIGH QUALITY CONTENT consistently and add people to your email list or use a small offer to get them as a client from the get go. In one of my articles on linked in ( https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shocking-ways-turn-content-marketing-happy-profits-frank-aziz?trk=prof-post ), I added a picture with a link to a landing page that i set up with LeadPages Software - mobile responsive landing page generator (http://leadpages.net). If you do that consistently, you will start to get a bunch of people added to your email list. When i write a really high quality artilce, my conversion rate is about 2%. So for every 100 views, I'll get 2 people to join my email list. If one of your articles goes viral with 20,000+ views, you'll get a high number of emails to join your list which will turn into sales down the line.

[Carl Nixon]

Thanks everyone for all the input.

While understanding the need to drive people towards email sign ups, I have not had a lot of luck with emails. My clients tend to be upper managers and people at board level, and they seem to hate email newsletters etc. Yet, these are the same people who "like" and share my Pulse articles. Perhaps the email side of things is where I should be looking first rather than the articles.

[Harold Mansfield]

Thanks everyone for all the input.

While understanding the need to drive people towards email sign ups, I have not had a lot of luck with emails. My clients tend to be upper managers and people at board level, and they seem to hate email newsletters etc. Yet, these are the same people who "like" and share my Pulse articles. Perhaps the email side of things is where I should be looking first rather than the articles.

If you give them something that they can't find anywhere else, presented well, and that is helpful to them they'll go the extra mile to keep getting your stuff.
Truthfully no one "likes" signing up for stuff. Our time and attention is limited. But if it's good enough and helps us, we'll sign up. But the bar is high.

The key is to build a following. However or whatever works best for you. Don't just rely on drive by posting and hope to get lucky.

[Carl Nixon]

It is the "drive bit" that worries me at the moment.

The most successful articles I have had have been the more light hearted sort of articles. The top ten most expensive spreadsheet mistakes was very popular, as was one I did this week on the way Fox News manipulate charts and data to hide the truth. This is the Fox News article https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dodgy-charts-liars-carl-nixon?trk=prof-post

The trouble is that finding light hearted stories about spreadsheets that also contain a relevant business message is very difficult. So I keep gravitating back towards very boring "how to" articles. Finding the right mix is going to take time, but it is achievable.

So far the same group of people seem to be commenting on the articles so they seem to be following them or looking for them.

[99social]

As Harold said, don't give everything away for free. Keep writing high-quality content with a call to action, as you wrap your article up. If people feel that they can really benefit from what you are sharing, they'll sign up. Don't rely just on that forum to push traffic to your site. You can easily cross post that article across a couple platforms that will help reach more potential visitors - Twitter, Facebook - and help to further demonstrate your value.

You could really benefit from targeting Facebook ads and a well put-together campaign. Something to think about.

[SZ Alliance]

To promote your business, you dont just need to write articles. There are plenty of other uses for LinkedIn for example:

inkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are free to set up. However, before starting your own group, we recommend that you look for an existing group on your topic. Recruiting group members is difficult and if someone has already done it for you, why not leverage  those efforts?

Polls

LinkedIn Polls are another free tool. You can ask a question and supply up to five multiple choice answers. LinkedIn gives you a URL to the poll as well as an embed code for your blog or website. (An embed code allows you to put the asset from LinkedIn on your web page. Embed codes are also how people put YouTube videos on their websites or blogs.) You can create a string of poll questions, perhaps one per week, to create a small survey.

Events

LinkedIn Events is a free place to promote your event. Once you set up the event on LinkedIn, people can find it through search and indicate if they will attend or follow the event. If a person is attending your event, it will show up in their activity stream so that everyone following that person is now exposed to the event.

InMail

LinkedIn InMail is a for fee service. Normally you must be “connected” to a person to send them a message. InMail allows you to bypass that restriction. You will work with the LinkedIn team to select recipients by title, group, location, etc. An InMail comes from a person, so pick a subject matter expert as the sender.