0 Use Linkedin to promote your blog

Although it has been around for nine years, LinkedIn has picked up steam lately as yet another social media outlet that can assist businesses in promoting themselves and finding new customers.
SEO expert Ali Husayni, founder of Master Google, said there are ways in which the social media outlet can help businesses gain customers.

LinkedIn- A Brief History

First, a bit about LinkedIn. Created in 2002 and officially launched in May 2003, it is the world’s largest professional network, according to the LinkedIn website.
LinkedIn is sometimes referred to unofficially as “Facebook for professionals.” As of March 2011, it had more than 100 million users who are located in 200 countries. LinkIn users conducted nearly two billion people searches last year.

Gaining Clients Via LinkedIn

“When you have an outlet with so many users, you have an opportunity to gain clients,” Husayni said. “Add to that the fact that it appears LinkedIn is becoming increasingly savvy regarding SEO for its users and the effect on Google ranking, and as an SEO expert, suddenly you have my attention.”
Randy Schrum with My Corporate Media, a social media solutions company, shared information in a recent webinar on tips to jumpstart a LinkedIn presence for individuals.
Schrum recommends using a professional photo as your profile picture. It also is important to complete your social profile by including an engaging headline that explains to people how you can help. Include keywords in this headline.




Husayni said businesses and professionals such as dentists, orthodontists, Realtors and attorneys could use these same methods to promote the services they offer. It appears to Husayni that the developers at LinkedIn clearly understand the power of search, and are seeking to increase that power on LinkedIn.
“I believe that is the reason why they recently added a new section in which users can enter information about their skills and assets,” Husayni says.

This new section allows users to highlight those things that separate them from the pack, so to speak. Users can enter languages they speak, patents, certifications and publications. Businesses can use this section to enter the types of services offered, because LinkedIn enables users to search companies by attributes, descriptions and more. Spotlighting these items moves personal and business profiles up in search queries, according to information posted on the LinkedIn website.

“Entering keywords into your profile information is like a mini do-it-yourself search engine optimization campaign,” Husayni says. “This has the potential to help businesses and professionals attract clients when potential clients conduct searches on the site.”
When optimizing a profile on LinkedIn, the person with the most keywords wins, Schrum said in the webinar. For example, a Realtor in Seattle who wants to be first on search results for “Seattle Realtor” simply needs to look at the profile that appears first in that search result, see how many times that phrase is used in their profile, and use it more times than that person.

Why Bother?

“Why not?” Husayni questioned. “Why not use all of the tools at your disposal?”
For business owners who are interested in SEO, it is important to note that profile information on LinkedIn can be fully indexed on Google, which can help a business improve its Google ranking. To take full advantage of this, make sure your profile is fully public, according to an article posted on 10slate.com.
“This is another outlet in which you can use targeted keywords to make sure your page contains words that people are actually searching,” said Husayni, a top SEO expert. “For our SEO clients, this is another avenue where our keyword research for their businesses can be applied.”