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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Learning from LinkedIn and Drawing More Traffic

LinkedIn is known as one of the most highly trafficked networks for professionals. It is a useful tool that not only serves as an online resume,  but writers interested in networking with other professionals in the field can post or follow discussion threads on how other writers are making a living out of their profession.  Most people don't take full advantage out of using the GROUPS in the Interests tab section of LinkedIn (see top picture), but there is a wealth of information to help you succeed in your writing there. In addition to what I have learned from other writers who are successfully selling their independent work online, I also use LinkedIn groups to post discussion threads, answer or pose questions to other discussions that have already been posted, and it has helped me draw traffic to my blogs, Amazon web page, and social networks. The key to succeeding with LinkedIn, however, is consistency. Because I have other sites I also manage, in addition to my clients, and somehow have to squeeze in time for my personal writing creating eBooks to sell on Amazon, I try to check in, post, and respond to LinkedIn once a week. A note of caution, however, some people who jump into the whole social media bandwagon fall under the premise that if you build it, they will flock by the herds. Although I wish that was the case, social media is more of a grooming process that takes time to build credibility and relationships, and the more consistent you are about maintaining your sites and working towards making those connections and establishing those relationships, the better the success rate you will have at drawing an audience.

Setting up a LinkedIn account is user-friendly, but if you are new to the whole social media arena, then I suggest going to your local book store and buying the latest how-to book on how to use it. To the left is an example of a discussion thread I started and another writer answered. Hope you found this useful and all my best in jump-starting your writing career!

Just a small reminder, if you are a writer in progress, or simply need a little motivation to get those juices going, feel free to visit me on Facebook's "WritingJAX" page and read the ABOUT tab to see what is happening on that page Mon-Fri. If this is something that appeals to you, feel free to LIKE the page and visit again soon. Thanks for reading!






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