7 New Strategies for Promoting Your Blog

posted on January 19, 2022

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Even though blogging is not a new trend, its popularity is rapidly growing. It is almost a requirement to have a blog on your website. It is a free source of information, and people love it. However, since the number of blogs reached 570 million, it is getting more difficult to advertise and stay ahead of the competition. With that in mind, it is essential to look at new strategies for promoting your blog. Here are our top 7 suggestions!

1. Use the Power of Videos

Reading a wall of text can sometimes be boring, especially if it’s not the first article the customer reads that day. Longer pieces can take a lot of time to process, especially if they are filled with important information. One of the strategies that will substantially improve your blog is turning content into videos and posting them on a YouTube account.

New businesses need blogs with videos because they save time for your readers. Instead of reading for 10-15 minutes, they can put on their earphones and listen to your content while doing something else. Furthermore, a video is more engaging and interesting than an article.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

2. Upgrade Your Old Content

If we look at how blogs function, it is virtually impossible that all of your content will be evergreen. Some articles will go out of date because everything constantly changes.

A good approach would be to update your old articles with new information. If someone opens an article from 2018, they will not close it and look for something more recent.

A clever way to do this is to create a redirect link to a newer post at the top of your old one. This will show your customers that you care about every piece of information on your blog. Still, have in mind that one of the reasons for not receiving traffic on your blog is posting duplicate content. This strategy could be treated as such. When doing this, you need to clarify that the new post is better and more valuable than the old one.

3. Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn is most definitely the largest professional network today. With over 750 million users, it represents a source of valuable business connections. It should be, by far, your best social media platform for blog advertising.

One of the reasons LinkedIn is so much better than the rest is that people who use it are always on the lookout for new information. Your posts will gain visibility much quicker than on other platforms.

4. Guest Posting

Guest posting is one of the older strategies that still work. Finding professional writers to write for your blog is an excellent way to build a network of valuable connections. Furthermore, you can also get a lot of quality content.

Just how other people can write for your blog, you can write for others. If you have a niche where you excel, use that to your benefit. Create content for other blogs, and advertise your blog with their permission.

5. Focus on Data-Driven Content

The process of content creation has completely changed over the past 10 to 15 years. Customers are the driving force and the source of all the information. Data-driven content is created by doing customer surveys and polls and collecting valuable information about their shopping habits, demographics, requirements, and so on.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

The main goal of data-driven content is to create returning customers. This is what your blog should consist of. Each piece of information you create should have a purpose.

6. A Simple Newsletter Still Works

Once you start producing high-quality, data-driven content, the best way to let your readers know about it is through a newsletter. People still use emails, and they are needed everywhere.

Work on the design, make it simple and get straight to the point. People don’t have time to waste. That means you need to quickly grab their attention.

7. Speak to the Customers In-Person

This might be a bit more difficult to accomplish, but it can drive great results. Speaking at events or running a podcast is an excellent way to connect with your customers on a personal level. You can share the information directly and give a face and a personality to your blog.

Unfortunately, blogs may feel like spam websites because there are millions of them. You need a wild card to help you stand out in the crowd.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Starting with a podcast is a good approach. You can find guest speakers, lead interesting conversations, and even include audience calls. In this age, when information is the most valuable asset, we need to find engaging and interactive ways to share it.

A Few Blogging Tips to Have In Mind

Here are a couple of bonus tips to help improve your blog. Look at these as best practices for quickly grabbing readers’ attention:

  • You need a powerful title. A title represents about 90% of the first impression.
  • Get straight to the point. Do not waste your readers’ time by talking about unnecessary topics.
  • Avoid creating walls of text. A well-placed image will break the boredom of an article and bring some color and personality to it.
  • Carefully choose the images you will use. Even though many blogs resort to free commercial photos, custom images are always a better option.

If you follow these simple steps, your content will advertise the blog for you. People want quality, and they will gladly spend their time on your blog if they get something valuable in return.

Use New Strategies for Promoting Your Blog and Connect

Hopefully, now you know what it takes to successfully advertise your blog. However, remember that these new strategies for promoting your blog will not bring results unless you know who your readers are. Research your readers, and learn about them as much as possible. Let this be your key takeaway for today! Once you get that done, everything else will be a lot easier. Best of luck!

The post 7 New Strategies for Promoting Your Blog appeared first on SiteProNews.

Elevate Your LinkedIn Profile to Promote Your Personal Brand

posted on September 22, 2021

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These days, like it or not, your digital image is everything. How we present ourselves on social platforms can make or break our chances of career success. 

Boosting your personal brand can open doors you may not know existed. A top-notch LinkedIn profile is the way to find those doors.

With a strong profile, you can widen your network by showcasing your experience, skills, and achievements.

Read on to find out how to promote your personal brand by crafting a strong LinkedIn profile that shows off your best professional qualities. 

Your Profile is a Branding Opportunity

Think of your LinkedIn profile like that nice outfit you’d wear for an interview or a business meeting at an upscale restaurant. That profile should make you stand out and look your best. 

It’s on a par with a well-composed resume. 

A lackluster, basic profile doesn’t make a great first impression, does it?

LinkedIn has many attractive accessories for that profile “outfit” to ensure your brand is engaging and enticing. Take advantage of these features—don’t sell yourself short.  

LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards users with complete profiles. You’re far more likely to show up in search results with a complete profile. LinkedIn assigns different strengths to profiles based on their completeness, and there’s a huge advantage given to those who utilize all the bells and whistles. 

So—

How do you make your LinkedIn profile pop? 

Avoid Humdrum Headlines 

By default, LinkedIn uses your current job title as the headline. That’s all well and good. But, customizing the headline can highlight your expertise or vision for your brand. Think of your headline as your brand’s motto.

Your headline is often the first thing potential employers and network connections see, so make it stand out. 

LinkedIn headlines have a limit of 120-characters (with spaces). This is equivalent to about 18 words.

Recipe for a delicious headline: 

  • Job title or area of expertise
  • Company name
  • Accomplishment/selling point

Example: 

ESOL Program Coordinator | Top Academy English School | Delivering Exceptional Curriculum for Over 15 Years | Second Language Acquisition Specialist 

This headline is much more impressive than if it had just had the job title. 

And your picture should match the professionalism the headline conveys. 

Pick the Perfect Pic

Having a professional picture on LinkedIn is essential to your brand. 

A photo done by a professional photographer is best—the lighting will be perfect and the picture will be flattering. 

If this is out of your budget, simply use a decent camera and soft lighting. Your picture should reflect your current appearance. Take a fresh picture if a couple of years have gone by. 

  • Specs: Square—400 x 400 pixels, under 8 MB in size. Make sure it’s high resolution. And your picture should take up at least 60% of the frame. 
  • Appearance: your expression should be friendly, yet professional. Often, a nice smile, with teeth showing is preferable to closed-mouth smiles. Try not to over-filter your picture. If you want to use a filter, select one with a natural look. 
  • Attire: your clothing should fit with your brand. Wear something you’d wear to your workplace…unless your workplace is home. PJs won’t give the best impression! 

The bottom line: a professional photo will get a user 14 times more views on average than other types of profile pictures.

Make the Background Section Count

You’ve probably seen that stark blue default background image plenty of times on profiles for those who’re starting off in their careers or are LinkedIn newbies. 

But, this space is golden for building your credibility and showing off something you’re good at. 

This space can be devoted to something directly related to your current field, or a side gig. Your profile will really pop and enhance your personal brand if you pick a decent background picture. 

LinkedIn recommends the following: 

  • A JPG or PNG file of an image that’s long and narrow, less than 8 MB and 1584 x 396 pixels. 

Adding that background photo is easy-peasy.

  1. Click the Me icon at the top of your homepage
  2. Click on “View profile”
  3. Select the camera icon located at the top right corner of your intro section
  4. Then upload photo, and click “Open”
  5. Click “Apply”

Don’t Skip the Summary Section 

This section is one of the first places that’s checked out by those visiting your profile. 

If you’re a job seeker, recruiters will definitely check out this section, so compose a summary that shows your hard skills first and foremost. 

So, not this:

“Energetic, innovative, and adaptable data analyst.”

But, this: 

“Data analyst with over six years experience performing analyses, with expertise in SQL, Oracle, and Python.”

The latter is a line for a summary they can sink their teeth into. 

Plus, your summary should include: 

  • Data—percentages, dollar amounts, and numerals for any of your accomplishments adds credibility
  • White space—Long blocks of text aren’t reader-friendly in our fast-paced, digital world. Studies have shown that using white space is more pleasant on the eyes. Short, to-the-point paragraphs will keep their attention.
  • Keywords—adding keywords from job descriptions into your summary can improve your chances of getting noticed by potential employers
  • Personality—people want to know who you are. That’s why they’re looking at your profile. Nothing conveys your personal brand better than your own personality. 

For example:

“My penchant for dark chocolate and espresso are what keep me plugging away at my artistic tote bag business!” 

From the “Summary” section, you can move on to sharing your professional and educational background, plus all the skills you’ve acquired.

Wow Them with Your Work, Skills, and Education

It’s obvious that your personal brand is a product of your experience, skills, and education. 

If you don’t add to these sections, your profile will be sorely lacking. And your personal brand will not be communicated. 

Experience section: Don’t rehash your resume

Don’t be tempted to copy/paste your work experience from your resume to the LinkedIn “Experience” section. 

You have more freedom with the LinkedIn Experience section. You can add experience outside of what is typically included on the “relevant experience” resume. Freelance work or side gigs can be included. This section shouldn’t be as weighty as your resume. Avoid giving details for every position. Summarize and highlight your biggest achievements.

Also, no need to shy away from the first person—using “I” and a conversational tone is welcome. 

After you document your past and current jobs concisely, it’s time to move on to the next section of your LinkedIn profile: “Education.”

Education section: Include every college or university

A neat feature of LinkedIn is that when you peruse their jobs, it will tell you how many school alumni are applying for the job. 

Hint, hint—

You can hit up the alumni who work there and mention your interest in the job, which can increase your chances if they have any influence on who’s hired. Therefore, it’s a sensible idea to add any and all higher education institutions you’ve attended.

And, for those who don’t have a college degree, make sure to add any formal training you’ve had. Showing you’ve taken the initiative and completed a course is worth displaying. 

After “Education” is the “Skills” section. 

Skills section: Let your skills shine—and endorse others’

The “Skills & endorsements” section will add a lot of flavor to your personal brand on LinkedIn. A healthy section will include 10+ skills. But, don’t add skills that you aren’t truly familiar with.  

The skills you select make you more searchable. 

After you add the skills, you can click and drag them to arrange them in whatever order you like. Ideally, place the most important skills regarding your brand at the very top. 

Lacking a skill you’d like to learn? Check out LinkedIn Learning, chock-full of videos, tutorials, and almost any professional topic you can think of. 

Next, skills endorsements matter.

On LinkedIn there’s a definite “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” approach to endorsements. 

In other words, if you want to get endorsed, do unto others. 

When you’re endorsed, it increases your credibility. People will trust your brand. 

To endorse someone else’s skills:

  • Click on their profile and go to “Skills & endorsements” 
  • Find the skill you wish to endorse and click the plus sign
  • Use the form that pops up to rate the person’s proficiency and explain how you’ve been able to see the skill in action

Of course, don’t be an endorsement spammer! Only endorse if you know the person’s work and can feel confident in the contact’s skill you’re endorsing. 

Once you feel confident with your profile, no shame in feeling a tad vain. Time to create a LinkedIn vanity URL.

Create a LinkedIn Vanity URL 

Whether you’re a fan of vanity plates or not, a vanity URL on LinkedIn is great for your personal brand. 

It’s a branded link that’s snappier and shorter than the URL that LinkedIn produces by default. 

This is a way to attract an audience because the message is clear. 

A vanity link displays a condensed, focused message—your brand. 

A LinkedIn vanity URL with your personal or company name makes it easier for networking contacts to find you, plus it looks more professional. 

Say goodbye to that messy string of characters, numbers, and symbols and change to a vanity LinkedIn URL: 

  1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage with the drop-down arrow
  2. Click “View Profile”
  3. Click “Edit public profile & URL”
  4. The Public profile settings page will open
  5. Click the pencil icon on the right sight under “Edit your custom URL”
  6. Enter what you would like to be in your custom URL
  7. Don’t forget to click “Save”

If you’ve gone through all the steps above, your personal brand has gotten a major upgrade on LinkedIn. This will boost your chances of getting noticed and a new job in line with your skills and interests if that’s what you’re in the market for.

With all the profile pieces in place, build your connections, create engaging content, and your personal brand will shine.

To Wrap Up

LinkedIn is the place to promote yourself professionally. It’s the best way to promote your personal brand. Plus, the networking possibilities are endless.

And—

If you’re looking to attract job possibilities, LinkedIn is a top resource for recruiters. In fact, more than 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn’s tools to find the perfect candidate for a job. Over 57 million companies are on the site, with over 15 million jobs postings. 

So, get those LinkedIn profiles in tip-top shape to give your personal brand a major boost.

The post Elevate Your LinkedIn Profile to Promote Your Personal Brand appeared first on SiteProNews.

NS1 Introduces Full SaaS Version of NetBox

posted on August 25, 2021

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NetBox Cloud by NS1, it’s a new to release managed service that makes the popular open solution technology available as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. The managed services offering delivered by NS1 is meant for enterprises that require a simpler deployment path or more governance and support.

How to Sell on LinkedIn without Paying for Ads

posted on August 18, 2021

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When you open your LinkedIn message center and see a few new messages in your inbox, the first thing you expect is being sold to. LinkedIn has always been the platform for business and career, so obviously everyone is selling something.

However, that’s not always pleasant. If you’re even remotely active on LinkedIn, you’ve probably gotten quite a few messages from people you’ve never spoken to trying to sell you something: app development, website development, or SEO services – these are the usual culprits.

Luckily, there are other, better sales techniques on LinkedIn than spamming people who just accepted you into their list. Honestly, does anyone even buy anything from spammers?

So, if you are not going to be a spammer and you are not going to pay for ads, how else are you going to sell on LinkedIn? Let’s start with the basics:

1. Create a Complete, Professional Profile

This advice goes for both company pages and personal profiles. Make sure you have a good photo of yourself or a high-resolution picture of your logo.

And, more importantly, don’t treat any section of the profile as optional. Fill each of them carefully, especially the parts where you can list your skills or the services/products you offer.

For company pages, use the LinkedIn profile as an opportunity to pitch your services/products. In your description, ditch the usual “established in…” and opt for something that will catch readers’ eyes.

If you received any awards, lead with that – or with any other kind of recognition you have received.

2. Strike a Balance between Native and Third-Party Content (External Links)

The LinkedIn algorithm works differently than Facebook’s. If Facebook usually buries links to other websites on your feed because they want to keep users on their platform as much as possible, LinkedIn has no such mission. 

Thus, you can send users to your website to gain more traffic without fearing reach penalties. However, this doesn’t mean that you should solely focus on third-party links.

As with everything, balance is key: you can publish your blog posts and links to your sales pages, but I recommend you also mix in some native articles. Even if LinkedIn doesn’t crush your reach, users tend to read native articles more because it’s easier and they don’t have to leave the platform.

3. Join LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn groups are the perfect places to find new leads. But don’t join dozens of them and don’t start spamming their members.

Most LinkedIn groups have tough anti-spam rules, so you won’t be allowed to publish sales pitches or links to your website. Still, you can always showcase your expertise in the comments section. Help real people solve real problems and you will start seeing add requests soon.

One last tip here: it’s OK to join groups for professionals in your industry just to keep an eye on how things are going. Sometimes, you may even find announcements looking for the services/products you offer. But if you want to get serious about selling on LinkedIn, those are not the groups to be in.

Zero in on your buyer persona – what are their top three professions? Got them? Good! Now look for groups for people with those professions, not with your own.

For instance, my agency offers social media and content writing services. While my team and I are in a few content writing and social media groups, this is strictly for “fun” and news. We get a lot of leads from SaaS groups (SaaS is one of the main industries we cater to) and from generic digital marketing groups. 

In other words: hang out where your potential customers hang out, not where your peers do.

4. Engage with Potential Customers’ Content

Look for company profiles or personal profiles of people that might turn into your customers. Follow them or connect with them and engage with their content.

Again: try not to spam. You shouldn’t leave comments showcasing your services below articles that have nothing to do with your area of activity. And, in general, you shouldn’t try to sell your services/products in comments unless someone specifically asks you what you do.

Instead, read your prospects’ content and leaving on-topic, meaningful comments: 

“I love your take on cybersecurity for cloud solutions. How do you feel about…?”

“Your tips on staying sane when working from home are great! I’ll definitely try no. 3!”

The idea here is to get prospects’ attention, not to sell with a comment. In time, you can also message them directly, once you’ve established a rapport and know a few things about their business. This way, you’ll be able to create a personalized pitch that has chances of success.

Conclusion

Selling on LinkedIn takes time. Just like anywhere else, focus on building relationships first and leads later. Avoid spamming and create original, useful content – these are the two starting points for a successful selling strategy on LinkedIn.

Need help with social media management and marketing for LinkedIn or any other social media platform? My team of expert social media marketers and I are just a click away. Take a look at our social media services and let’s talk!

The post How to Sell on LinkedIn without Paying for Ads appeared first on SiteProNews.

7 Tips for Using LinkedIn for Sales Prospecting

posted on July 24, 2021

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LinkedIn has shifted from a networking platform to a site where one can do sales prospecting. Why? The rationale is that it has social media features and business ideas in one place. That way, people can cooperate and discuss business-related issues. 

Imagine that 40% of marketers underline this media is the most effective social media for lead generation. For b2b companies, LinkedIn becomes a perfect environment for selling products and communicating with prospects. 

This post is to show how to get customers on LinkedIn with the help of some prospecting tips.

How to Prospect on LinkedIn

Using LinkedIn for sales, prospecting in particular, can mean many things. Before all, they refer to searching for, connecting and engaging with leads. Moreover, the significant part of it is the assessment of your audience. Thus, prospecting for leads on LinkedIn means appealing to needs, soft-selling or cold emailing. Each of these actions can bring conversions if it fits the strategy the company is using. 

Yet, you can relate prospecting on LinkedIn to such a term as social selling. It is about building relationships with prospects within the sales process. 

If you ask yourself how to get customers on Linkedin, the answer is simple – engagement. It plays an important role here as the connection with the customer lets lead managers or marketers gently introduce their offers. 

How? They can sell the value first. In this regard, a marketer can use content, expertise or advice to share. At the same time, salespeople can attract more people by connection, targeting, or LinkedIn search due to the social media factor.

So, yes, to prospect on LinkedIn, you should transmit the product’s image, start the dialogue right, and gather information. Why? That way, you attract customers’ attention, make them interested, and produce more engagement. Each of these activities leads prospects to the acquisition of service in the end.

The prospecting tips presented below can help you to do it right:

Advance your personal page

Before any social selling action, you should look at your profile. Ask yourself whether it tells enough about your company, your product and what you do. Your page should attract prospects and present the solution prospects seek. Try inserting a photo to increase views. In addition, write a short but clear bio and post some helpful content on your feed. Altogether, it will add to the trust and your personal image.

Build relations with LinkedIn outreach

Yes, there is LinkedIn Outreach. It involves getting in touch with the prospects via messaging or InMail. The particular strategy depends on the connections you make, as there are limitations for free accounts. For instance, you can apply a LinkedIn search to target specific specialists or specific people with a vast network. 

Connecting with them will give you access to other people because you will be the 2nd or 3rd connection to them. Keep in mind that their page info is the key to personalized messages and greater engagement. Personalization is important as it helps to appeal to the recipient.

Connect with prospects

The second of the prospecting tips is a reminder that LinkedIn is a social platform. To influence people, you need to make a connection with them. You can search for specific prospects using LinkedIn search filters and write to them via direct messages to start a conversation. 

The more connections you have, the more profiles you can browse. In turn, it means access to information that can be used to understand them better.

Engage with those who interact with you

When prospects interact or engage with your profile, try to use this event for building relationships. For instance, if they like your post or comment on it, write to them directly and answer their comment. You may as well offer some partnership or cooperation keeping their experience in mind. Another option is to write to people after you see their profile. It is a way to make cold outreach warmer.

Lastly, if you have closed a deal, ask for a referral. Leveraging referrals can work because they influence around 90% of b2b sales. It is just another way to use them and make a cold outreach warmer. 

Foster communication in LinkedIn groups 

For a marketer, social selling on LinkedIn usually starts with expertise and its sharing. Prospecting for leads can begin with a discussion in some groups to offer them some value or advice. At the same time, you can create your own community and share b2b insights, thus bolstering your image.

Apply LinkedIn prospecting tools to get an advantage

Another prospecting tip involves the usage of prospecting tools. What are their functions? They can scrape information, extract corporate emails or offer databases containing LinkedIn URLs. Why use such tools? They can help organize leads, get important info for direct contact, or structure  information. Some of them have a web-based CRM system at their core. They are vital for organizing prospects into lists and finding their corporate emails. The latter can be extremely useful for the outreach approach.

Make an ad and let LinkedIn distribute it

There is always an opportunity to use the progressive alternatives LinkedIn proposes. One of them is a targeted ad that will show your offers, content or events to the prospects based on your buyer’s persona. However, make sure that you do not sell but offer helpful solutions in your ads. It would be best if you showed value and expertise first to attract a customer on LinkedIn.


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Alona is a digital marketer working in the lead generation niche. Having worked for several agencies and startups, she now has extensive experience in email marketing, outreach and communication. It helps her see lead generation from a different perspective, implying that new technologies offer new opportunities. She tries to share it with the marketing community.

The post 7 Tips for Using LinkedIn for Sales Prospecting appeared first on SiteProNews.

5 Tips for Effective LinkedIn Commenting

posted on July 9, 2021

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LinkedIn commenting is a great way to stay top-of-mind with your connections and prospects.

How do you stay on top of your commenting game?

How do you know if your LinkedIn comments have been effective, valuable, and professional in the eyes of others?

This post provides tips on effective LinkedIn commenting so that you can boost the credibility of your brand.

LinkedIn Commenting Tip #1: Be Specific and Concise

Here is a rule of thumb for effective LinkedIn commenting:

Write no more than three sentences. 

When commenting, it helps if you can provide the context of your comment or what prompted your feedback in the first place. However, always keep it short and to the point.

Being concise and clear helps other readers understand why you are commenting on the particular post.

This also keeps the engagement on the post going, since everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute.

LinkedIn Commenting Tip #2: Be mindful of your tone

You must be aware of how others may perceive your comments. Try to avoid being too critical or negative.

Critical and negative comments can dissuade other people from reading what you have to say. Instead, focus on providing feedback about specific points in their article rather than bashing them altogether.

Then, end each comment on a positive note by offering up something constructive that you liked about the article. 

Example comment: “I think your point would have more resonance if instead of mentioning your competitor, you focused solely on your strengths. But love how you used a call to action in your conclusion.”

This type of comment will be seen as well-intentioned by others.

It focuses on giving suggestions for improvement rather than focusing too much on the negative aspects of the post.

This also allows the owners of posts to improve without you coming across as attacking them. By ending with what you liked about the posts, you show them that you care about their success.

LinkedIn Commenting Tip #3: Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation

LinkedIn is a platform used predominantly for business networking. Never use language that may come off as spammy. 

Using internet slang such as “LOL” and “OMG” will only make you appear unprofessional to your connections and prospects.

In short, even if you are commenting on a post that is funny and light-hearted in tone, your comment should be as well-written as the original content.

LinkedIn Commenting Tip #4: Share valuable information

The point of commenting is to provide feedback for something posted by someone else. Make sure that you are providing useful insight into the topic at hand rather than just giving single-word answers like “good” or “cool.” 

You may include your personal experiences but bear in mind that they must be related to the content you are commenting on.

You can also ask questions when appropriate. This will get the conversation going more naturally. By asking questions, it may even lead to new connections and relationships that may prove beneficial later on.

LinkedIn Commenting Tip #5: Don’t Over-comment

It is easy to get carried away when commenting on a post, but it can come off as spam. If you are giving feedback that is valuable and relevant, then there should be no reason for you to comment more than once or twice per post.

Conclusion

If you are not active on LinkedIn, start by commenting on other people’s posts. By doing so, you are establishing a presence within a community of people that are interested in topics similar to yours.

This way, you learn what kind of content interests the people in the same industry and can share your content in a way that appeals to them.


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Sally Gan is a content writer for FILT Pod, a community of business owners who are committed to driving each other's brand forward on LinkedIn. Her passions include writing, psychology and music.

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How to Increase Your LinkedIn Profile Popularity?

posted on May 20, 2021

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While the US unemployment rate has dropped to 7.9 percent as of September 2020, the job market is still largely recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, job seekers now have to jump at any opportunity to stand out from the crowd to sustain amidst today’s challenging times. That’s when LinkedIn comes into play. Having a strong LinkedIn presence won’t only help job seekers register on an employer’s radar, but it’s also the ultimate tool to amass connections and stay on top of industry trends.

Good news?

This guide explains how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and wow employers so that you can start work on Monday.

Get a Custom URL

If you aren’t a power user of LinkedIn, your profile URL likely consists of a nauseating mix of numbers and characters that looks something like this, “linkedin.com/in/sQys&za9&#.”

Problem?

Most recruiters expect job seekers to list their LinkedIn profile on a resume, so they can check your online presence as well as ensure whatever you’ve written in your application (e.g., work history) checks out with your online profile. Hence, if you don’t get a custom LinkedIn profile URL, it’ll look clunky and less professional on your resume.

So—here’s how to get a custom profile URL:

  • Click on the “Me” icon at the top of your LinkedIn profile.
  • Click “View profile.”
  • Click “Edit public profile & URL” in the right rail.
  • Click the “Edit” icon next to your public profile URL.
  • Write your new custom URL in the text box (e.g., your name)
  • Click “Save.”

Make It Easier for Employers to Find You

If you want to get more job offers via LinkedIn, you need to let recruiters know you’re open.

To do it, head over to your dashboard and look for a “Career interests” bar just below your LinkedIn summary.

There, you’ll be able to specify:

  • Up to five job titles you’re interested in.
  • Preferred job locations.
  • Start date (depending on whether you’re actively applying or just browsing for offers casually.)
  • Job types (e.g., full-time, part-time, or internship)

Make Your Profile Hulk-Level Strong

Now that you’re done with the basics, it’s time to move on to more advanced optimization strategies for your LinkedIn profile.

For starters, make sure to provide as much information about yourself as possible. That’s because users who fully fill out their profiles are 40 times more likely to get job offers from recruiters, according to a recent LinkedIn study.

So—put in some legwork to:

  • Craft an engaging profile summary.
  • List your work experience (use numbers whenever possible) and education.
  • Add certifications (if any).
  • Highlight your accomplishments (from past or current roles.)

As for the “Skills” section, you can leave it for now, as we’ll tackle it later.

Make Your Skills Marketable

So far so good.

Now—it’s time to move onto the skills section.

First off, keep in mind that you can only add up to 50 skills to your LinkedIn profile. Hence, be sure to hand-pick the skills that you feel are the most relevant.

Generally, a good place to start is to open up your resume and transfer the skills you have there to your LinkedIn profile.

In this case, when typing the skills, it’s good practice to pick the ones that LinkedIn suggests instead of adding them manually. Otherwise, recruiters might have a hard time finding your profile.

Afterward, you can also put in some elbow grease to search for LinkedIn profiles similar to yours and see what other working professionals list in their “Skills” section.

Lastly, don’t just focus on adding hard skills (e.g., Excel, SEO), but also consider adding soft skills. To help you, below are five soft skills that companies need the most in 2021:

  • Creativity
  • Persuasion
  • Collaboration
  • Adaptability
  • Emotional intelligence

You may also consider creating your own website or blog for which you will need a good web hosting service provider. Check out HostWinds.

Open19 Data Center Rack Standard Framework Goes to The Linux Foundation

posted on April 22, 2021

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The Linux Foundation from now on will be hosting the Open19 rack standard framework to help accelerate innovation within data center and edge hardware environments. Next to OCP (Open Compute Project), originated by LinkedIn, Open19 provides an efficient form factor for servers and rack deployments in data centers.