With LinkedIn recently hitting 100 million users and going public, there are  buzzes surrounding the expansion and what to expect.

LinkedIn’s continued growth is hardly surprising even if it’s in the shadow of Facebook and Twitter.

Seems appropriate (and about time) I write another post on how LinkedIn has helped grow Marketing Direct Sales blog. And why you should consider using LinkedIn to boost traffic to your direct sales online business.

There are many reasons why I prefer LinkedIn over Twitter and Facebook. The most obvious is that traffic from LinkedIn outranks Twitter and Facebook based on Google Analytics. This makes it one of my favorite sites. 

The applications such as a Wordpress RSS plug-in, Twitterfeed, and adding a video to your profile, are some of the best features of LinkedIn.

Here are 5 ways to use LinkedIn to boost traffic:

#1 Your Profile. I love the profile on LinkedIn. You can gather enough info about someone and decide whether to connect or not based on this snapshot.

If you want to connect with other professionals- make sure you have a real picture of you and not your company logo, dog, cat, kids … LinkedIn is a professional network.

#2 New Contacts. Once I’m connected with a new contact I can see her/his contacts which gives me an additional view of my new contact’s contacts. 

#3 LinkedIn Groups. Use this feature to find people that share similar interests as you and become a member.

#4 Weekly LinkedIn Updates is a summary of what my contacts have been up to i.e. new groups they’ve joined and new contacts they’ve made. I’ve joined new groups and made new connections based on these updates.

#5 Skills & Expertise, a new feature I recently discovered. This allows you choose the area of expertise that you want more info on - let’s say attraction marketing – and the profiles of members that best fit this category  are displayed.

It’s a great resource to connect with people in your niche market. Or reach out to experts.

Also listed are the groups associated with skills and expertise. This feature zeros in on your specific area of interest so you’re connecting with people in your niche business.

Once you’re a member of the group, you can interact on the group’s discussions, check out the member’s profile, reply privately to a comment they’ve made, or ask to be connected.

Other ways I use LinkedIn …

You can share your latest blog posts on the News tab. Become an expert by answering questions from other members. Or start a dialogue based on the books your contacts are reading.

Unlike Twitter which can be “spammy” with strange auto tweets and robots following you. Or Facebook’s “social” gathering which seems like a big cocktail party at times, and too many updates to keep up with- LinkedIn has always been business-oriented which keeps me focused on business-related activities.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t be focused on other social networks but when you’ve got a combination of friends, family, and casual friends mixed in with business contacts … it’s easy to get distracted on other social networks.

How are you using LinkedIn for your business? Share your tips.

’til next time,

Janette Stoll

P.S. Check out Lewis Howes, one of the best trainers on LinkedIn. His blog offers great tips!

Creating content for my blog and promoting it using social media marketing has been my #1 go-to strategy.

By optimizing title posts and content that are keyword-rich in my target market, it has consistently delivered traffic and converted visitors into hundreds of leads. 

Which makes me wonder … why aren’t more direct sales consultants using content marketing to grow their business online? I’m partially biased because creating fresh content is working brilliantly for Marketing Direct Sales.

If you think about it- content is what makes the internet what it is.

People go online to find content to learn something new, research  before they buy, find business opportunities to start …  it’s where people go to find information.

This is evidenced in my family and probably yours too …

We look up restaurants and read reviews on Yelp. We order pizza online and have it delivered without having to talk to a live person. I read book reviews on Amazon before I buy. I can list more examples on how I use the internet to find content to serve my needs but you get the point.

An optimized, content-rich blog or website is what drives traffic to your business.

It’s the first step in your sales funnel. Traffic is the first point of contact before a visitor turns into a lead. But a visitor isn’t going to opt-in and subscribe to your email list if the content is irrelevant.

This is why content alone isn’t enough but optimized content combined with social media marketing are proven formulas in boosting traffic to your site. Leads are built on targeted traffic.

Without traffic, there are no leads, and no leads = no business.

If you’re in direct sales and think you don’t need a content marketing strategy, you might want to re-think.

The latest news on Google’s official blog is the impact social search results have on how relevant your brand is online. 

What does this mean to you?

In the past, social search results from your network showed up on the bottom of Google. Now, it’s mixed in through out the search results based on relevance. This means the search results could be moved to the top or in the middle.

This latest social search enhancement has significant implications for search engine marketers and website owners alike. Social media marketing as a part of your SEO strategy is more integral than ever. (searchnewz.com)

This is great news for small business owners and direct sales consultants.

With an optimized content-rich blog focusing on your niche market, your site can skyrock to the top of search engines. This is possible if your site’s content is geared to a specific group of people you’re trying to reach (target market).

The keys to your success:

Focus on creating content for your target market. I know “target market” gets thrown around online but some people have no idea to whom they’re trying to reach.

In the new world of content marketing online, focus is vital. That’s true both in terms of defining a niche and making sure that your website reflects that niche. (contentmarketingtoday.com)

Here’s an example from my new blog Janette Stoll: my target market is direct sales and my niche business is helping direct sales consultants generate leads with article writing and internet marketing.

With clarity on whom I’m reaching (direct sellers) and what I’m offering (article writing/marketing services) have helped me to create content for direct sellers on article writing, content, and internet marketing.

The point I’m hoping to drive home for you is that it’s an exciting time to get online, create optimized content, leverage social media and web 2.0 marketing, to build massive leads to grow your business.

Those of you that are already creating content on your blogs know the many benefits and probably can’t imagine not having a blog to build your business (like I do). But for those that haven’t … what are you waiting for?

Your thoughts?

’til next time,

Janette Stoll

P.S. Have you visited my new article writing and marketing blog yet? Love to hear your thoughts, comments, questions. Go say “hi” to me over there .

photo credit: freedigitalphotos

**This is a special treat for you gals and guys on Valentine’s Day. A guest post from my friend, Brett Duncan, at Marketing In Progress. 

Brett had this brilliant idea to create an ebook featuring 33 marketers and how to rock your business in 2011. The ebook is awesome and it’s free to download. Yours truly is on page 45 .

I love Brett’s idea so much that I asked him to write a post on the inspiration behind the ebook. Enjoy and share with your friends.

5 Things I Learned from Creating a Free Marketing eBook

So as 2010 was winding down, I, like you I bet, found myself conjuring up some new ideas for 2011. It was the same old pattern I’ve stitched before, reinventing myself just for the sake of having resolutions. It dawned on me that this approach has never been too effective before, so why should I even bother now.

Then a simple idea popped into my head: “I wonder what some of my colleagues would say is their best ‘idea advice’ for an entrepreneur in 2011?”

Typically, this is where I would smirk, grunt a bit and then let the idea disappear between my ears. But for some reason, I decided to act on this little whim, and immediately. I jumped into my email, shot a message out to about 60 folks I’ve met in person or online, and asked them to send me their one big idea, in 500 words or less. 

32 people immediately responded with an “I’m in.” The result is something I’m very impressed with, a free eBook titled Rock Your Business: 33 Mind-Blowing Ideas from Today’s Top Marketers. You can download it now for absolutely free (I don’t even ask for your email address).

You see, after I received each marketer’s idea, I collected them into an eBook and made it available for anyone. My thought was rather remedial in motivation: I bet if I would like something like this, others would, too.

And boy, have they. In just the first four days it was available, the eBook was download by more than 500 people.

But while the book is targeted to entrepreneurs, direct sellers are going to enjoy it even more, because there are folks like Janette Stoll who are proven experts in our industry included.

There are several corporate marketers (like myself) from some of the biggest direct sales companies in the world. On top of that, the eBook also includes some of the top trainers in the industry, sharing their specific tips for direct sellers.

What I’m saying is you, the direct seller, are kinda getting bonus material in this thing. Cool, huh?

What I Learned From Creating an eBook

Probably more importantly, though, is what I’ve learned in the process of this whole process. Ideas like these:

1. It’s easy and complex all at the same time. For one, putting an ebook together isn’t necessarily difficult, but it is tedious. The formatting, the proofing, the layout … it’s more than just a copy and paste job, that’s for sure. And yet, it’s so accessible for all of us, and should be seriously considered, especially if you’re building your business online.
2. eBooks are great for attracting inbound links. If you know anything about search engine optimization, you know inbound links are the golden egg. Offering a free eBook (especially one with multiple authors) is a great way to increase your inbound links quickly. Given that it’s a free resource that doesn’t even require an email address to access, people are quick to link to it from their own website.
3. It’s great for traffic. I’m sure it’ll die down, but I’ve seen the traffic to my website spike by about 150% on average.
4. It’s great for list-building. Interestingly, even though I’m not asking for an email address, people are still voluntarily joining my email list at a much higher rate. That’s always good.
5. Crowd-sourcing is fun. I don’t know any other way to describe it. Getting like-minded people together, all doing a small thing that becomes a very big thing when combined just feels really good. And it’s so efficient.

I could go on and on about the process, but suffice it to say that I see creating eBooks as a very important part of any online strategy now. Yes, it’s great all the analytics-related stuff, but even more importantly, they’re extremely helpful in brand-building.

And if it’s ideas you need, I know where you can get 33 really good ones … for free! Download the Rock Your Business eBook now. And be sure to check out Janette’s contribution on how direct sales is changing, and what you can do about it.

Brett Duncan shares marketing ideas and tips regularly at MarketingInProgress.com. He currently serves as the Sr. Director of Global Online Solutions for Mannatech, Inc.

Go download this free ebook and soak up the knowledge. Love to hear your thoughts. I hope this inspires you to start one too.

’til next time,

Janette Stoll

P.S. There are a lot of folks that will benefit from this free ebook … will you share with your pals? Thank you.

Lead generation is always at the forefront of every business owner’s marketing plan. For entrepreneurs in the direct selling industry it’s vital to be as resourceful as possible because most of you don’t have a big budget for marketing.

Since you’re 100% responsible for generating your own leads - why not leverage as many free and low-cost marketing tools as possible?

The reason you should consider creating content on your blog is because the days of selling or attempting to recruit people without their permission is over.

Telling your story and your business requires an audience that’s interested in what you have to say. With all the online activity – how do you get their attention?

You can try spamming your so-called friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter but do it at your own risk. The more you do it the more you become “that guy or gal” – which means, you’re definitely NOT getting their attention.

Social media is not the place to sell your products. Social media is one of many marketing tools. It’s a gigantic platform where people take notice of your business. But the selling and conversion will always take place on your own site.

But first, you have to get people there, to your site. And one of the most effective ways to attract your target audience is using your writing skills – create relevant and informative content that’s persuasive enough to get their attention.

This is how content creation can help your business:

*Use strategic keywords and phrases in your copywriting to attract your target audience.

*Then use all forms of online mediums and social media to broadcast your content.

*With the goal of informing, inspiring, and getting people to take action.

Sounds like too much work?

If you’re online, you’re already creating content. Every time you make an update on Facebook – you’re creating content. We’re all publishers because of social media.

Social media expert, Mari Smith, said it perfectly: 

to be an authority, you must be an author – writer/publisher of content.

And the best place to create content and become an authority is on your own blog.

Now your job is to start creating content on your site, if you haven’t already. And if you’ve been creating content, maybe one of your goals is to create even more content.

With the new year, that’s one of my goals. The more I write and publish – the more traffic comes to my site.

Your thoughts on how content creation can help your business?

’til next time,

Janette Stoll

P.S. Article writing has been instrumental in growing my business. I’ll be sharing daily tips on my Facebook Page. Join me there (sidebar)

There’s a lot of chatter going on with Facebook advertising aka Jonathan Budd’s latest coaching program. I like a lot of what Jonathan teaches and he knows his internet marketing stuff.

There’s no doubt Facebook is huge and growing but it’s not a search engine like Google. Because I don’t log on to Facebook to do a search for what I need.

If I happen to see an ad that interests me I might click on it. But those of you know me I don’t hang out on Facebook just to kill time so to get me to surf Facebook isn’t effective. But that’s just me.

With that said, there’s value in paid ads.

But for a newbie, I recommend building your business organicly. Organic marketing is not only free but you can do so much with it especially if you’re on a tight budget.

My Marketing Direct Sales blog gets new leads every single day and most from organic marketing. You might want to check out some of the products I’m using to generate free traffic.

What I like about organic marketing is that it’s permanent. It doesn’t stop like paid ads. You only get traffic as long as you’re paying.

Why you should consider Facebook advertising, Google, Yahoo and so forth? It might be faster – if you know what you’re doing – and you’ve got a budget for it.

As your business grows you should look into paid ads. I’m exploring Facebook ads right now so I’ll let you know my results soon. 

That being said, there are numerous ways to build free traffic.

Here are some starters:

#1 Create content for your blog.

#2 Submit the content to article directories.

#3 Repurpose content into videos on YouTube.

#4 Turn them into podcasts, webinar series, package in a free PDF report and give away on your blog.

#5 And last but not least – do some serious marketing and promote the heck out of these content across all social media platforms.

If you work on creating content you can do a lot with it as I outlined above.

And you can do all of this and more for free. If you’re not sure where to start, you might find my free report helpful so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already .

That’s how you begin building traffic to your blog at zero cost. Organic marketing sticks and once you’ve created content, it’s indexed permanently.

So think about paid versus organic marketing. Furthermore, evaluate where your business is at – where you want it to be – and whether your business is ready to invest in Facebook ads or other paid ads.

As I said, there’s a lot you can do RIGHT now with the free stuff so go DO them.

Your thoughts?

’til next time,

Janette

P.S. Jonathan Budd’s Get Traffic is officially closed and thank YOU to those of you that checked it out .