How To Blog On LinkedIn For No Cost

Let's see how to blog on LinkedIn, how easy it is to get started, and the ways you can optimize a LinkedIn blog post. If you're a business to business (B2B) provider, you absolutely need to leverage the power of LinkedIn, and you don't have to have a paid account to do this.

Previously, I talked about using Google Plus as a blogging site if you're not quite ready for a website with an associated blog platform, such as WordPress. It's usually about budget, but you don't have to use the excuse of a lack of money to create a content marketing strategy that can still get you in front of your target audience.

First, I'm going to assume you've set up an optimized profile on LinkedIn. If you haven't done it, read this post I published and put some work into a great profile before you tackle the blogging capability LinkedIn offers.

If you've set up your profile, and you already post to it regularly, then maybe you've noticed (or not) that on your home page, in the upper right hand corner of the empty status bar is a pencil and a paper clip. The pencil icon allows you to create long posts.

If you click on that pencil, you'll bring up a new screen:

Before you get here, I suggest you create a draft post that you can quickly copy and paste. As you see, you can add an image and create an optimized headline.

Notice that I've created a headline (optimized) and my first line is an H1 (Headline) tag, both of which I've optimized using the keyword phrase "Google Webmaster Tools."

You have a floating toolbar that lets you created numbered or bulleted lists, add images, embed videos and insert links.

It's ridiculously easy to quickly write and publish a post on LinkedIn. You can also add tags at the end of the post, so be sure to use the keywords and phrases you want to found for on LinkedIn.

You can add tags at the end, as long as they already exist in LinkedIn. Strangely enough, SEO isn't in there, which bums me out, but whatever.

You can save your post or publish it immediately.

LinkedIn has some best practices you can read for creating long form posts; it's a good idea to read them before you start this initiative. Like most publishing platforms, they encourage you to write useful content and stay away from self-promotion.

And here's a nice overview from LinkedIn on the benefits of creating and publishing long-form posts.

There's no reason or excuse for not developing a content marketing strategy, even if your business doesn't have a website up yet. LinkedIn is one of the most powerful, no cost platforms on the internet for getting exposure and visibility among your prospects, so why not head on over and spend some time optimizing your profile and creating some blog posts to publish?

Stuck for ways to write articles on LinkedIn that folks will read and share? See how you can use the power of asking and answering questions to create unique, useful, meaningful content.

Want to learn more about using social media tools and optimizing web pages? Register for an Invenio SEO class soon, and get search engine marketing knowledge and skills!

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Until next time, stay safely between the ditches!

All the very best to you,

Nancy McDonald