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There’s a growing trend for many to use LinkedIn as the de facto tool for professional networking. Like most social networking platforms, it’s a fantastic way to stay connected with current colleagues, people you’ve worked with in the past and peers who work in the same industry like you. No matter your choice of profession, it’s definitely much easier to find a job today as compared to the days before Internet.

Then, phone calls, letters and word of mouth were essential to land you a job but now, everything’s a click away. Besides the above, at this point of time, most of us are connected through online job sites, forums and social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn isn’t just a tool for businesses to expand their brand on, but individuals like bloggers can benefit a lot if they spend some time on it. As a blogger myself, the following are five benefits that this social networking site could befit you as a blogger.

1. Groups

These are probably the most powerful feature of LinkedIn. It’s an excellent way to find and join communities of professionals based on common interest, experience and goals. Within these groups, you are able to view and participate in discussions and communicate with members of the group through direct messages. Some groups allow you to add your RSS feed to the news section, which is a great way to drive traffic to your blog.

2. Applications

On the default page of your LinkedIn profile, there are a number of featured applications that you can take advantage of for your blog. From connecting your blog’s feeds to your site to featuring a presentation done by you; if you post these up, it’ll immediately broadcast the message to your connections without the need for you to do anything.

3. Connections

If you’re a serious blogger, naturally you’ll be interesting in getting maximum publicity for your articles. You would want people to read what you have to say. The connections that you make in LinkedIn make it easier for you to promote your blog and improve its popularity. Tying up with the previous point I made, applications on LinkedIn works really well in broadcasting your newly published articles.

4. Jobs

If people like how you write your articles, you’re more likely to land job opportunities through your LinkedIn profile. This is a fantastic method of blog monetization without the need for silly PPC ads cluttering your blog up. Setting up your LinkedIn profile and connecting it to your blog could possibly be the best way to get new writing gigs or maybe even get paid to write for other people’s blog.

5. Feedback

Comments on your blog usually are more directed to specific posts but on LinkedIn, you can receive feedbacks for your blog as an overall. You may receive recommendations and positive feedbacks from satisfied clients that you wrote for, which is visible to everyone you are connected to. This feature greatly boosts your credibility and competence as a writer.

After going through these points, I hope that bloggers realize that LinkedIn is more than just a tool to maintain your online resume. Do you have any other benefits that you can think of for using LinkedIn as a blogger? Drop us a comment if you do.

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