In defence of LinkedIn articles

As discussed in LinkedIn view counts explained, articles typically receive the lowest view counts of any type of content on LinkedIn.

But while shortform posts are great at getting you visibility, longform articles are great for building authority. People who know their stuff are able to go into length in their articles. That showcases their experience and expertise in a way that isn't possible in shortform posts.

Anyone doing serious due diligence (business research) on you on LinkedIn will probably look at your in-depth content as a way of determining whether you have the first clue of what you're on about.

Those people might also be searching on Google. Note that longform articles on LinkedIn are indexed by Google whereas most shortform posts are not.

See the tip for speeding up the indexing of articles on your own blog, taken from my business blogging guide.

If you don't publish any articles, you might be missing out on showing your value to that prospective customer. Who knows? Perhaps they're skipping your profile right now for that very reason. As an old boss once told me: "We never hear from the people who almost become customers."

Here are some examples of articles that have been successful for me. And by "successful", I mean that the articles have achieved good public engagement signals and have also led to private conversations and – more importantly – some cash money in my pocket.

In each case, click the image to view the article in question.

Weight loss tips from a former fatty

Actually, I'll start with an article that has not led to any business but whose reactions and comments confer an air of success. (Note: engagement metrics do not pay the rent.)

This one's been useful as a "getting to know you" piece to which I can refer people. There's another popular article I wrote that plays the same role. I'll leave you to read the end of my profile About statement if you want to look it up.

Business value: maybe people feel better about hiring someone who isn't practically perfect in every way(?)

LinkedIn articles – get your longform content right

The next one is an article about articles. Meta much?

Business value: people ask me to write LinkedIn articles.

Blog posts versus LinkedIn articles

And then there's one about blog posts versus LinkedIn articles.

Business value: people ask me for content publishing strategy help and buy my book.

LinkedIn view counts explained

My article about LinkedIn view counts has performed really well. People are often confused about this one, which made it a perfect topic to write about in more depth than you can in a shortform post.

The image below takes you to the LinkedIn article but the version of this piece on my website looks nicer and is more up to date, so smart people will click this link instead.

Business value: people ask me for LinkedIn tips, book consultations and (admittedly only occasionally) buy my LinkedIn course aka the LinkedIn Leaders Playbook.

How to use bold & italics on LinkedIn – and why you perhaps shouldn't

This was funny. I was showing a tool that you can use to add faux bold and italics characters to LinkedIn profiles and shortform posts (both of which normally support only plain text) and telling people not to use it. No surprises: they didn't listen.

Business value: people ask me for content creation and profile optimisation tips.

Republish your blogs on LinkedIn and Medium

This is pretty much the basis of what became chapter 29 of Content DNA. I think this is my personal best for an article view count.

Business value: people ask me for content publishing strategy help and buy my book.

Most LinkedIn articles won't get good view counts. 

That shouldn't stop you creating at least a few articles to add depth to your LinkedIn profile. When written properly, LinkedIn articles can reveal your expertise for your subject matter.

What's stopping you?

If you need a hand with your writing, drop me a line.

This article first appeared on the Espirian blog at https://espirian.co.uk/defence-linkedin-articles/