How To Make Money on LinkedIn : 5 Proven Methods
There are 5 ways to make money on LinkedIn.
Sell Your Services
Sell eBook
Sell Courses/Workshops
Affiliate Marketing
Influencer Marketing
Today, I will break down each of them and help you understand what you need to do to start your journey.
I have personally experimented on all 5 methods. By the end of this blog I will also tell you which one is the more effective way to earn money.
Right now I have 63,000+ followers on LinkedIn, and I have a team of 4 interns who support me for my online businesses.
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Disclaimer :
This is not a get rich quick scheme.
It requires serious hard work and consistency for at least for 3 to 6 months without expecting anything in return.
It’s like building a home and then giving it on rent. The initial hard work is too much, but it’s worth it.
The Core :
Imagine a beautiful house.
What do you see?
Beautiful interior, balcony, expensive furniture, modular kitchen, etc.
What you don’t see is the pillars, the foundation which needed huge investment. The house is built on the foundation and the pillars.
Similarly, your business on LinkedIn will be built on the content that you share, the personal brand that you create.
Your Niche :
Before you take your first step towards building your brand you need to decide one thing very clearly - your niche.
You should be very clear about what you are going to talk about, how you are going to position yourself.
Accordingly, you will select keywords, identify target audience, create content, and create a product/service.
Build The Foundation (Personal Brand)
There are 4 steps to building a personal brand on LinkedIn. You need to go step by step.
Step 1 - Work on your LinkedIn Profile
Update cover photo (Use Canva Templates)
Add a professional Headshot in Profile photo (Go for a photoshoot)
Add keywords that you want to rank for in Headline
Write a good story about your professional journey in About Section
In bullet points Add your achievements in previous roles
Add skills, certifications, and publications if any
Get at least 5 recommendations (First you write a recommendation)
Once you update your profile, check your score on Resume Worded. Target a score of 80+ . Based on the feedback, optimize your profile.
Step 2 - Grow Your Network
Use the LinkedIn Filter option to find out more people in the industry and send connection requests (Send 10 to 15 daily) with a template note.
Step 3 - Engage with Your Network
If you find someone interesting, reach out to them on DM, get on a call and have a discussion. Build a professional relationship.
Like, comment and share on others posts. Write 5 high value comments daily and another 5 comments with less content to increase visibility.
Step 4 - Create Content
Create high value, helpful, and informative content that your target audience will find beneficial.
Start by posting once or twice a week and then gradually increase to 1 good post daily.
Here’s a list of topics you can write about, if you a complete beginner :
Write about Your professional journey - introduce yourself
Write about a weakness you overcame in life - introvert in school
Write about an exam you almost failed in school/college
Write about the first interview if your life - narrate the experience
Write about the worst phase of your life and how you overcame it
Write about your first job - your learnings
Write about your favourite teacher at school/college
Write about Your father/mother/spouse... how they inspire you
Write about your work from home experience after pandemic
Write about a conversation you had with a friend about career
Write about your opinion on a trending topic - Bitcoin
Write about daily routine - show how you are trying your best
Write about a book/article you read recently and summarize it
Write about a movie you watched and how it influenced you
Write about your hesitation to write your first post on LinkedIn
Write about what you learned by writing regularly on LinkedIn
Write about how you are growing as a writer by writing regularly
How To Earn Money on LinkedIn?
Once you create a follower base by creating content consistently and people trust you for your expertise, you can think of multiple ways to earn.
Some of it will happen organically, people will reach out to you and ask for your help and for some you need to make an effort.
Let's look at the options one by one.
1 - Sell your services
The easiest way to monetize would be to sell your services as a consultant, freelancer or generate leads for your business.
Consultation
Freelancing
Leads for business
You need to optimize your profile saying you work as a freelancer or consultant, so that relevant people can reach out to you.
You can use the LinkedIn Filter option to connect with the target audience and send them a cold message/email, build a relationship and pitch your services.
You need to master the art of copywriting to crack deals.
Here’ a list of books to read to improve your writing skills
HBR Guide To better business writing
Ogilvy on Advertising
Copywriter’s Handbook
Borron Letters
If you have enough expertise and experience, you can work only as consultant and charge on an hourly basis.
Pro Tips :
Prepare a Proposal for your services and contract document in Canva. You can also use tools like Bonsai.
Fun Fact :
I got my first client without reaching out to anyone, they found me. I just focussed on creating relevant content and growing my personal brand.
2- Sell eBook
An eBook will be a product. It can generate passive income - earn money while sleeping. But it’s not that easy.
Write 10,000 words
Design on Canva and export the PDF
Sell it on Instamojo/Gumroad
These 3 steps are easy, what’s challenging is selling it to an audience. That’s why I showed you how to build a personal brand on LinkedIn.
I have sold more than 2000+ copies of my eBook. I designed the book on Adobe Illustrator, and sell it on Instamojo (Payment Gateway). You can download the first chapter for Free.
3 - Sell Courses/WorkShops
Prepare a course around your expertise
Announce it on LinkedIn, Promote it, build a hype
Ask people to register for the workshop
A large chunk of my business comes from conducting Live Workshops. I have trained 4000+ people so far.
I conduct a 28 Days Digital Marketing workshop. Right now there are 180+ folks from around the globe in Batch 10.
Tools I use for conducting Live Workshops:
Zoom Premium - for live sessions
ConvertKit - for email marketing
Instamojo - for payment gateway
Pabbly - for automation
Google Drive - for sharing recording
Hostinger - to build a website/landing page
Fun Fact
My first 3 workshops were failures. I had 20,000 followers when I announced the first workshop. A lot of people showed interest but nobody registered.
In the 4th attempt 2 people registered. Last year I did a batch with 450+ students.
All details about my Workshop here.
4 - Affiliate Marketing
Review software, books, courses
Write a detailed review
Give a affiliate link with disclosure
You can share a list of books, tools, review them and give an affiliate link from where they can purchase. You can earn a commission on every sale. This works like magic when you have a huge following.
You need to sign up as an affiliate to get an affiliate link.
5 - Influencer Marketing
Focus on growing your followers and keeping them engaged.
Relevant brands will reach out to you
You can also try reaching out to companies relevant
The most lucrative part of building a personal brand is brands will reach out to you for sponsorship. You can charge a decent amount of money for promoting their products/services.
Conclusion
I didn’t start writing on LinkedIn with a goal to monetize it. I started writing because I enjoyed the platform, reading others posts, stories from people’s lives.
In the beginning, I had no idea that I could earn money and set up a whole business by building a brand on LinkedIn.
If you want to build a brand, monetize, you need to focus on creating content for the community, you need to enjoy creating content more than consuming content.
Most importantly, have patience.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.
Cheers,
Surojit
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