How to Add the LinkedIn Share Button to Your Blog Posts

In today’s social media intense world, people love to share a breaking news story, a funny video, or an informative blog post to one of the many social networking sites. You need to keep this in mind when creating a new website or blog as it is important to provide your visitors with an easy option for sharing your site's content. Providing your readers with an easy option to share your content will help expand your brand's voice and exposure.

After posting my last blog, I wanted to share it on LinkedIn so I naturally looked at the bottom of my blog to discover Blogger only offers the share buttons for Gmail, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, and of course Google+. I wondered - where is the LinkedIn Share Button? Clearly, there are business related blogs that people are sharing on the LinkedIn site, so why is the LinkedIn share button not integrated into the Blogger template and more importantly how can I add it to my blog?

There are two very easy methods for adding the LinkedIn Share Button to your blog if you are using Blogger.

First option is naturally from LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides a simple tool for creating the share button of your choice. Just enter your URL, select your design format, and click get code and you are on your way. A very simple process for non-web designers like myself. Below is a screenshot from their site and here is a link to their site. 

It is important to note if you are using Blogger, by Google, this code will not add the share button for each of your blog posts. This option will only add the share button to the side of your blog and allow users to share a link to the URL you entered at setup. If you are more interested in sharing a single page, this is the option for you. 

However, if you are looking to have the share button to appear after each blog post, this is not the option for you. I’m sure there is a web designer that can code it for you, but if you are looking for a do-it-yourself option, I found an easier option for you. 

After numerous failed Google searches on how to properly add the LinkedIn share button, I stumbled upon ShareThis.com. This site provides you with a very easy process for adding the LinkedIn share button as well as the option to add share buttons for any of the other social media sites. Here is how you do it.

Go to http://www.sharethis.com/get-sharing-tools/ and select the platform you are using and click on next.

Select your button style

Customize  your options and when ready click the Get the Code button

Pick your Share Widget Style and Go

A new window will open up in Blogger. Click Add Widget. Viola! Your blog will now display the share buttons after each of your blog posts similar to the look at the end of this post. 

I hope this helps you and your readers share your content when using Blogger. If you find an easier way or know of a better solution for adding the LinkedIn share button, let me know in the comments.