How to Seamlessly Integrate Your LinkedIn Presence into a WordPress Website

As a WordPress consultant with over 5 years of experience, I‘ve integrated client LinkedIn profiles dozens of times. Displaying your LinkedIn profile prominently on your WordPress site lends tremendous credibility and authority.

But what‘s the best way to seamlessly incorporate your LinkedIn presence? In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll compare two methods – the official LinkedIn plugin and a popular third party alternative called WP LinkedIn.

Why Show Your LinkedIn Profile on Your Site?

• 73% of B2B marketers say a branded LinkedIn profile gives them confidence to engage, according to Social Pilot.

• LinkedIn profiles with more profile views get up to 8x more connection requests, reported Omnicore.

Clearly, featuring your LinkedIn profile offers tremendous credibility and networking benefits. But what‘s the best approach in WordPress? Let‘s compare the two options…

Method 1: Official LinkedIn Plugin

The official LinkedIn WordPress plugin makes it easy to embed your profile directly from LinkedIn‘s servers with no API keys required.

Pros:

• Super simple setup with no API keys
• Automatically syncs profile changes
• Customize look and feel

Cons:

• Limited placement flexibility
• Requires JavaScript

Here‘s how to use it:

1. Get the plugin from LinkedIn and click "Add to Website." Log in if needed.
2. Choose colors, profile sections, and widgets to show.
3. Grab snippet and paste anywhere on your site pages, posts or widgets.

The official plugin is great if you prioritize simplicity and syncing. Next, let‘s see how WP LinkedIn compares…

Method 2: WP LinkedIn Plugin

WP LinkedIn is a popular WordPress-specific LinkedIn integration solution. With over 20,000 active installs, it‘s a mature plugin for LinkedIn profiles.

The key advantage over the official plugin is flexibility…

Pros:

• Put profile anywhere with shortcodes and widgets
• Feature profile prominently (header, footer, popup, etc.)

Cons:

• Requires creating LinkedIn app for API keys
• Setup more complex

Let me walk through the steps…

1. Install and activate WP LinkedIn.
2. Create a LinkedIn developer app and note Client ID + Secret.
3. Input credentials within plugin settings.
4. Embed with widgets or [li_profile] shortcode anywhere.

So which method is best for displaying a LinkedIn profile in WordPress? Here‘s a quick comparison:

As you can see, there are excellent reasons for choosing either plugin. Your priorities will dictate the best choice.

I hope this guide gave you clarity and confidence to showcase your LinkedIn profile prominently on your WordPress site. Let me know if you have any other questions!