10 Things You Should Be Doing Now to Prepare for Future Job Search (Web 2.0 Style!)
Jan 16, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Social Media, social networks
I wonder how Social Media and Web 2.0 will change the way we present ourselves to potential employers. Will the resume be enough to make you stand out in the future?
A few months ago I had the task of going through applications for a Marketing Coordinator who would be working with me until I went on mat leave. I was shocked at the quality of résumé and the lack of personal websites, or participation in social networks. This may be understandable if I were looking to hire a accountant or a trades person – but I expect a marketing professional (junior or senior) to be able to sell themselves – and what better way then using the Internet. Just a LinkedIn account would be a start. In the future, I believe this will be the bare minimum for many positions in the workforce – not just those that work in Creative or Marketing.
Given that the news is sadly filled with layoffs, downsizing, and economic ugliness – what are you doing to ensure that you are “recession proof”? If you were to lose your job tomorrow – what would you do? Would you immediately start furiously writing a new résumé, applying for any and all jobs that you might be qualified for – posted on Workopolis and Monster and then wait, wait, wait for the darn phone to ring.
I was laid off once, and I implore you be prepared. Be ready 2009 style.
So here are the things you need to do, just in case:
Social Network
1 . Network online and offline. Extend your network by connecting with like-minded individuals. Don’t underestimate the power of social networks including Facebook, and Twitter.
2. LinkedIn of course is the obvious choice for business networking. Keep your profile up-to-date, and of course add colleagues, friends and connections to your LinkedIn network.
3. With all social networks share, collaborate and help followers and friends. Post interesting articles (including, but not exclusive to your own), answer questions, and comment on tweets, status’ and posts. Get involved and check-in regularly.
4. Don’t forget social networking started off-line – and despite our dependence on computers you can still get out there and meet new people! Attend community events, professional meetups, conferences, classes and Tweetups!
Create an online résumé and portfolio
5. The problem with a résumé is that it is just a piece of paper. There are no hyperlinks (oh sure you can add them but once it is printed out, or placed in a text only application form…poof it’s gone), there are no pictures, no graphs, no presentations, no videos and no personality. An online portfolio however can be all of that.
Take a look at mine – (a work in progress) at MichelleKostya.com
Be an expert in your field
6. Start a blog. Why not – everyone is doing it! Write about what you love, what you know, and what you wish you knew! Be passionate and personal (eventually people WILL read your blog!)
7. Perhaps you are more of a talker then a writer. Start a podcast and broadcast your expertise. Equipment can be relatively inexpensive and there are a plethora of places you can post your podcast out into the world.
8. Create Videos, E-books, Host Webinars or Guest Post – all are ways to get your name out in your field.
9. Even if you aren’t a blogger consider commenting on blogs (with all the bloggers commenting it is a bit of a echo chamber!). This will help you expand your network, encourage you to read and learn more, and maybe even enhance your confidence and writing skills! Consider using FriendFeed so you can “lifestream” your comments and share your expertise!
10. Get active on industry forums and discussion groups. Help out others…and they may reciprocate when you need it. Ah…Karma.
Added bonus…you could also do this:
job offer t-shirt
Image from Flickr Creative Commons- SocialisBetter
In Summary…
Don’t rely on a piece of paper when and if the time comes that you need to get out there and find a new job. As Dan Udey (@danudey) said in a Tweet to me when I asked Twitterland about the relvence of résumé: “resumes are becoming less interesting than who you are and what you’ve done”.
And, never assume you are safe. When it comes down to it – only you will look after YOU. During a recession – a company will just look at numbers – so sympathy, years, experience, or passion may not help you keep your job. Don’t wait until it is too late to update your résumé, skills and portfolio.
What do you think – are résumés still enough? What else are you doing?
Popularity: 34% [?]
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Tags: blogging, career, facebook, Internet, job hunting, jobs, linkedin, online portfolio, podcasting, resume, social media, social network, top 10, twitter, web 2.0
Google Analytics for Bloggers Part 1: Why use analytics?
Jan 13, 2009 Digital Marketing & Metrics, Web Analytics
Why do you blog?
Most bloggers will answer that they want to share their knowledge, thoughts, and experiences with others. Whether you write a personal blog, a career blog, or a business blog it is important to know about your visitors. Without visitors you could just simply be talking to yourself, and if that is the case – you might as well write a journal and keep it by your bedside table.
Most of us, don’t blog for ourselves – we blog for our visitors – so knowing about them helps us create content that they will come back for!
Why Analytics?
Using an Analytics package you can find out:
- Where your visitors come from
- How they came to find your blog
- How many pages they visited (what content interested them!)
- How long they stayed and perused your blog
- How many folks return
Pretty valuable stuff. But each on its own isn’t necessarily meaningful. You need to look at the data as a whole to find the the story, and determine what it means to your blog.
As Mack Collier says on The Viral Garden: “Studying the raw numbers really isn’t that important, understanding that those numbers are REAL PEOPLE, and then understanding what’s motivating them to read your blog is what matters.”
What do you do with this information?
- Discover what topics are the most popular to your visitors – the new and the return visitors.
Keep this in mind when you are writing new posts – will your visitors enjoy this content? Is this what they are coming back for? Or has a change in topics caused a shift in your visitors? - Find out the best ways to promote your blog or learn how successful a new link back is:
Did you “pimp” your post in a special way – post it on Facebook, Twitter, send an e-mail blast to friends? Did you gain traffic by commenting on other blogs? Did someone link to you? Can where they came from tell you anything about the people visiting? - Find out what keywords are driving traffic to your blog
They can be strange. But some will tell a story for example: trends and topics of interest. Use the keywords that are central to your blog and that drive valuable traffic to your site in your content. - If you post downloads such as PDFs, or link to internal or external pages you can track downloads and exit pages. This is just one way you can use analytics to measure your success over time.
Using analytics you can focus on the content that is resonating with your visitors – and in doing so encourage new visitors. If you are using analytics what are you looking for? What have you learned and how has it helped you as a blogger? If you aren’t using analytics, why not?
Watch for the next post in this series:
Google Analytics for Bloggers Part 2: Set-up
Popularity: 16% [?]
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Tags: blogging, google analytics, measurement, roi, tools, Web Analytics
#GNO with @jessicaknows: A Summary of Twitter’s Girl’s Night Out
Jan 7, 2009 Advertising, Blogs, Books, Consumer Brands, Digital Marketing & Metrics, Microblogging, PR, Search Marketing, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Web Analytics, social networks, word of mouth
Jessicaknows
I missed some of the #GNO (Girls Night Out) discussion on Twitter last night so I went into Twitter Search and read the discussion. As always, it was a bit of a dizzying conversation last night – trying to keep up with the multitude of posts. So, it was difficult getting all the tips from @jessicaknows during the discussion.
I tried to pull as much as I could into this compilation. I hope this helps others as well.
Attracting PR Peeps for your Blog
A lot of participants were interested in reviewing more products and wondered how to go about doing this more often.
@jessicaknows said that she doesn’t think that there is a magic number with regards to traffic on your site in attracting PR. She noticed a lot of attention once she had about 20,000 monthly visitors to her blog. However, she suggests if you write about the products you are passionate about the PR folks will follow.
My two cents: She is absolutely correct, while the PR people will look for an engaged community the numbers may not matter as much if you are passionate and are considered an “influencer”. In this case, your review would simply be the tip of the iceberg. An influencer will tend to spread “word of mouth” throughout a variety of networks online and offline -giving a lot of added value to the campaign – beyond the blog post. I hope to write more posts on books in 2009 since that is my passion. I don’t have 20,000 monthly visitors – but I have already received two books for review in the past. (Dan Ariely – Predictibly Irrational and Don Tapscott – Grown Up Digital)
Use Social Media to Build Your Own Community
@jessicaknows suggests that you pick 3 social media tools & be consistent use them everyday. She uses three social networks: Twitter (obviously), Facebook and LinkedIn. She also uses StumbleUpon for bookmarking regularly. She uses LinkedIn to connect with lots of PR folks, and mom owned business she can partner and work with in the future. On Facebook she prefers to “friend” people she knows in real-life and friends she has met on other social networks (Twitter for example). For users concerned with privacy and sharing with virtual friends she had a great idea to have a user profile for personal use and a Fan Page for your business/blog/website. While the Fan Page will show you as an author, “fans” will have to request to be a friend in order to see your Facebook profile.
My two cents: I post all blog posts to Twitter and Facebook. I try to avoid using the robot when I have the time by personally summarizing the newest post in my status/tweet. Twitter is also a great place to promote DIY or How To Posts to people who are looking for specific help. I use Tweetburner to track click-through, which can give me an idea of how successful the tweet/status was. Note – don’t just do self-promotion, make sure you tweet other content outside of your own that you think your followers will find value in.
I have just started using StumbleUpon but I have definitely seen some traffic to my site through my profile. StumbleUpon allows you to find “friends” that have similar interests to you which is a great way to find new and interesting websites. Stumble others and perhaps they will Stumble you. All about Karma!
Couple other thoughts on Social Media:
- Use Video to promote your site by placing your URL in videos posted to YouTube
- Participate in Forums and Discussion groups in your topic area
- There are niche Social Networks that you can be involved in TwitterMoms, ClassyCloset and more…Create a profile and participate in the community
- Comment, comment, comment on other blogs. This is an easy way to promote your blog on other similar sites, and show some love to other bloggers.
- Try to link to other bloggers in your blog posts when possible. Give credit where credit is due, and share great information with your community.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
There was a great discussion around SEO last night during the #GNO. There were folks on all ends of the spectrum – from questions such as “What is SEO?” to helpful tips from experts. @jessicaknows suggests that this is an important part of driving traffic to your website. For Wordpress bloggers she recommends the SEO Plug-in, and she has signed up for SEOBook training to get up to speed on SEO.
My two cents: Having attended SES Toronto last year, I am a believer in SEO for building traffic to your site. I use All-in-One SEO Plug-in for my WordPress blog. I use H1, H2, H3 headers where possible in my blog posts, and try to include Keywords without sounding “canned”. SEO is great, but you also must use Analytics to compliment your SEO work. If you aren’t following your stats you won’t be able to measure your success, see what is working and what isn’t, and see where you might have holes. Your Analytics program can also tell you before you start SEO efforts what Keywords are driving traffic to your site, and later on you should follow data for trends in keywords and content that you may not have noticed otherwise.
My SEO for Marketers post is a good SEO 101 for new comers, and watch next week for my Google Analytics Series for Bloggers. Also, take a peak at my “learnings” from my analytics a little while ago
Blogger Relations and Onsite Details
A lot of blogger etiquette and on-site promotional ideas were brought up during the discussion, here are some of the points:
- It is all about helping others: @jessicaknows says “I establish relationships by learning about other ppl’s goals & what they’re all about & then introduce to each other”. This includes helping to promote blogs she believe in the most through her sites. I love this quote from her “it’s so easy…the key word is SOCIAL…use the “have a friend, be a friend” mantra in business and you can’t go wrong”
- Write often, and be consistent. She tries to write daily if she can. Obviously that isn’t feasible for everyone – but I know if I blog 2-3 times a week my traffic remains higher than if I blog 1 time a week. Perhaps that is just a no-brainer.
- Encourage conversation and open up channels for two way conversation.
- Show personality in your posts
- Offer Blog giveaways (check out @jessicaknows 15 days of Marketing Post on Giveaways)
- Attend offline events (Tweetups, Conferences)
For those of you who were at Girl’s Night Out – did I miss anything? Any other hints and tips to encourage traffic?
Popularity: 36% [?]
| 3.5 (1 person) |
Tags: #gno, blogging, girls night out, jessicaknows, marketing & communication, promotion, seo, traffic, twitter, Web Analytics, web traffic
Feed Troubles: Posts You Might Have Missed
Nov 26, 2008 Blogs
In the last week I have posted a few articles you may have missed if you are a subscriber (except for those of you who subscribe by email). Unfortunately, I had some Feedburner issues which seem to have been resolved now.
These are the posts that you have missed:
- li>My Top Web 2.0 Sites/a>
li>One Year and Counting/a>
li> Events: Planning for all Possibilities/a>
Enjoy!
Popularity: 5% [?]
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Tags: blogging, feedburner
5 Tips to Organization in Google Reader or How to Avoid Information Overload
Nov 26, 2008 Blogs, RSS, Social Media
Information overload is easy when you start subscribing to feeds in a feed reader. It seems everything is possible to subscribe to: news, searches, alerts, blogs, content on websites…And, why not! It allows the user to get the content without the hassle of visiting multiple sites. It is supposed to save you time. But when it is so easy to subscribe, you often subscribe to too much!
In July 2007, I wrote a post on RSS for beginners where I discussed the benefits of subscribing to feeds such as blogs or content on news sites, and some of the tools you can use to organize them. [If you want some helpful hints on what you can use RSS for - check out Parker's post on the Blogcampaigning blog.]
Now, one year and 200 subscriptions later, I have found myself for the 25th time having thousands of unread articles, reluctantly pressing the “Mark all as Read” button. So I decided to do a reorganization of my feed reader. Here are my tips to organizing your feed reader:
1. Delete blogs you aren’t reading
Over time you will subscribe to a lot of feeds, some you will read regularly and others you will find you skip more often than not, and indeed some you won’t read at all! To get rid of many subscriptions go into the Manage Subscriptions and click the trash can next to the ones you are deleting. Or, one at a time – just click “Feed Settings” and unsubscribe.
2. Create a “Must Read” folder
Which blogs do you regularly read? Check out “Trends” in Google Reader, it will show you the percentage of read items over the last 30 days for the feeds you have been reading. Pick your top 20 and move them into the “Must Read” folder
3. Use Starred Items and Tags
Save yourself time and effort trying to find articles later on. I use “Stars” and tags to save posts I might want to refer to later on. I categorize using tags to indicate what the post is about (Twitter, WOM, Facebook, consumer marketing, etc). I also use tags to show what I want to do with the post, for example if I want to print it out I tag it “print”, or if I want to use it for a future blog post I tag it “blog” and star it so I can easily find it later on.
4. Create feeds for frequently updated sites or infrequently read sites using AideRSS.
If you have hundreds of blogs that you read, as I do, you need a way to sort through to find the most valuable posts. This is where AideRSS comes in handy. Some blogs have 30-40 posts a day which can be hard to get through to find the gems. Plug the feed URL into AideRSS and it will show you the Best Posts, Great Posts and Good Posts (based on PostRank and engagement). You can then decide which posts you want to read – the best, the great, or the good ones. You can also choose to subscribe to this feed that you have created – so that you will ONLY get the “Great” posts in your feed reader. You can do this for multiple feeds. For example, I put all the blogs I subscribe to, that don’t fall in my “Must Reads”, into AideRSS. I subscribe to that feed – so I decrease the number of feeds by about 30%. AideRSS has some helpful videos on the site that explain the process.
5. Read and enjoy!
Start with your “Must Reads”, and if the other feeds get to be too much – you can press the “Mark all as Read”.
Popularity: 8% [?]
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Tags: blogging, google, google reader, guide, information, RSS
One Year and Counting
Nov 19, 2008 Blogs, Marketing & Communication, Web Analytics
I completely missed my blogs anniversary! July 19th would have been my one year anniversary at www.MEGOagain.com. However, I was a bit caught up in being at the end of my pregnancy and the impending arrival of baby number two!
So, while I missed the one year mark, stay tuned I am going to work on a celebration for my 1 1/2 year mark! Perhaps my first contest is in order.
In the meantime, some brief stats (because as you know I love analytics!)
Visitors to my blog are from (in order of most visits):
Canada (Toronto, Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver)
US (California, New York, Georgia, Texas)
UK (London, Manchester, Birmingham)
India
Australia
Phillippines
France
Israel
Most Popular Search terms driving traffic to my blog:
mego
mego michelle
my eyes glaze over
facebook advertising
eyes glaze over
wii remote hacks
michelle kostya
Most Popular Posts:
Marketing Traditional Products, with New Technology
Did I mention my subscribers has doubled since January! Woot!
Now I just need to get more of you to actually get involved- comment and suggest new content for the site. Thanks for subscribing.
If you are new to the blog – you can subscribe by email (over there on the left hand column) or by RSS.
Popularity: 6% [?]
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Tags: anniversary, blogging, Michelle Kostya
Stealing from Myself: Blog Plunder
Mar 25, 2008 Blogs, Parenting and More
I wrote a lengthy post for my “other” blog – my mommy blog, or parenting blog whatever you might like to call it…
While writing it I couldn’t really decide where it should go…it is about blogging, ethics, and intellectual property – which led me to believe it should go here on this site. But it was about what happened to another parenting blogger and so I felt perhaps the content would be better suited to those who read my mommy blog.
In the end, I think the post could go in both places and since it is my blog post (written by me…) I can post it here to! If you read my other blog- apologies for the repetition!
So I am reading Twitter posts by the people I follow last evening and I notice Queen of Spain says:
If we’re all our own f’ing brands now how in the HELL do I control that when ANYONE can take my shit & post it like I freaking WORK for them about 1 hour ago from web
I am intrigued…so I go back and read the trail of conversation. Here is the gist of what I uncover.
*dramatic pause…
Or rather the boy decided to get out of bed and torment the cat, go for a washroom break, ask for water, and remind me that he wanted to take the stuffed dog to school tomorrow.
end pause*
So, there is the web site called BlogNetNews which claims to be a blog aggregator – one that “jumps a generation ahead.”
They state in their “About”
We are going to use your feeds and the feeds of top bloggers from your online community to create new content and information that will organize this slice of the Internet making it work better for bloggers and their readers.
What?! Your going take blog feeds and ones by “top bloggers” without their permission? Just plop it on your own site, where YOU collect the ad revenue and yet YOU create NOTHING. How exactly are you creating “new content…to organize this slice of the Internet”? Is this your 1-10 rating system perhaps? The ability to show the “most clicked” or “hot comments”?
It would be one thing if the site had permission to use the bloggers’ content- but it seems from reading Queen of Spain’s various tweets – she was never asked to contribute – rather her parenting blog suddenly appeared on BlogNetNews. And, BlogNetNews won’t remove her feed.
Now to give credit to BlogNetNews, like other aggregators, if you want to read the entire post, or if you want to comment you are directed to the blogger’s site. You can only read the first 7-10 lines of the post on BlogNetNews. Which means that BlogNetNews could potentially drive traffic to these blogs. At the same time, the Permalinks link back to BlogNetNews.
I am no expert in Intellectual Property and copyright, but I certainly hope that when I write this blog, or my MEGO blog, that I own that content. Obviously, other bloggers are free to quote me – that kind of access exists in copyright of any written material – printed or or digital. But, to take the entire feed as your own content without permission, without authority is unethical.
Access CopyRight in Canada recognizes 3 content users: Educational Institutions, Businesses, Public and Not-for-Profit.
Prior to copying, emailing, scanning, or faxing materials from periodicals, journals, newspapers and books, businesses need to legally secure permission from the copyright owner.
The same goes for Public and Not-for Profit – only educational differs where a licence:
gives educators and students advance permission to copy from millions of copyright protected newspapers, magazines, journals and books from around the world, complementing what is allowed under fair dealing, educational exceptions under the Copyright Act, and through the public domain.
I could find very little on copying digital content on the site, only licensing information to copy to digital formats (scans, Intranets etc).
However, this little tidbit suggested that when it comes to online content:
If no copyright notice is provided, or if the copyright notice does not allow the use you want to make, a good starting point for getting clarification or permission is to send an email to the site’s webmaster.
Obviously the web is a very different beast, where a “printed edition” doesn’t stem from one particular country where a licensing agent such as Access Copyright can help to determine help negotiate agreements between intellectual property owner and interested party, but it seems only common courtesy to do as Access Copyright suggested – and ask for permission!
What do you think?
UPDATE:
Visit Queen of Spain for her communication with the editor of BNN and if you are were unlucky enough to get scraped – make sure you contact him (his contact info is on her post).
City Mama also posts a link to another post which gives you more background on BNNs editor, David Mastio. Ironically, Mastio is a former GWB speech writer! And, quite obviously a serious douchebag.
Technorati Tags: intellectual property,ethics,blogging,copyright,michelle Kostya,mego
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Tags: blogging, copyright, intellectual property, MEGO, Michelle Kostya, mommy blog
Six Points of Change
Mar 22, 2008 Blogs, Web Tools & Applications
If you are a regular reader (welcome, to new readers!) you would have noticed that two weeks ago MEGOagain got a new look. Thanks to my friend Janice (who has been known to say “Friends don’t let friends use blogger”), who set me up on my own self-hosted site on Wordpress. My brother in England also helped with the move since the technical workings of my original blog were unknown to me!
The other day, I was listening Mitch Joel’s Six Pixel’s of Separation Podcast (episode 95) where he went over Six Ways to Re-energize a Podcast. So I thought I would see how it might help me revitalize my blog. With my long break from writing in January, and the move to Wordpress – perhaps it is time to revisit the blog. Re-energize, revitalize, revisit.
This is Mitch Joel’s Six Points of Separation – Six Ways To Re-energize A Podcast:
1. Format.
2. Length.
3. Feedback.
4. Voices.
5. Audio comments.
6. Quality.
How can I use these for my blog?
1. Format: With the move from Blogger to Wordpress, I made a big change to my format, adding a column which gives me more space to promote previous posts, top commenters, and of course my other social networks. I have also added an “About” page so you can learn more about me (if you are so inclined!). Eventually, I hope to add a “Books” page where I can include reviews, and top 10 lists of my favourite books. Despite no longer working in publishing – I am still an addict.
2. Length: This is one I definitely need to work on! Most of my posts are on the long-side. I will make a concerted effort to throw in a few short (yet, equally thought-provoking posts!). Of course if you want my really, really short micro-blogs you will have to follow me on Twitter.
3. Feedback: Comments are a big part of a blog – without them – it would be just an article on the web. Yet, most of my readers don’t comment. The comment field is simply not enough. I must ask questions, request opinions and encourage the feedback from my readers.
4. Voices: This is a tough one. How to add voices to a blog without adding additional writers to the blog? I read about 150 other blogs, from Mom-blogs, to Marketing, to general business blogs. I read many that often make me think – I could add to that conversation, and I have something more to say that can’t be said in a comment. Sadly, I “star” the article in Google Reader and forget about it. So now, I am starting “drafts” in my blog writer, with notes on my initial thoughts and the article name – so that I can go back to it. I will attempt to bring in additional voices and opinions in this way. Bonus, it gives me added blog fodder!
5. Audio comments: For the purpose of the blog we will discuss “Comments”. How do I use the comments that I receive more effectively? First I think I need to conquer number 3 – how do I encourage more comments… then use those comments to create future posts as a continuation of the conversation.
6. Quality: Mitch Joel was referring to audio quality, but I will refer to the written word. I do my best to make this readable – but often in the heat of the post (and of course the limited time I have between work and a toddler!) I publish without taking a closer look. I am an old-school editor, meaning I prefer printing and editing on paper. However, my printer is in the basement because we no longer have a desktop computer, so my blogs don’t get printed and edited. I edit on the computer as best I can! If you notice a typo, spelling error or incorrect grammar – send me a message! I would offer a prize – but I am afraid with the number of errors I would be poor soon! **Please note, this is Canadian blog – so favorite and flavor – is correctly spelled when I type “favourite” and “flavour”.
Here is where I am going to add a 7th Point of Separation:
7. Promotion: What is a blog without readers? When I initially started my blog I listed myself on some blog listings, and of course on Technorati. I told all my friends about the blog (and anyone who would listen). But since then I have grown lazy in my promotion. So with my re-energizing efforts I have done a few things:
- Added Twitterfeed plugin- so that my posts get posted on Twitter as a tweet.
- My Twitter automatically goes into my Facebook status, but I will also add a note to Facebook when I add a post. I write two blogs and Facebook only allows one blog to be imported so my other one is being imported as a note.
- I add each post to my Google Shared Items – which automatically adds a link to Feedheads (Facebook) and my feed on FriendFeed.
- I have also tried promoting this blog on my mommy-blog and vice versa (See Is it a boy or a girl?)
- I added “Share This” so if readers like what they read they can easily share the post on: Facebook, Digg, Reddit, Technorati, StumbleUpon…etc
Do you have any other ideas on promoting my blog? Feedback on the new look? I would love to hear your thoughts on the changes I have made, and ideas on future changes.
Popularity: 9% [?]
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Tags: blogging, megoagain, promoting blogs, six pixels of separation, wordpress
