News June 7, 2005
The work world has evolved past
beating the pavement with a
handful of carefully crafted
paper résumés. While old world
press the flesh and kiss some
babies type of personal
marketing can be invaluable,
employers are ever-increasingly
looking toward the Internet to
find prospective employees. And
if you ain't on the net these
days, you ain't anywhere.
Editor's Note:
More and more people are talking
about the potential of web logs
and their various uses. One of
the more compelling ideas is for
personal
marketing/branding-building an
online image that works as a
career agent to highlight your
skills and your expertise. Do
you think adding a web log to
your online portfolio is useful
or a waste of precious time? Do
you have a web log that you use
for this purpose? Discuss at
WebProWorld.
Building a career, if you're
smart about it, becomes a
brick-by-brick process akin to
building a business. The
essentials of business successes
rest squarely upon the shoulders
of marketing, accessibility, and
demand. So, if you haven't
placed your product well, then
you end up at the end of the
Internet, or worse, not in there
at all.
 My
friends, ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls (excuse me as I
raise my top hat and twirl my
cane), step right up and allow
me, Jason Miller of WebProNews,
to fill you in on the hottest
new trend in professional
personal marketing, something so
simple a child could do it, an
underexploited tool known as the
web log.
Here are the benefits of adding
a blog to your professional
online portfolio:
Personal branding: A professional web log becomes your personal
brand-a recognizable, searchable
(more importantly-findable),
representative you don't have to
pay to say the right things
about you. It's awake 24/7, and
is always available for comment.
Networking:
CareerXroads reports that
61% of all external hires come
through two channels-employee
referrals and the Internet.
Creating a web log allows access
to the image that you build for
yourself and makes it easier to
project that image to the 1000
daily visitors (a midrange
estimate) to your blog. That's
1000 potential contacts.
Better than a web
portfolio: A web portfolio
is, essentially, an online
résumé, professionally laid out
with accomplishments and work
history. But what makes blogs
more powerful is that they are
more likely to pop up on SERP's.
That is because of detailed and
regularly updated content. A web
portfolio seldom changes and is
limited to a stagnant list of
brownie points. Blogging takes
its edge from the content
available that can always link
back to you portfolio. Blogging
also sets you up as an expert in
your field much better than a CV
(curriculum vitae).
Searchability:
Alluded to perhaps 30 seconds
ago (stop looking at your
watch), the ability to be
"googled" is quite impressive to
many people and is a coveted,
industry commanding presence.
Blogging helps to set up your
search-worthiness. A recent poll
by Harris Interactive stated
that 23% of the net savvy google
the names of potential business
contacts.
This article was written by
Jason L. Miller of WebProNews (Google
me).
With the flood of applicants
that come into a company via the
web, employers are looking for
various tactics to weed out the
unqualified. This is especially
true because of the so-called
"employment spammers," who apply
to all jobs they see whether
they are qualified or not.
 But
what the spammers are getting
right (in a twisted, pathetic
kind of way) is a simple concept
of repetition. If your name
continues to pop up in various
circles-linked to from websites
and other blogs, hitting the
SERPs with varied
consistency-then the name will
begin to stick into people's
minds. Not only your name, but
what you're about.
The foundation of any good
marketing campaign is name
recognition and that most often
comes from name repetition.
This article was written by
Jason L. Miller of WebProNews (Google
me, I'm really on there!).
And hence, the annoyingly
repetitious vein running through
my article. Just proving a
point.
In conclusion, if you want a leg
up over people competing with
you in your field, try and be
ahead of the curve, balancing on
the cutting edge of personal
marketing. While, the others are
busy licking stamps and wearing
out their shoes on downtown
sidewalks, you may be sporting a
new pair of shoes as you walk
into your new office. You don't
have to take my word for it,
though. Check out this Sun
Microsystems employee
blog on 10 reasons blogging
is good for your career.
About the Author:
Jason L. Miller is a
staff writer for
WebProNews covering
technology and business. |
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