Month: July 2012

Social Media the No.1 Recruitment Pool!

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date July 3, 2012

This is a guest blog post by Olan Ahern, a specialist in social media created on behalf of Sentiment Metrics.

According to a recent report from ABCNews, 80% of today’s jobs are landed through networking, social networking being the main reason for this. In recent years, we have all seen the rapid development of social media; from Facebook check ins to pinning your favourite interests. Everything about everyone seems to be available online. This has been the catalyst for a dramatic change in the recruitment process. From multinational organisations to small local businesses, the change has been evident across all levels! Employers are sick of dishing out thousands on recruitment agencies, veering away from recruitment agencies; employers are using the power of social media to bolt them into the future. Job seekers and graduates a like have recognised this shift, identifying that social media is the best platform to connect with employers. Pimping up there profiles and connecting with those who bare influence in their aspiring industries. More and more job seekers are becoming aware that having a strong online presence can be the difference to landing their dream job or not. Here are some helpful tips to secure you landing that dream job.

Social media tips to improve your online presence

Register on Linked In and get involved; LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. In March, 2012, there was a reported 161million users. More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages making it a prime place to engage with potential employers. With over one million groups, LinkedIn is the best platform for exchanging ideas, chatting with potential employers and connecting with old and existing colleagues who may help you in your job search.

Tips;

Ask for recommendations from your ex-colleagues and employers.
Add your written work such as guest blogs and academic coursework to your account.
Add work experience, an excellent opportunity to highlight your skills and qualities.
Leverage your second degree connections – you’ll be shocked at the amount of relevant people your friends and other connections can introduce to you.

Get blogging; It’s important in this day and age to difference ate yourself and stand out from the crowd; there is no better way to do this than by setting up your own personal blog. This gives you the chance to highlight your skills and passion for your industry. One can write about anything, from topical issues in the news to their pet hates. Many people have used this as a platform in the past such as Aman Basanti who says his blog was the reason for landing his $100k job.

Tips;

Use Twitter to leverage your blog and contact influencers. This broadens your reach. It’s a good idea to mention influencers in blog posts and tweet at them; grabbing their attention and getting noticed in your industry. People love having their egos boosted by being referenced to. This is an excellent way to engage with them.
You need to remember two things when writing your blog; authenticity and quality. It’s important to be authentic when creating content and good content is essential to engagement. Communicating authentically can get you noticed in any industry and can give you an edge. So write original posts with your own point of view.

Be proactive on Twitter; Twitter has become the main source of communication to connect directly with individuals, whether being recruiters or employees at companies you want to work for.

Tips;

By conducting Twitter searches, following recruiters on your account and communicating with them on occasion, you will start to learn a lot about them and their companies.
Follow professionals and recruiters in your field, a lot of the time jobs may be advertised online and appear on their Twitter feeds.

Connect your social media accounts; connecting your social media accounts enables you to reach a larger target audience. More importantly it allows you to showcase what you have to offer.

Tips;

Ensure your social media accounts are secure, so potential employers can’t find anything too damaging about you. Hence, choose wisely when deciding upon your profile pictures, and comments you make, especially around the time of applying for a job.
Be smart; if your social media accounts are connected make sure your content is not explicit or damaging to your online presence.
Link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Engage with the employees of jobs you are interested in and relevant people that could be interested in your skills and you as an individual.

Remember, social media is now the first part of the interview, so every time you create something authentic via social media you are giving yourself an edge over a person who may have the exact same qualifications as you.

Business Ideas

5 Great Ways To Stay Motivated In The Office

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date July 3, 2012

Working is not always fun and it is a fact that at some point you will hit a point where you don’t feel like doing anything. Entrepreneurship is not always fun and taking a slump is common, hence the need to know how to get motivated and retrace your performance spirit. In order to have a happier, more energetic and productive working etiquette you should observe the following 5 great ways to stay motivated in the office.

First and foremost, you should practise listing of positive remarks you get form your clients so that you have something to feel appreciated about even in low seasons. Whenever you get a positive remark sent to you, you may at least save it in a separate document so that you can refer to the compiled list when need be and get a renewed perspective. This is a definite approach to get motivation even if the same clients are the ones giving you a hard time at that moment.

Second, it is necessary that you find a distraction from the normal routine, so that you break the monotony of the office. You can find anything different to do such as having lunch with a friend or meeting up with some colleagues for any fun activity. You can also shut the office and take time to do some exercises. You may try jogging, swimming or any other favourable work out that you can manage. It is important to note that whatever you do should not be in any way similar to what you are used to doing.

Third, you need to arrange your office so that it is comfortable and easy to manipulate. The desk organization, sitting position and ventilation of your office should be reviewed to offer a unique and more exciting perspective. Sitting in one corner of the room everyday can become boring and at the same time a clustered room can be very demoralizing. You need to make changes such that you shift your position and get roman blinds ready made to allow light and air into the room. They are great in lighting up the room and making it more conducive.

Fourth, you should find people to talk to and share your office problems or even the regular happenings of your workplace with. Forums are quite exceptional for airing such views because you can find people with the same situation and this can be motivational even though it might not be helpful in solving the problem. Your mind will be settled knowing that you are not the only one with the problem.

Lastly, you should try and take a look at your previous projects and find the ones that were most interesting. Once you get the pattern, you can then seek the same kind of work to make your freelancing more exciting.

Human Resource

Getting the Best Out of Your Employees

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date July 3, 2012

When running a business you really need to make sure that your employees work to their full potential. To do so you need to build a good relationship with them, starting from the first time you meet. You must make them feel welcome, rather than making them feel like a distraction from your own work.

It is important for you to allow your new employees to work at their own pace. Even if people have experience in the relevant field they will still take time to adjust, as although they may have done a similar role in their previous job, every company does things a little different. Although it is important to set targets, you must give your new employees targets that are easy to reach, and possibly surpass. Once they have learned the ropes you can start setting them more difficult targets; targets that they will really have to push themselves to achieve. If they have high aspirations they will work hard to try to meet these goals.

You must also allow your staff the chance to progress. You should provide training for anyone who wants it, so that they can learn new skills in a bid to move up the ladder. Doing the same thing day in day out can get very stale, and so if people are not given the opportunity to move up, you might soon find them moving on. You wouldn’t want to lose your best employees.

If you fulfil your employee’s aspirations, they should be happy. But you can always make them happier. People often feel like they’re stuck with their colleagues, that they have no say in the matter, which I guess would be true. But if your employees become friends, then they’ll look forward to coming to work, and work will be more fun. You may want to think about organising a staff night out or a team bonding trip. Events like these will always bring people closer together, meaning that when it comes to work, they will work better with each other.

Finally, to get the best out of your employees, you need to treat them as equals. Always listen to what they have to say, and take their opinions into account, because you will probably need them more than they need you.

Online Business

The Simplicity Concept – SEO Tips That Work after Panda

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date July 1, 2012

Simplicity is the best SEO concept that produces results.

Search engine optimization is a wide subject, and a lot of people think they have to know the various processes before it can work for them. But the right steps to take when trying to beat competitions and emerge as the foremost internet business website in your niche, is to simplify SEO.

Create a platform whereby you can interact with proven facts, instead of flowing with guess work and assumptions.
In line with your goal, here are three simple ways to fully implement SEO, and how to produce the right Content that works. See next line:

Create – Convince – Capture – Convert

Create Unique Content

Before search engines could send organic traffic to your website, you need to create unique Content. Regurgitated Content will not cut in – at least, not in the Panda and Penguin era. The best content creation process begins with thorough research.

Getting to know your competitors is a good thing. If a particular webpage is ranking against or ahead of you, it’s the right time to ask intelligent questions.

What have you failed to do? Are your keywords good enough and how competitive are they? Once you can answer these questions, you’ll be able to craft undiluted articles, press releases, blog posts, review articles and so forth to boost your ranking.

Note: keyword research should be the foundation of every search engine optimization task. It doesn’t matter if you want engagement on your site or to sell a specific product or service, without giving search engine spiders directions, your target audience would wander off your path.

But use keywords discreetly, placing them naturally as though they’re part of the content itself. Start creating exceptional Content today.

Convince the Prospect

There is no better way to convince prospects than to use a strong voice. You can’t afford to imitate competitors, or walk in their shadows. Potential customers who need your product and services are desperate for that unique personality.
Until you convince them, the quality and valuable products in your warehouse will not be sold. Did you know that attracting targeted traffic from Google isn’t the yardstick for making sales? You might get 1000 buyers to your sales page, but if the hook is missing, they would click away.

Have a unique personality. Connect emotionally with people. If you research long-tail keywords and optimize with them in your Content, the chances of ranking on Google first page within a short while is high, but it wouldn’t make a difference until you master the art of persuasion. Copywriters understand that persuasion is the key to winning sales and generating buyer leads.

Capture the Audience

Real marketing doesn’t end with quality Content and distribution. The most vital task in web marketing is to capture your audience. While search engines can send the prospects to you, it’s your duty to convert them.
Most internet entrepreneurs are struggling to boost sales. They have neglected the primary objective of starting a business – which is to provide the right solutions to a set of people. It would be easier to convert your audience if they’re the right people.

That means the content you create has a part to play in leading the right audience to your product funnel. If your content isn’t relevant or well-planned, you might be serving the wrong people.

When you capture leads, you should follow-up with in-depth information about your product or service. It’s all about serving the right meals to those who matter in your business. Since they’ve given you the go-ahead (permission), nothing should stop you from profiting.

Convert Prospects into Customers

Connecting and communicating with prospects can evolve into a more profitable system. When we offer SEO to small, mid-sized and fortune 500 companies, our focus is on establishing the right platform that can funnel paying customers to their businesses.

If you know an author in your city that is making success with every launch, understand that he or she has built a platform. You can’t sell to yourself or to your families and expect to be in business for long. Search engine optimization is the light that brightens up your internet marketing path. It all begins with a tiny idea. An idea that’s has a root in market and keyword research coupled with well-crafted Content.

Use search engines to attract responsive prospects. Turn strangers to subscribers and establish good platform for selling. Until I receive your comments, see you at the top!

About the Author:

Brian Nixon is a search engine optimizer who writes for Pitstop Media Inc, a Vancouver SEO company that provides top rated services to businesses across North America.