C-level Job Search: Blogging? What Am I Going To Write About? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

I encourage my clients to get involved with blogging in some way. Even a focused strategy of regular commenting and guest blogging on relevant blogs can have value and significant impact.

If they like to write (and perhaps have a number of articles or white papers under their belt) and have something to say about their industry and areas of expertise, starting their own blog is a good-fit strategy for their brand communications plan.

Why blogging?

Top-level executives (and other job seekers) are getting on the radar of recruiters and employer’s hiring decision makers, and landing jobs because they blog.

Hiring authorities found them when they were keyword searching online for viable candidates.

Some of these executive job seekers were offered opportunities in the “hidden job market” — positions not posted anywhere — because their blogging demonstrated their subject matter expertise and credibility, and positioned them as a good fit for a company.

Don’t assume that a blog won’t be of benefit unless you post several times a week. You can set up your blog so that posts do not include dates, so no one will know your posting frequency. Or, you can set up your blog to look like a career web portfolio or personal website with no blog stream at all – just pages and perhaps several important articles or white papers.

For both scenarios, you have the ability to publish new blog posts whenever (and if ever) you feel like it.

And your blog posts don’t have to be lengthy manifestos every time you write. In fact, with the busy schedules and short attention spans of most readers, brief posts of, say, 300-400 words (that’s only 3-5 paragraphs!) may be better, with an occasional long one thrown in. Long posts may be better broken up into a series of several short ones.

So how do you come up with good ideas for blog posts that will help advance your brand promise and ROI value to your target employers?

Here are some suggestions:

→ The categories you choose to list on your blogsite (you can always add/subtract later), which should represent relevant keywords and phrases for your industry and niche, will likely prompt blog posts. And you can routinely Google these phrases (in quotes) for research and to see what others are writing about them.

→ Set up Google Alerts (one of my favorite tools) to stay informed of issues impacting your industry and target companies. Some Alerts to set up:

• Names of your target companies and/or those you want to be informed about
• Names of key decision makers in your target companies
• Key word phrases relevant to your niche and target job(s)
• Names of your target companies’ relevant products or services
• Job position(s) and industry you’re seeking.
• Names of subject matter experts and thought leaders in your industry and niche.
• Names of any other people whose radar you want to get on.

→ Subscribe to your target companies’ blogs and those of industry thought leaders and subject matter experts. Do Google, Technorati, and Alltop searches on their names and relevant keyword phrases to find relevant blogs. See what they’re writing about, and blog about the same things.

→ Subscribe to (or just read) industry publications.

→ Peruse the big publications – NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, etc. – for industry news.

→ Re-purpose articles and white papers you’ve written. If they’re too long for one post, break them up into a series of 2, 3 or more.

→ Write a post commenting about someone else’s post. Include the title of their post with a link. Many benefits to this strategy – these are usually fairly quick to write, the blog post author will be very flattered by your support and mention, and your generosity builds community. For even better impact, coincide these kinds of posts by posting a comment on the original blog post.

→ Keep track of good posts by other bloggers you’ve read all week and do a Friday weekly roundup listing 4 or 5 posts with links and include a brief encapsulation. That takes almost no thought or time, and makes a connection with another blogger!

In your posts and post titles, frequently use relevant keyword phrases, and mention people and products of your target companies. Someone at those companies has set up Google Alerts to monitor mentions of these names and products. Recruiters and employer’s hiring decision makers search industry-relevant keyword phrases online and have Google Alerts set for those keyword phrases. These people are very likely to find you.

My related posts:

You’re a C-level Executive Job Seeker and You’re NOT Blogging?

Executive Job Search and Blogging: Perfect Together

From Job-Hunt.org, Build Your Personal Brand Online by Guest Blogging

From Job-Hunt.org, Personal Branding With Blog Comments

Blogging Milestones – Taking Up Darren Rowse’s Challenge is a post from: Executive Career Brand

ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse, a pioneering full-time blogger, challenged his readers to choose 7 posts that fit the following specific themes. Here are my own choices:

1. Your first post

From May 2008, actually the third post on my Executive Resume Branding blog, but my first decent one, The Inside Skinny on Powering Up Your Executive Resume for Today’s Job Market.

I think it holds up well, with some good advice including the “4 – 5 – 2 rule” when writing executive resumes (although there are exceptions):

• No more than 4 lines in one paragraph or chunk of information
• No more than 5 bulleted short statements blocked together
• No more than 2 pages total for the resume (I’m not so strict about this anymore)

2. A post you enjoyed writing the most

Kind of a tough one because I love blogging so much, I rarely don’t like a post I’ve written. In re-reading My Close Encounter With Paul Newman, the initial thrill of the event comes right back.

3. A post which had a great discussion

The misinformation swirling around social media about what branding is prompted me to write What Personal Branding is NOT in December 2009. Quite a few people weighed in with comments.

4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written

My friend and colleague, Online Job Search Expert Susan P. Joyce’s Lifelong Learning for Career Security because, often neglected, continuous learning is critical for job seekers at all professional levels, and for everyone else, for healthy career management.

5. A post with a title that you are proud of

You’re a C-level Executive Job Seeker and You’re NOT Blogging?

The title could just as easily be “Why C-level Executives Need to Blog”, but it wouldn’t have the same punch. I hoped to capture the attention of senior executives who really do need to be blogging to build online brand visibility, and credibility for their subject matter expertise, to help them land their next great gig.

6. A post that you wish more people had read

I invested a lot of time and thought into writing the 3-part series, Think Like an Executive Resume Branding Expert.

The three posts are loaded with information detailing how I strategize writing executive resumes. I wrote this in September 2008, before I started tweeting and before LinkedIn had the Wordpress app, so it didn’t gain much traction. This reminds me to go back and retweet this post, and other important ones.

7. Your most visited post ever

Hands down, 14 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter, on my Executive Resume Branding blogsite, by far had the most visits and generated the most retweets (320 as of this morning) of any post I’ve ever written.

And my update here on Executive Career Brand, 14 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter [Revisited], is the most visited and retweeted post (256 as of this morning) on this blogsite. Both posts continue to get a lot of action.

If you’re a blogger, try taking Darren’s challenge. I think you’ll find it illuminating to look back and see how your writing has tightened and improved. Revisiting older posts can incite new blog post ideas, and be a reminder to resurrect some of them by retweeting them once again.

Related posts:

Top 10 Reasons My Personal Brand and I Love Blogging

Finding My Blog Personal Brand Voice

Is Your Personal Brand Lurking Behind the Blogging Scene?

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People with Social Media is a post from: Executive Career Brand

With acknowledgment to Irving Tressler, who wrote his parody of Dale Carnegie’s famous “How to Win Friends and Influence People“, both published in 1937.

Snarkiness and downright rudeness seem to be on the rise across social media.

Maybe more of it is coming my way, as my social network expands. Maybe I’m too sensitive to it. Or maybe, because their voices are usually the loudest and most aggressive ones, they reverberate and dig at me more.

I’m talking about the lack of common courtesy and manners, and people spewing hurtful epithets and vitriol, instead of making life more pleasant as we all muddle through our daily challenges.

Why do people feel it’s their right to publish negative content about people they don’t like and possibly don’t even know, with no regard for how their words impact that person – internally and in their perception to the external world?

Is it naive to expect kindness over nastiness on these public platforms? Is it too much to hope that people have learned and practice what is second nature to many of us – “If you have nothing nice to say about someone, say nothing”?

I like to think that eventually their passion for sniping about others will come back to bite them, but comeuppance may not ruffle them at all, or cause them to rethink the way they operate. Maybe they purposefully mean to brand themselves as snide, thoughtless people.

The thing is, many, many people are giddy about aligning themselves with these proponents of negativity, and happily jump on their brandwagons. The more their bad behavior is reinforced, the more they’re encouraged to be snarkier still.

With its conversational chumminess, Twitter especially is riddled with mean-spirited and, frankly, tiresome remarks excused by the perpetrators who forewarn us in their Twitter bios that “I tell it like it is. If you don’t like it, don’t follow me”, or similar words.

Well of course, on Twitter you can un-follow anyone you want to, but these rants against you will still pop up in your @username mentions. And plenty of other people out there are reading this stuff about you.

I’ve gotten Twitter mentions referring to blog posts of mine, stating that my opinions were flat out wrong. I foolishly tried defending my stance in the past, but no more.

I’ve received tweets telling me to change my twitter handle (@MegGuiseppi) because my name is too hard to spell.

Someone I don’t know on Twitter published a tweet accusing me of misusing the word “executive”. What? I’ve been working with executives (my client base) for over 20 years. I think I know who they are and how to use the word properly. And even if I didn’t, who asked you, and why tell the world?

There are Twitter people passing judgement and tw(outing) people who have photos they don’t like.

I have a few blog comments on my Executive Resume Branding blog waiting to be approved that disparage opinions of mine and demean me as a person. I choose not to approve and post them.

I read a blog post recently on a highly-esteemed site that basically dissed career coaches as dispensers of damaging job seeking advice, and then at the end of the post, dug the knife in by daring any of us in the profession to rebut. The author was clearly looking to boost her blog comments, and delighted in the repercussions she hoped she’d set in motion.

In my world, Dale Carnegie’s core principles should always hold true – for real-life and virtual interaction:

• Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
• Give honest and sincere appreciation.
• Arouse in the other person an eager want.
• Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.
• Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never tell someone they are wrong.
• If you’re wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
• Appeal to noble motives.

Related posts:

Social Media Spins Too Fast

14 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter [Revisited]

LinkedIn Helps You Find the Right Twitter People to Follow

You’re a C-level Executive Job Seeker and You’re NOT Blogging?

You’re a C-level Executive Job Seeker and You’re NOT Blogging? is a post from: Executive Career Brand

Nothing works like a blog with the domain name “yourname.com” to extend your online identity, and build credibility and visibility around your executive brand, value proposition, industry subject matter expertise, and thought leadership.

Once it gains traction, yourname.com will likely be the first search result when people Google “your name”.

A personal blog builds real-time content and creates a well-organized resource for people assessing you to find out, or be led to, everything you want them to know about you. It does all this much better than a static website, and also demonstrates that you’re social media savvy.

Recruiters, employers, and hiring decision makers source c-suite and senior executive candidates through blogs. Want to get noticed by them and connect with them? Build a blog and they will come.

What’s that? You’re a busy executive and you just don’t have time to write the 2-3 blog posts each week you’ve heard you have to in order to maintain a blog? If you have time to write a new blog post, say, two or three times a month, that’s enough to reap the benefits of blogging.

A blog-based website can be configured to look and act like a traditional website, but have the SEO-friendly (search engine optimization) content-building benefits of a blog.

Blogging is a flexible platform. You can create a static landing page for your home page, instead of your blog stream. You can disable dates on your blog posts. In this way, no one will be aware of how frequently you post, but you’ll have the option of building real-time communications on your website when you want to.

It’s relatively easy to get a blog up and running, once you purchase the domain name. GoDaddy.com is an inexpensive (about $10/year), reliable place to do this, and you can set up hosting for a WordPress blog right there.

Go to WordPress Themes and pick a simple format. Find a free theme, if you wish. You can change the theme later. Or you can purchase the WordPress Thesis theme, which I use on this blog. Or you can work with an online identity strategist, web developer, and designer to create one from scratch.

Create several pages using your branded career portfolio of documents – executive resume, career biography (your “About” page), leadership initiatives brief, key contributions, publications, etc. – along with a contact page.

Get your pages together, along with several solid posts in various categories, before publishing your blog. It’s important for visitors to find enough things to read.

Whether or not you decide to build a blog, claim your name online by purchasing “yourname.com”. Do this right now! Also buy typical misspellings of your name. Until you build your site, forward your domain name to your Google profile or LinkedIn profile. When people type your name into a browser, they’ll be directed to an actual web page with on-brand information about you.

Afraid you’ll run out of things to blog about? Set up Google Alerts for the following and receive the latest published content on them right in your email inbox:

• Names of your target companies
• Names of leaders and key decision makers in your target companies
• Names of your target companies’ relevant products and/or services
• Key word phrases relevant to your niche and target job(s)
• Names of subject matter experts and thought leaders in your niche.
• Names of any other people whose radar you want to get on.
• Job position(s) and industry you’re seeking. For example, “COO Telecommunications” and also spell it out in a second alert “Chief Operating Officer Telecommunications”. These alerts will also inform you about companies in active hiring mode and provide a wealth of keywords and information to use in your blog posts.
• Your name and your blog name, to monitor incoming links to your site and know when people mention your name online.

More in my post, Google Alerts For Executive Job Search and Personal Brand Visibility.

How to blog for executive  jobs:

Look at your list of target companies. Blog about them – their new products, their leadership, challenges they’re facing that you know how to fix, outreach/community projects of theirs you admire, etc. Most companies have watchdogs tracking what’s published online about them. You’ll very likely be noticed.

Recruiters and hiring decision makers search industry-relevant keyword phrases to source candidates. Learn about SEO and keyword density. Use your relevant keywords in blog titles and content, so you’re more likely to be found by them.

But don’t wait for people to find you. Send a link to your relevant blog posts to hiring decision makers at your target companies, asking for their thoughts and encouraging them to post a comment. Also send a link to people in your network who would be interested.

Enable the WordPress or Blog Link application on your LinkedIn profile to sync your posts with your profile, connecting people with your posts.

If you’ve hesitated getting on board with Twitter because you don’t know what you’d tweet, blog posts provide built-in tweets. Twitter is actually an important blog traffic-building strategy you can accomplish easily by adding the Tweetmeme plug-in to your blog, and/or using a service like ping.fm to update your social networks with your latest blog posts.

Send Twitter Direct Messages (DM) to employers and hiring decision makers letting them know about your blog posts that mention their companies.

Don’t blatantly market yourself. Generate chemistry and engage people around your unique promise of value by writing about your subject matter expertise, but also write from time to time about your passions away from work.

Build community and conversation by blogging about other bloggers in your space. Link away to other sites, encouraging bloggers to link to your posts. Incoming links, especially from sites with strong link weight, are extremely valuable in building authority and increasing Google ranking for your site.

A few resources:

For advice on how to get started from some top bloggers, read my post, Executive Job Search and Blogging: Perfect Together.

To learn about SEO when blogging, read Copyblogger founder Brian Clark’s new e-book, How to Create Compelling Content That Ranks Well in Search Engines.

If I still haven’t convinced you to start your own blog, will you consider guest blogging and commenting on relevant blogs?

See my Job-Hunt.org article, Build Your Personal Brand Online by Guest Blogging

And my post, Blog Commenting: Build and Brand Your Online Identity and GQ (Google Quotient)

Another related post, 10 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand Online Without a Blog

My Personal Brand True Colors is a post from: Executive Career Brand

It took me some time, but I finally got my blanner (blog banner) together here.

My plan, when I launched this blog last November, was to get it up and running right away, and start building content, authority, and link juice, instead of spending several weeks (or months) finalizing the look of it before launching. So I purchased the WordPress Thesis theme and got busy.

Some might say that publishing a blog/website without a branded blanner isn’t a wise approach, but because I was building the site myself, I could jump right in and get going when I had a slight break in pressing business over the holidays last year.

Another issue impacting the timing of all this was my completion of the Reach Certified Online Identity Strategist program at the end of March.

I presumed, correctly, that I would learn how to work with website developers and designers to create a blanner that would fit me and my practice.

Meantime, I collaborated with a graphic designer to create my Executive Career Brand logo, to have it ready to build the blanner around.

Getting back to colors. I was reminded through the online identity certification program and some research on colors and personal branding that colors are the greatest emotion-generating elements of your brand identity.

What’s interesting is that often your favorite colors fit your personal brand.

My two main colors, amethyst purple and grassy green, were an easy choice. People who know me best associate me with purple. It’s always been my favorite color to wear and one that looks best on me. I’ve been using it for years in business accessories.

I’m a lifelong organic gardener and environmentally-sensible. My early career included a 10-year stint managing my start-up organic garden center specializing in exotic herb and vegetable plants. Green matches my green thumb and environmental sensitivities.

These two visually complementary colors were already embedded in my brand identity as signature colors.

But beyond the recognition factor, colors are used to evoke emotions, generate interest in your brand, and support your goals.

We all know that strong corporate brands are so associated with their colors, they seem to own them – Tiffany’s robin’s-egg blue, the Breast Cancer Awareness movement’s pink, McDonald’s yellow arches, Target’s bold red, etc.

People generally associate my two colors with these attributes:

PURPLE — Wealth, luxury, royalty, spirituality, sophistication

GREEN — Fresh, natural, calming, healing, environmentally friendly

Color Matters is an excellent resource for color symbolism and emotions.

I’d love to hear what you think of my blog’s new colors. My next project is to carry these colors consistently across my other personal brand communications channels.

Related posts:

10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand

Health Insurance for Your Personal Brand – The 3 Cs

How NOT to Build Your Executive Personal Brand

Give Twitter 15 Minutes a Day, Land Your Next Executive Job is a post from: Executive Career Brand

Impossible you say?

Not according to my friends and colleagues Susan Britton Whitcomb, Chandlee Bryan, and Deb Dib, the authors of “The Twitter Job Search Guide: Find a Job and Advance Your Career in Just 15 Minutes a Day“.

This book is a powerhouse of information and practical advice on leveraging Twitter for personal branding and job search.

The authors understand job seekers who ignore Twitter:

“Of all the sites associated with social media, none may be more embraced or reviled, used or abused, comprehended or confused.”

Pick up this book if you want to learn about:

• Building and managing your brand on Twitter
• The art of following and being followed
• Staying out of legal hot water with your tweets
• Job search advice from recruiters, resume writers and career coaches
• Jumpstarting your network with Twitter
• Maximizing Twitter in just 15 minutes a day
• Using Twitter for job leads, feeds, and advice needs
• Researching people, positions, and places to work
• Finding and using the right APIs for you.

A tip the authors provide on locating job leads:

“Send a message to a recruiter who has tweeted relevant job postings. You’ll have a much better opportunity to stand out from the crowd of candidates. Your message might sound like this: ‘Just e-mailed my resume for product mgr. opening. I’ve helped similar co’s gain double-digit market share. Will follow up early next week.’ Note that the key here is the hint of value to come and initiative to follow up.”

And a tip on researching breaking news and corporate culture:

“Sharing breaking news with your followers – news that is relevant to your industry – can also position you as an “A” candidate in the eyes of recruiters and hiring influencers.”

Wrapping up all the pointers and advice is a long list of actual tweets posted by careers industry professionals, including me. Here are some from the category “Researching Leads and Employers“, with the contributors’ Twitter handles:

@careerliz Research recruiters on LinkedIn and Twitter. You will be amazed at what you might have in common! This info can help you grow relationships.

@KCCareerCoach Use Google Alerts to track current job trends. Transition your skills to meet new workplace needs.

@myreinventure Use reference librarians (town or college) to flesh out list of target companies/industries-a free, useful resource for targeted job search.

@KBitschenauer Be curious! Follow links in blogs, newsletters, ebooks, reports, Web pages–even footers–to find new gems of information.

Another benefit of this book is the list of dozens of career experts who contributed. Follow them and learn from them.

Related posts:

Stalled Executive Job Search? Get Busy on LinkedIn and Twitter

14 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter [Revisited]

Twitter Personal Branding Strategy: Get the Most Out of Re-tweets

10 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand Online Without a Blog is a post from: Executive Career Brand

A new client of mine understood that he needed to pump up his online presence. A Google search for his name yielded a dismal number of relevant results, plus he had a common name and the little that was out there about him was lost in a sea of same-named people.

To win at executive job search in the digital age, he knew that having on-brand evidence online supporting and differentiating his promise of value was critical. Recruiters and hiring decision makers Googling “his name” were assessing him based on what they found.

Think that your online identity doesn’t factor into executive hiring decision-making? See my post Does Your Online Identity Scream “Hire Me”?

My client also understood that blogging was a powerful way to extend his online footprint and build evangelism for his brand and promise of value in the marketplace. But he didn’t enjoy writing and knew he didn’t have the time or inclination to commit to his own blog.

Although I hate to dissuade anyone from starting a blog because I love blogging so much and I know what it can do for executives in job search (see my post Executive Job Search and Blogging: Perfect Together), I know that working your own blog may not be a realistic piece in your personal brand communications plan.

Here are 10 places to build top-landing search results for your name:

Realize that the sequence of search results that you get for your name may not be the same as the results others get for your name. They can vary by location and even from one computer to the next, in the same room!

Create branded, searchable profiles on these strong link-weight sites. Update them as you gain new skills, certifications, achievements, etc., and when your target changes:

1. LinkedIn

Make sure your profile is branded, searchable, and 100% complete. Download my free e-book, Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile: How to Transform Your Executive Brand, Resume, and Career Biography Into a Winning LinkedIn Profile.

Once it gains traction, your LinkedIn profile should land within your top 3-4 search results.

2. Google Profile

One of the nifty things about the search result for your Google Profile – it appears on the search page with your gravatar (tiny photo), if you’ve uploaded a photo with your profile. Very eye-catching! See Google Profiles Powers Up Your Online Personal Brand Identity.

3. ZoomInfo

Hiring professionals run searches on ZoomInfo when they’re filling jobs. Brand up your profile, if one exists. Otherwise create one.

4. VisualCV

The beauty of a VisualCV is in its interactivity and multi-media features, and you can link to PDFs of your portfolio of personal marketing documents (resume, bio, references, etc.). Practically everything you want people to know about you is housed on one web page.

See A VisualCV Belongs in Your Personal Brand Toolkit.

5. Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.

Create a key word-rich profile (or bio) on these and other social networking sites. Establishing presence here positions you as up-to-date and social media-savvy. Come back and get busy leveraging all that social networks have to offer. Want to follow me on Twitter?

6. Business Week’s Business Exchange

Enables you to save, post, react on and share news in the Business Exchange. Register using your LinkedIn account.

7. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online booksellers.

Create a profile and write book reviews on relevant publications.

8. Relevant professional organizations that allow you to create a profile.

See Job-Hunt.org’s monster list of over 1,000 national and international Professional Associations and Societies.

Other ways to build your online footprint.

9. Publish white papers and articles on relevant websites.

And check out your professional affiliations and organizations. They would probably love to have you contribute content to their websites.

10. Build a website using the domain “yourname.com”.

Even if you don’t plan to do this, it’s important to claim your name by owning the domain. GoDaddy is a good, inexpensive (about $10/year) place to do this. Your website can be a 4 or 5 page web portfolio of your personal marketing documents (executive resume, career biography, achievement summary, leadership initiatives, etc.)

And a bonus suggestion:

You can still reap much of blogging’s benefits, without committing to maintaining your own, (You knew I had to get blogging in here somewhere!) by:

11. Guest blogging and commenting on relevant blogs.

See my post, Blog Commenting: Build and Brand Your Online Identity and GQ (Google Quotient) and my Job-Hunt.org article, Build Your Personal Brand Online by Guest Blogging.

NOTE: If you don’t have a personal website, include a link to your VisualCV or Google Profile when you guest blog or comment on blogs, so people will be led to the brand-reinforcing information you want them to know about you.

 Related post:

Online Executive Personal Branding: Are You Digitally Distinct?