A Resume Writing Business Without A Website?

Believe it or not, there are some resume writing businesses without a website.

Your website is a 24 hours, seven day a week salesperson. I don't know about you, but I'm not available to answer the phone 24/7. But many folks are working on their job search during the evenings (even at 2 a.m.!) and on the weekends.

A website can "sell" for you, even when you're not awake. But not just any website will do.

It has to look good. You wouldn't send out a salesperson in stained tank top and ripped jeans, would you? By that same token, you shouldn't have a horrible looking website. Like a salesperson, your website will be judged instantly by its appearance. Making sure your site looks good and professional will instantly put people at ease. (And there are a lot of uneasy job seekers out there -- many of them haven't looked for a job in years, and they're scared. A good website can be reassuring -- that there is someone out there who knows what they're doing.)

The site has to be informative. Would you send out a salesperson that couldn't explain what your business was? Would you send out someone one who couldn't answer basic questions about your business? Of course you wouldn't, so why do so many people do that with their website? Your website needs to explain your business properly -- and the more content and information you have the better. Keep the information fresh too. (A blog is a great way to do this.)  If you want your salesperson to be knowledgeable and caught up on the latest news, then you want the same for your website.

If you get into the mindset that your website is a 24 hour, 7 days a week salesperson, you will naturally take better care of it and demand perfection. The best part about the website though? It doesn't ask for a vacation, it doesn't require overtime, and it works for virtually no money. Try finding a salesperson that does that.

Here are some resume writing business websites that I think do a great job:

• Blue Sky Resumes
• Best Impression
• Career Trend
• The Resume Place
• New Leaf Resumes

What makes a great resume writing business website? I'm interested in what you think. Leave me a comment below.

Social Media Time Management Strategy: Search and Save Searches

New vs. Old Twitter - How to Search and Save Searches

This is the second post in a series of Social Media Time Management Strategies for Twitter.

Sometimes you might have a need to do a search and find all tweets related to a certain term. Perhaps you heard about a new product related to your niche (area of expertise) and you want to see what’s being said on twitter. No problem!

 

Old Twitter:

In the old version of Twitter, the search box is on the right side of the screen. Enter your search terms and click on the magnifying glass.

 

On the search results page, Click on “Save This Search” to keep a record of your search.

 

Your saved searches will appear in the right menu whenever you want to view them as shown below:

 

New Twitter:

 

In the new version, the search box is at the top of the screen to the right of the Twitter logo. Enter your search terms then click on the magnifying glass to search and click your mouse.

 

 

On the search results page, you can click “Save this Search” Just like in the old version, you can click on “Save this Search” to save your search for future use. However, as you can see, the button to “Save this search” is larger than in the old version.

 

Then your saved searches will appear in your top menu anytime you want to access them. For example:

Twitter is known for being a great source for news so if you hear of something going on in the world, do a search and you will most likely find some tweets about it.

 

Twitter is also a great tool for doing research. Thinking of writing an ebook on “weight loss for women”? Search Twitter periodically to find out what people are saying about your topic and what questions they are asking. You can do searches for "resume writing," "job interview," "find a job," "job search" and similar terms and see what's being searched!

Guest Post: Clarifying Social Media Strategy with the POST Method

By Christine Gallagher

It sounds simple, but before you implement a new marketing strategy in your business, you need to first know what your objectives are. That is, what is it that you are trying to accomplish? Social media is no different. It's not enough to want to add it to your marketing mix because "everyone else is doing it."

Luckily, Forrester Research came up with a handy little acronym, which my colleague Amy Miyamoto and I also included in our Social Media Made Simple webinar series. It's called the POST Method, and it's a really easy way to frame your social media strategy. Here's how it breaks down:

P: Who are the PEOPLE you would most like to attract via your social media presence on sites such as Twitter and Facebook? For example--mentors, colleagues, strategic alliance partners, raving fans, potential clients, local connections? Or a combination of these?

O: What are your primary OBJECTIVES for your Social Media presence? For example, is it to get found by those who are looking for your services or products, finding and interacting with current and potential clients and customers, building a community around your business, creating awareness of your content and offerings, building relationships with potential strategic alliance and referral partners, learning from mentors?

S: What Social Media STRATEGIES do you plan to implement? Will you have a Twitter profile, a Facebook Fan Page, a LinkedIn profile, join a Facebook Group, start a blog? Which ones have priority over others?

T: What TECHNOLOGIES will you use? For example--Hootsuite, Twellow, Ping.fm, Twitpic, YouTube, Bit.ly for link shortening? (The ones you determine to be of highest priority to you will influence the kinds of actions you take on the social media sites you have a presence on.)

Finally, for bonus points, you could also include "M" as in "how will you MEASURE your results?" Understandably, businesspeople still want to know the ROI of their activities--and although this is not as cut and dry to measure in social media, there are still certain numbers that you can look to: your number of newsletter or blog subscribers, number of followers and fans, your website traffic, the amount of comments on your blog, how many purchases made, etc.

The POST method is a good basic structure for starting to define your social media plan, objectives, and priorities. By identifying all the relevant parts of the structure you are creating a clearer vision and purpose--as well as implementing goals, strategies, and tools that will best enable you to effectively reach the ideal people you are looking to connect with through social media.

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Christine Gallagher is founder of ShesGotClients.com, a company dedicated to teaching women entrepreneurs all over the world how to use authentic relationship marketing and online strategies to attract raving fans, enroll more clients, and enjoy more income and freedom in their business, all while sharing their gifts and their message in a much bigger way.

Christine created The 6 Simple Steps to Kick Start Your Social Media Success System(TM), a real-world, step-by-step "roadmap" that teaches entrepreneurs how to consistently bring in new clients and customers using the Internet.

Through her coaching and training business, Christine helps entrepreneurs maximize their profits using an integrated social media and online marketing strategy, and teaches them how to stop trading dollars for hours by using online information marketing techniques.

Christine was recently featured as a social media marketing expert in the book Get Scrappy: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Marketing On Less, as well as profiled as one of "16 Brilliant Business Minds on Twitter" by The Huffington Post. Her blog was also recently chosen as one of the top 50 small business blogs by Konector.com, and her newsletters, products, and online reach now educate and inspire over 18,000 people every month.

Learn more about Christine, her products, programs and courses at ShesGotClients.com

Sign up for Christine's "Get Out There" Ezine. Click here.

Social Media Time Management Strategy: Make a Twitter List

In the newest issue of Resume Writers' Digest, the cover story is on "Social Media Time Management Strategies for Resume Writers." In the spirit of that article is this blog post, which addresses a time-saving tip for Twitter.

One helpful Twitter feature is the ability to make a List. You can add those you follow to a list so that you can see all related tweets at once. Think of it as a customized timeline.

 

Ideas for lists to create would be Recruiters, Colleagues, Family, Celebrities, etc.

 

Old Twitter:

To create a list in the old version of Twitter, you would click on “New List“ in the Lists section on the right side. Once you have created one or more lists, they will appear above where you create a new one so you can easily access them.

 

 

New Twitter:

 

In the new version, click on the dropdown arrow beside “Lists” and then click on “Create a list.”

 

 

 

The process of actually creating your list is essentially the same in Old and New Twitter. Assign your list a Name and Description then choose whether you want it to be “Public” or “Private”. When finished completing this screen, click on Save List.

 

Once you’ve created your list, you can add people by searching for them:

 

 

Or just go to your follower list and find the people you want to add. Just click the icon on the far right and you can select to add the person to any of your lists.

 

 

Once your list is complete, you can click on it to see the tweets of those on your list only.

Want more social media time management tips? Subscribe to Resume Writers' Digest -- it's free! When you've confirmed your e-mail address, you'll also get a link to download the Spring 2011 issue which features Social Media Time Management Strategies for Resume Writers.