Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers: Part 2

This is the second in a series of five posts on "Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers." Yesterday's post addressed the What and Why of SEO. Future posts will address SEO Basics, Setting Up Google Places, and Google Places Best Practices. These posts are excerpted from the "Resume Writers Online Marketing Guidebook."

Today's post is about Keyword Research.

Keywords are the words or terms that people use to search in Google. If you do a search for “Cheap Flights” on Google, then the keyword is: cheap flight.

Keyword brainstorming and research is an important first step in any Local SEO plan. These general steps will get you off to a good start.

• Brainstorm — Sit down and make a list of every keyword term that someone would search for to find your resume writing business. Don’t worry about local terms right now — just think of what people would search in any part of the world to find a service like yours.

Write down as many terms as possible. Think of a wide variety of terms, all the way from one-word terms (short-tail) to 3+-word terms (long-tail). I would also ask friends and family for their input. This will give you an outside perspective from an everyday person.

If you get stuck thinking about terms, you can get some help from Google itself. Just take one of the keyword terms you thought of and enter it into the Google Keyword Tool. This will give you a list of related terms and their estimated search numbers. Keep in mind we will localize these terms, so the amount of searches will not be directly applicable — but it still gives you an idea of what keywords are searched more often.

Spend a good chunk of time on this, and try to get a list of 30-50 keyword terms.

• Consolidate — Go through this list and take out your five most-desired keywords. You can use personal preference, a hunch, the search results from Google Keyword Tool, and common sense. Until you actually test your terms, you won’t know much about them. So take these five terms and write them down on their own. Keep your other keywords handy though! These will be the five you will start with, but eventually through the power of blogging, you will be ranking for all of the terms.

• Localize — Now that you have your list of five terms, simply localize them. Add your location (town or city, maybe the state/province if you are in a city with common name). If your resume writing services are in demand in a number of towns, then add the other towns in front of the keyword as well. For example...

City One + Keyword One

City One + Keyword Two

City Two + Keyword One

City Two + Keyword Two

Etc...

So each new town you use will be another five local keyword terms. Once you have localized your keywords, you will now have a list of local keyword terms that you can begin ranking for. While this is a basic form of keyword research, it is leagues ahead of most of the online marketing that local businesses do.

Tomorrow's blog post is about SEO Basics.

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This blog post is just one small part of the "Resume Writers Online Marketing Guidebook." Purchase the 42-page special report for just $14 and receive two bonus special reports for free: "How to Add a Facebook 'Like' Box on Any Page" and "How to Use Facebook Ads In Your Resume Writing Business."

Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers: Part I

This is the first in a series of five posts on "Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers."

This post addresses the What and Why of SEO. Future posts will address Keyword Research, SEO Basics, Setting Up Google Places, and Google Places Best Practices. These posts are excerpted from the "Resume Writers Online Marketing Guidebook."

SEO means Search Engine Optimization. In basic terms, SEO is the process of making your website more relevant to the major search engines. Increasing your relevancy will mean that your site shows up higher in their search rankings. Due to its overwhelming market share, Google is usually the search engine you will optimize for.

Local SEO is optimizing your website to rank highly for local based search terms (keywords). Instead of just ranking for a general keyword like “Resumes” (don't use the accent marks when using "resumes" online), you would try to rank for “Omaha Resumes” or “Omaha Resume Writer” (remember: no accent marks).

SEO optimization is becoming an increasingly popular technique, especially by businesses in mid-sized and small cities. There are certain advantages when optimizing for localized search terms:

•  Easier To Rank — It is generally easier to rank for a local search term because it is less competitive. You can rank near or at the top of Google for these terms with much less work. For a real-life example, I worked with a business in a town of ~30,000 and was able to get them to the top of Google for a number of localized search terms in a matter of days.

•  More Targeted — When people are searching locally, they are more often to be ready to buy. It also makes sure that the people finding your site are local and can actually use your services. If you rank for “resumes,” people all over the world will find your site, but if you localize that search term you will be targeting people who are searching from your area. I have found that resume clients often start their search locally first. If they find someone competent that they feel comfortable with, they often stop searching.

With the explosions of mobile Internet, finding businesses through search engines will only get more popular. At one time, every business wanted to be in the Yellow Pages. Well, the day of the search engine is here and you want to rank for these local terms. With less competition you can rank quicker and with less effort. You will be tapping into a perpetual funnel of local-based web searches.

When you have a website, you want it to rank near the top of the search rankings for localized searches.

Tomorrow's blog post is about Keyword Searches.

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This blog post is just one small part of the "Resume Writers Online Marketing Guidebook." Purchase the 42-page special report for just $14 and receive two bonus special reports for free: "How to Add a Facebook 'Like' Box on Any Page" and "How to Use Facebook Ads In Your Resume Writing Business."

Career Professionals of Canada 2011 Awards of Excellence Nominees

Via Melanie Schlotter, Career Professionals of Canada's Marketing & Communications specialist, here are the nominees for the 2011 Awards of Excellence.

Career Professionals of Canada is committed to setting the standard for excellence in the Canadian employment and career industry. Recognizing outstanding individuals in the profession is one of the organization's most important activities. The CPC Awards of Excellence benefit the general membership, individual members, career organizations, clients, and the industry as a whole.

In an effort to bring attention to exceptional achievements of Career Professionals, the organization has established nine awards. It is a great privilege to be nominated and an even greater honor to be distinguished as the recipient of the CPC Award of Excellence. Nominations are accepted throughout the year. Nominees and award recipients are notified personally, and formally recognized on the Career Club Forum and Career Connections Newsletter. Award plaques are delivered directly to recipients.

Here are the nominees:

Outstanding Canadian Career Leader Nominee

Maureen McCann

Outstanding Volunteer Contributor to the Organization Nominees

Cathy Milton
Lita Pitruzzello
Michael Thompson

Outstanding Canadian Online Profile Developer Nominees

Stephanie Clark
Maureen McCann

Outstanding Canadian Resume Contributor Nominees:
Best New Graduate Resume Category

Carol Brochu
Lisa Cartaginese
Safinaz El-halawani
Lynn Hill
Michelle O’Donohoe
Rita Pittman
Pat Roberts
Adrienne Tom

Best Career Change Resume Category

Carol Brochu
Stephanie Clark
Brenda Collard-Mills
Safinaz El-halawani
Lynn Hill
Maureen McCann
Rita Pittman
Pat Roberts
Angelika Trinkwon

Best Technical Resume Category

Lisa Cartaginese
Brenda Collard-Mills

Best Executive Resume Category

Carol Brochu
Lisa Cartaginese
Safinaz El-halawani
Lita Pitruzzello
Rita Pittman
Pat Roberts
Adrienne Tom

Best Creative Resume Category

Carol Brochu
Safinaz El-halawani
Pat Roberts

Health Insurance for Resume Writers

Alright, I'll tackle a business management issue today: Health insurance. Most resume writers are self-employed -- and unless you have a spouse with health insurance, you're probably going to need your own health insurance plan.


Health insurance can be confusing, especially if it is your first time shopping around with different providers. Terms such as deductible, co-payments, and pre-existing conditions can be confusing if you do not know what they really mean. There are many ways to find out more about health insurance so that you are as knowledgeable as possible. You could talk to a health insurance company, find an insurance broker, or you can do your research on the Internet.

Logically, you would assume that the experts at the insurance company would be able to answer any questions that you have about terminology and any other queries that you have. The best way to get in touch with them is to simply call your provider and ask any questions that you have, no matter how general or specific. They are there to help you, and this should be your primary concern. Think about it: if an agent isn't helpful with your preliminary questions, just how helpful will he or she be if you need to settle a claim?

For answers to general questions such as terminology confusion, an Internet search engine can point you straight to your answer. This is a great options available to anyone who does not want to call their health insurance company just for a couple of simple questions. There may be information that you had overlooked in the past when you quickly skimmed through your policy. Your specific provider may have a web site where you can get facts about anything, including anything that you may not have been clear on regarding any additional benefits they offer. You can read all of the literature available at your own pace and on your own time.

Health insurance can be complicated at first, but the more you know the better off you will be.