I live in Nebraska and our neighboring state, Iowa, is caught up in a controversy about a plan to close 36 Workforce Development offices in the state.
The fundamental question about how to serve job seekers is one that resume writers have been contemplating for several years. The Resume Writers' Digest Annual Industry Survey throughout the years demonstrated the shift from office-based resume writers to more and more resume writers working from home. (In the 2010 survey, 76 percent of writers who responded work from a home office only, while 12 percent have both a home and business office.)
The governor's decision to close the offices in favor of creating "access points" -- special software installed on workstations at sites across the state, combined with online chat and a toll-free number -- is drawing criticism as reducing access to services.
But in reality, how many individuals visit Workforce Development offices in person -- unless they have to? Certainly the white collar, professional, and executive unemployed would be bothered less than blue collar workers, seniors, and the technologically challenged. But adding access points in public libraries, for example, would allow for hands-on support (and potentially some additional usage and funds for the libraries in exchange for hosting the access point).
Fundamentally, it's important to look at the nature of how Workforce Development can support the job search. Is their role to help clients find jobs, or to provide them with computer services? Already, many Workforce Development offices are moving more of their resources online -- hosting job boards on their sites, giving jobseekers access to resume building software, and providing support to employers through online portals.
The future of the support system needs to be re-evaluated in light of how the job search has changed through the years. Prospective employees -- even those in blue collar jobs -- are expected to be able to have basic technological proficiency. Effective job search strategies require company research and networking -- but existing Workforce Development services have focused on online job postings (probably in response to earlier rounds of job reductions and funding cuts within the Workforce Development system). It may require a re-imagination of the entire support system to meet the needs of jobseekers, employers, and those funding the services.
Closing offices may be the impetus that spurs on this revitalization of the existing system.
What are your thoughts?
Ideas, information, and resources for professional resume writers.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers: Part 5
This post is all about "Google Places Best Practices."
Since you now have your business claimed and verified on Google Places, we can look at some techniques to make sure you use your listing properly. First off, Google Places isn’t really a service you “use” per se. It isn’t like Facebook Places in that regards. When I say “use,” I really mean how you should set it up to get the most advantage from the search engines. Essentially these best practices are steps to take to ensure your listing shows up above other businesses.
Google Places ranking depends on a number of items, including (but not limited to):
1. Claiming Your Business — I will assume you did this in the last step, but if you didn’t, here is a good incentive to do it. Claiming your business is one way to raise it in the Google rankings. Generally speaking, claimed businesses show up before unclaimed ones.
2. Choose City Center Locations — If your resume writing business has multiple locations (for example, a home office and a business office), list the one that is closest to the heart of the city. While it might be impossible for you to control, Google does lend weight to a businesses proximity to the city center.
3. Categorize Properly — You can choose a number of categories for your business, and I suggest using as many categories as possible. The catch is they have to be legitimate categories. Don’t reach too far for categories, because if they aren’t related to your business, Google could penalize you by ranking your site lower in Places.
4. Fill Out Your Profile — Fill out as much info in the profile as you can. Include payment types, hours, and other information — like parking, for example. Google definitely prefers profiles to be more filled out, because it means more value for their users.
5. Add Images — Google gives you 10 spots for images, and I suggest using every spot. This will not only make your business listing look better, it will contribute to the “fullness” of your profile. You should have your business logo and your photo, at a minimum. You might also have a photo of the outside of your office (if you work from a commercial location). You can also include logos for professional organization affiliations (PARW, NRWA, CMA, CDI logos, for example) as well as for résumé certifications (ACRW, CPRW, NCRW, CRW, etc.).
6. Reviews — People can review your business right on Google Places, so encourage some of your favorite customers to write you a review. It will look great on your profile, and help your listing show up at the top. Google Places also looks at review sites on the web. If applicable, make sure your business is reviewed on sites like Yelp.
Google Places is only gaining in popularity. Tapping into it today and optimizing your listing with the tips above will ensure your business has a prominent place on it.
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You can download the entire five-part series as a special report excerpt. It's 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."
Monday, August 1, 2011
Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers: Part 4
This is the fourth in a series of five posts on "Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers."
The first post in the series addressed the What and Why of SEO. The second was about Keyword Research. Yesterday's post covered SEO Basics. The fifth and final part is tomorrow's post on Google Places Best Practices. These posts are excerpted from the "Resume Writers Online Marketing Guidebook."
Today's post is about Setting Up Google Places.
Another step towards dominating Google locally is making sure you are represented on Google Places and have claimed your business.
Google Places is NOT Facebook Places — it isn’t the same thing at all. Have you ever done a search on Google and a map pops up with businesses plotted on it? This is Google Places in action. Many people don’t realize that you can claim your business and control the information Google shares in this manner.
In this step we will look at how to sign up and add/claim your business.
First you have to visit Google Places.
1. Sign in with your Google Account — If you don’t have a Google account, sign up for one now. Google has a number of free tools that are must-haves for individuals who want to market their businesses online. Google Places is just one of these.
2. Check Out Some Information — Once you have entered your Google ID, you will be taken to a new page. On the left hand side is an “Add a Business” button — but before you click that, you can learn a little more about Google Places from some of the links and videos on the right side of page. When you feel comfortable moving on...
3. Click Add a New Business — You will be taken to a page where it will ask for your country and business’s main phone number. This is to find out if a listing already exists. If it does, you will be taken to a page where you can click “edit” and you can fill out more information. If it doesn’t, you will be taken to a form to fill out to add your business. Fill out as much info as possible in either scenario and click “Submit.”
4. Verify — Once you click submit, you will have to verify your Google Places listing. You can do this three different ways: via a phone call to your listed business number, a text to your listed cell phone number, or a postcard to your listed business address. The phone call and text will be instant, but you will have to wait 2-3 weeks for the postcard. Sometimes the phone verification won’t work with some phone systems, so you will be forced to go with text or postcard. Either way you do it, you will receive a code, and once you enter that, your listing will be live.
Tomorrow's blog post is about Google Places Best Practices.
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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."
Friday, July 29, 2011
Search Engine Optimization Strategies for Resume Writers: Part 3
The first post in the series addressed the What and Why of SEO. Yesterday's blog post was about Keyword Research. The final two posts will address 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 SEO Basics.
While breaking down SEO completely would be a book on its own (I actually purchased a 330-page eBook on this subject once!), I will go over some basics. if you have built your website using WordPress, you could do some of the on-page steps yourself. If you went with an HTML design, you might have to get your web designer to make a couple of changes. The changes will be quick though, so it shouldn’t take too much time.
Search Engine Optimization can be broken into two main categories: On-page and Off-page.
On-Page: On-Page means exactly what it says. These are the steps you take on your actual site or blog to make it more friendly to the search engines. While there are many things to consider, some great first steps include:
• Title Tags: You might have to get your web designer to fix these for you if you use a traditional HTML website. These are simply the titles of each page and are the first thing Google sees when it finds a new page. The “title” in this case is what is displayed ABOVE the address bar in your Internet browser. It is at the very top of the browser. On Google.com, “Google” is the page title.
If you are familiar with HTML code, this is usually accomplished with the tags near the top of the code. If you are savvy enough, you can change them yourself — just remove what is in between them and paste in one of your keywords. In WordPress, you can handle this even easier through uses of plugins like All-in-One SEO.
Each page of your site should have a different title tag. Make it one of the keywords that you created in the previous step. In some smaller towns, this is all you will need to do to get to the first page of Google for localized terms. If you use WordPress, you can access Permalinks through the Settings and create a custom structure like: /%postname%/.
Each page of your site should have a different title tag. Make it one of the keywords that you created in the previous step. In some smaller towns, this is all you will need to do to get to the first page of Google for localized terms. If you use WordPress, you can access Permalinks through the Settings and create a custom structure like: /%postname%/.
This will make the title tag of every post you create to be the same as the Post Title. So just name your blog posts with keywords and you will automatically have keyword rich title tags. Another point for WordPress.
• Content — You want to mention your keywords in your content, but not too much. You don’t want your content to seem low quality and unnaturally stuffed with keywords. Remember, your web content should be written for your visitors, not the search engines. Good quality content that naturally mentions your keywords will engage people, make them more likely to share your site. It will also seem more natural to Google.
• Navigation — You should have proper navigation on your site. You want it to be both logical and working. Broken links on your site are a big “no-no.” A broken link in your navigation is especially glaring. You want Google to be to easily find your whole site with no broken links. This includes linking to other parts of your own site.
• Sitemap — This step is more important for WordPress based websites, because a sitemap is needed more for a dynamic site. A sitemap is basically a list of your website pages. Search engines like Google will use it to discover your entire site. It is more important for websites that are updated with new pages often (i.e. WordPress blog). In WordPress you can easily add a sitemap to your site with a plugin like “Google XML Sitemaps.”
• Privacy Policy — This is a tip that came from the Canadian headquarters of Google itself. The complex algorithm that Google uses to rank websites does give a bonus to sites that have a privacy policy. Just get your web designer to add a link in your footer — titled Privacy Policy — that links to a basic privacy policy for your website. If you use WordPress, just use a plugin like “Easy Privacy Policy.”
SEO is a major area of study online, and there are a lot of other steps you can take, but the above ones are a great on-page start to any campaign. Since ranking for localized keywords is easier in general, these steps should suffice for most resume writing businesses.
Off-Page — In many people’s eyes, off-page optimization is where you should spend most of your time. I personally disagree, though. I think consistent high quality on-page content (aka blog posts) is the most important step. That said, off-page optimization is still very important and probably more important than every on-page step besides content creation.
When it comes down to a basic level, off-page optimization is really about one thing — getting backlinks. Backlinks are simply links on other sites that point towards your site. Google values these highly, and it is one of the major ranking factors.
When you are starting a backlinking campaign, there are a couple of terms you need to know:
Anchor Text: The anchor text is the actual text that makes up the link. When you see a link that says “Click Here,” then click here is the anchor text. Links that have your keywords as the anchor text are more valuable. An anchor text that reads, “Click here to contact an Omaha resume writer” is more valuable.
Page Rank: Google gives pages a rank from 0-10. This rank isn’t quite as important as some people make it out to be, but it is still a good guide. The higher the page rank of a website, the more valuable the link on it is. (You will sometimes see this referred to as the “PR” value — or page rank value.)
NoFollow/Dofollow: Two different kind of links. If a link is nofollow, it means that Google doesn’t pass on the power of the link to your site. There is some argument on this though. I don’t think someone should ignore a potential backlink because it is nofollow. It contributes to a natural backlinking profile, and can still drive traffic. (You can do a search for “nofollow/dofollow” on Google to find out more about this.)
These are some of the basic terms you will come across when you are looking for backlinks or learning more about them. There are a lot of blog posts out there about backlinking, as well as free guides, etc.
Tomorrow's blog post is about Setting Up Google Places.
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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."
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