Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.29.09 Top 10 Tips for marketing yourself online. Tip #9: Get them talking!

Mutt Media Tip #9

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

9. While you do want to be stringent about monitoring your social networking sites for undesirable photos and questionable alliances, we should never forget what they are for – networking! By all means, use your contacts. Ask them to post a link about you. Your audience will increase exponentially (see earlier post and the viral networking Faberge illustration).

Provide your friends with a link to your Blog (you should set this up asap as we discussed earlier this month – see Tip #4). There are several sites that are really user-friendly including WordPress and Blogger that make it very easy for you to set this up.

Make sure your posts are relevant and blog often. If people find you interesting, they will come back and voila! You can amass a following and get viral marketing to work for you. Remember, fresh and interesting content is the most important thing! And what’s more interesting than you?

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Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.28.09 Follow up to Craigslist post from 5.11.09

Talk about online marketing…just wanted to follow up my earlier post from May 11, 2009 where I discussed some questionable after-effects from connections made through the Craigslist.org website.

As a result of lots of backlash, the powers-that-be at Craislist have decided to replace their “Erotic Services” ads with a new category title in an effort to better camouflage would-be prostitutes selling their wares. In this vein, they have doubled the price for a first-time ad from $5 to $10. At first glance the images of the women advertising appear less blatantly sexual but according to a short piece written by Andy Geller for the New York Post, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo predicts these efforts will prove to be “half baked”.

These changes come on the heels of pending lawsuits and various violent crimes committed as a result of connections made on the service. Let’s wait and see, I say.

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© 2009 Mutt Media NY LLC All Rights Reserved

Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.27.09 Using Social Media sites for your job search

Another Mutt Media Tip

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

Ok….so this was not an original one of our Top 10 Tips but it well could’ve and probably should have been.

Considering the extent to which social media and micro blogging can reach, these mediums can and should be used to let your network of contacts know that you are in the market for work and what you can offer.

Remember that you can be exposed to not only your contacts, but to your contacts’ contacts too, depending upon their account settings. Like a virus, word will spread that you are available for employment or internship. I may not be looking to hire, but think of it like the old Faberge Organic Shampoo (with pure wheat germ oil ‘n honey!) commercials….(yes, I am dating myself) where the girl was so enamored of her shampoo that she told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on and so on…..take a look if you’d like a stroll down memory lane.

This is a great example of viral marketing in it’s most basic form and the principle can be applied online to your job search efforts. Visibility is key and as you know – once it’s out there, it’s out there. So go ahead, post your unemployed “status” on Facebook or Tweet away to your heart’s content. It can only help.

Oh, and provide an online link to your resume that will contain your contact information…you never know whose virtual desktop it will land on!

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Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.26.09 Top 10 Tips for marketing yourself online Tip #8 Poll Your Friends

Mutt Media Tip #8

Now that you had a nice long Memorial Day weekend and are totally rested, it’s time to give your job search a shot in the arm. Our Top 10 Tips continue….

8. Poll your friends. Sometimes we work on our Résumé, Blog or Personal Statement so closely we lose our objectivity. Circulate your work to those you respect and trust for a fresh perspective. In today’s online world, this is an easy task! We are all connected in the online community and people are generally all too happy to help. Typos and omissions are so common, so make sure you spell-check and don’t be afraid of your word processor’s toolbox! Utilize your thesaurus and use words that show that you are a person who generates profits and contributes to your employer’s bottom line.

Words like “implemented (some innovative, life-altering policy or procedure)”, “reduced (expenses)”, “increased (profits)”, “streamlined” etc. tell a prospective employer that you are an Agent of Change and can make a valuable contribution to their organization.

Mutt Media | The Daily Bone 5.22.09 Marketing Yourself Online Tip #7: Check out the Competiton!

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

Mutt Media Tip #7

7. Check out your competition!

Go online and take a look at your competitors. Look at the functionality of their website. Look at their skill-sets and what they have to offer.

Are your skills in line with today’s job market? Never before has there been an opportunity such as we have today to actually know our competition in the job market! Use this to your advantage and acquire the skills necessary to give you that competitive edge and make yourself stand out.

Try to take your skill set to the next level and ensure that you will be able to provide a prospective employer with this added incentive to hire you over the next person, giving them more BANG! for their hiring bucks.

Have a great weekend!

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© 2009 Mutt Media NY LLC All Rights Reserved

Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.21.09 Meet Your Long-Lost Aunt Ida

Google's Logo on 5.20.09

We interrupt our 10 Tips series to talk for a minute about some other kind of technological miracle…fossil exhumation, identification and authentication.

I find it no less than amazing that scientists have released information about man’s oldest descendants – primates. Apparently, about 500 million years ago, primates split off into 2 branches – Lemurs and Apes. The Lemurs were not a pretty species, but Modern Man evolved from it’s cousin – the Ape.

I will spare everyone a lesson on Darwinism and commentary about evolution but I have a picture in my head of Magilla Gorilla with a Blackberry and a laptop…and I’m thinking how archaic the movie The Planet Of the Apes seems now, with absolutely no reference to cell phones or any of the technology we’ve been enjoying and developing over the last 20 years.

I smell remake!

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© 2009 Mutt Media NY LLC All Rights Reserved

Mutt Media | The Daily Bone 5.20.09 Top 10 Tips for Marketing Yourself Online Tip #6: Learn some new skills!

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

6. The economic downturn we are currently experiencing may just be a blessing in disguise. While it may not feel this way, this may be your opportunity to learn some new skills, which will enhance your résumé. There are new careers popping up every day as a result of the surge in internet use and it’s widespread availability. Online tutorials are readily available on YouTube and a wide variety of sites, depending upon your interests.

I like to think of this economic downturn as an agent for change. There is a Gold Rush of sorts happening in the online world even as I write this that is presenting opportunities for new careers that never existed before.

Ever wanted to publish your writing? Well, now it’s easier than ever. With a plethora of online publishing applications, the advent of self-publishing and even the simple web log (BLOG) we are all publishers of our own intellectual property. This is a great time to learn a software program, or graphic design. Hmmmm, yes, I am noticing a theme here – digital media! Well, I am assuming you’re getting a sense of my leanings and where I think the compass is pointing.

It can’t hurt to learn a few skills, and there’s no time like the present! Dig in and learn some new skills…this will absolutely expand the playing field when it comes time to create your resume.

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© 2009 Mutt Media NY LLC All Rights Reserved

The Daily Bone

Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.19.09 Top 10 Tips for marketing yourself online. Tip #5: Subscribe to News Feeds (RSS)!

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

5. Subscribe to RSS feeds in your professional field. This will keep you on top of the latest trends, articles and expose you to contacts you didn’t have before.

This is a free service that brings the entire web to your personal computer. Instead of searching out your favorite blogs and news feeds, they will be fed directly into your Reader Account and at your fingertips when you need them. You will be surprised how many people are out there sharing ideas, bartering and feeding off of the World Wide Web of creativity.

You will find an option to subscribe to an RSS feed on virtually all Blogs that you visit. Now that I’ve brought this up, you will notice and look for them even more, right?

A short primer on RSS or, as they are often called, Web Feeds.

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is a technology that enables web browsers to read content as text. What does this mean for the blogger? Well, that his content will be more easily picked up by search engines and easier to find by the rest of us.

How is an RSS Feed useful? Well, I’ll use myself as an example….My interests (to name a few) are online media, fashion, gardening, and movies. In the online world, lots of people are blogging, but let’s say I’ve found a few that give me great insights and information written in a style that I like. Rather than having to visit each site individually and hope they’ve posted something new, I can subscribe to their feed and whenever they provide new content, it will be delivered straight to my Reader. This way, I can, at my leisure, pop in and read without having to go on a labor-intensive search mission. You can subscribe to as many news feeds as you like; they are only limited by how much news you’d like to get. Gone are the days of bookmarking! All posts will be sent to you within moments.

Think of your News Feed as getting information delivered right to your front door (like a newspaper), only the great thing is that it only contains the news you have expressed an interest in reading! You can log into many of these from any computer so you never have to be completely out of touch, even on vacation. If this option sounds good to you, you’ll want to look for a web-based news feed. Just a few are Google Reader, News Gator and Bloglines.

There are many utilities out there to deliver your news feed right to your computor, too. Some are NetNewsWire (for Mac users), and SharpReader.

So, go forth and subscribe. You can start with Mutt Media! Just click on the tab at the top of this page that says “RSS” after you select and set up your newsreader.

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Mutt Media | Daily Bone 5.18.09 | Top 10 Tips for marketing yourself online. Tip #4: Start Blogging!

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

Mutt Media Tip #4

4. Start blogging! Create a Blog about your professional life and area of expertise. This can be a great way to reach a wide audience. If your Blog is written correctly Search Engines will pick it up. This can be an extremely beneficial tool in extending your reach to a wider audience and get people talking about you.

Just remember, content is key! Make sure your posts are in your voice, authentic and written by you. Research your material whenever possible and check your facts if you are presenting yourself as some kind of authority on a subject. Give proper credit where due. This applies to all images and authors of other material you may be embellishing upon.

There is nothing wrong with linking to other blogs and websites; in fact, this can help you! The web is built on the premise of many people and their ideas being interwoven, so when applicable, this is a common and useful practice. To ensure your visitors will return to your blog, keep the content fresh, and blog often. Make it easy and enjoyable and your visitors will hopefully share the link and spread the word.

Remember, “If you build it, they will come” (Field of Dreams! – see what I mean by proper credit? I can’t take credit for writing that line!). So build your blog and populate it with content that is relevant. You never know who will read it and recognize your inner genius!

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Mutt Media | The Daily Bone 5.15.09 | 10 Tips For Marketing Yourself Online – Tip #3: Format your résumé properly

Mutt Media Tip #3

Another Tip from Mutt Media NY

3. When creating your résumé, be mindful that not everyone is working off of the same software you are. What looks perfect on your screen or when you print at home, may come out quite different if your prospective employer has an older version of the same software or a different software altogether.

You’ve seen these files – margins are wrong, indents are off and the overall alignment just doesn’t look right. Sometimes you can even lose your font! Your best bet is to save the file in both a .DOC format as well as a .PDF. PDF documents cannot be altered after they are saved and will come out just the way you intended. If you absolutely must save your document in .DOC (Word) format, use a universally accepted font such as Ariel, Helvetica or Times New Roman. This will ensure a higher likelihood of compatibility once your document is received.

Needless to say (I hope!), make sure you spell check your document and use proper and consistent punctuation throughout. Don’t blow it before you even get the interview!