This document provides tips and guidance for using blogging to help with job searching. It discusses what a blog is, why someone should start a blog, where to host a blog, how to connect a blog to other social media platforms, how often to write blog posts and how long they should be, and how to keep track of blog post ideas and content. The presentation was given by Anca Mosoiu of Tech Liminal to provide job seekers with strategies for using blogging to establish expertise in their field and engage with potential employers or contacts.

1. Technology Hotspot & Salon
Blogging for the Job Seeker
Tips, Tricks, and Truth
Anca Mosoiu, Tech Liminal
268 14th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 | Open 11-7 Monday - Friday | Drop-in co-working space, workshops and technology services | More info: http://www.techliminal.com
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Content in this presentation is Copyright (c) 2010 Tech Liminal. CC-Share-Alike. Feel free to use stuff from this presentation, but leave a link to Tech Liminal

2. Introduction
Anca
Tech Liminal
• Web Developer
• Information Architect • Technology Hotspot & Salon
• Co-Working
• 15 years of experience in
technology & marketing orgs • Workshops, Conferences
• Freelancer, Entrepreneur • Expert, friendly help with web &
social media
anca@techliminal.com
2 www.techliminal.com

3. Agenda
‣ What?
‣ Why?
‣ Where?
‣ With Whom?
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4. What is a Blog?
• A blog is like an online journal, containing articles written by one or more
authors, on an ongoing basis
• Personal Observations (Online diary!)
• Professional Writings
• Short, pertinent articles
• Engage your audience through comments, discussion
• Organized on a temporal basis (latest is at the top, or on the homepage)
• Usually managed through a blogging tool
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5. What is your Blog? Category
Date
A form or
just email
Author
Etc
Homepage About Me Archive Page(s) Contact Page
Blog Post 1
Tell People
about
yourself
Blog Post 2
• Latest content is on the homepage
Pillar Content:
• Daily (or weekly) updates • • About Us
About Us
• 1 or more authors, categories • • Evergreen posts
Evergreen posts
• Call to action: Engage with Me • • Your Categories
Your Categories
• Site readers comment and engage in
conversation about topics
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6. Some Examples of Blogs You May Know
• Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/ (Technology, media, and more)
• The Daily Kos: http://dailykos.com (Politics ahead!)
• Heather Armstrong: http://dooce.com (THE Mommy Blogger)
• Julie / Julia project - now defunct - one woman cooks Julia Child recipes,
writes book, makes a movie...
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7. Why? Make sure you have a goal
• What do you hope to accomplish by blogging?
por tfolio
Get m Cre ate a
o re rea
ders
Establish or maintain my legitimacy in the field
f f works
gging stu
this blo
Le arn how
Make money from selling ads!
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8. So you know when you’ve accomplished it
• You got a new job
• You’ve attracted the attention of the right people
• ...
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9. Exercise: Write down your goal
• You have 30 seconds.
• Also write down how you know when you’ve accomplished it
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10. Why?
• Now you can plan out the work it’s going to take to succeed
• How much do you have to write
• Where do you write it?
• How do you publish it and get people to read it
• Consider your formats - text, photos, videos, sounds
• What tools will work for you?
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11. Case Study: Establishing Legitimacy
• Keep up with the people who are publishing in your field
• Keep up with your industry news
• Keep up with industry social networks (meetup, facebook, linkedin, etc)
• Discuss or link on your blog
• Link to others
• Comments on others’ sites
• Tweet
• Respond to comments
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12. Case Study: tedcurran.net
High school teacher
Specialized in new media
Interested in education
technology
Built a blog and
connected into social
networks
Has connected with his
new field and actively
participates in discussion
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13. Where?
• Where do you start your blog?
• Popular services
• Wordpress.com
• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Postero.us
• On your own website
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14. WordPress.com
Popular Blogging
Platform
Free (with premium
features)
Lots of themes
Built-in community of
bloggers
Can move your content
to your own self-
hosted site
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15. Example Site
Comments and likes
Comments encourage
participation
You can get links from
other blogs on
WordPress.com
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16. Tumblr
Simple interface,
uncomplicated features
But lots of them!
Content in a stream
Beautiful formats
Post links to other sites
(youtube, etc) easily
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17. Tumblr Example
Clean templates
Focus on formatting
different types of
content
“Follows” and
comments
Integrate w/ Twitter and
more
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18. Posterous.com
Easy media uploads
(photos, videos,
sounds)
Automatic galleries for
multiple photos
Groups and networks
Automatically linked to
Facebook, Twitter, Etc.
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19. Posterous Example
Simple, clean themes
Blog only
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20. Case Study 2: Blog For Business
Self-hosted WordPress
site includes blog and
professional services
listing
Custom, consitent
Look and Feel
Personal Touch
Can easily hire Irene
from this site
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21. What Else To Connect?
• Broadcast when you post to (or aggregate content from)
• Linkedin
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Flickr
• YouTube
• Use Google Alerts to see what people are saying about you
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22. an
Think about how you connect!
Linkedin Twitter
Announce new posts. announce new posts
Link to posts that answer keep content fresh with
questions you see on LinkedIn microblogging
Your Blog
YouTube
post links to my videos on my site
Facebook
link relevant posts to my friends
of facebook. Invite discussion
Make your own version of this diagram. It’s your Social Media Map
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23. Connect all your media with...
• Ping.fm
• Hootsuite
• Self-hosted WordPress
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24. How often to Write? How Long
• Great questions - with very personal answers
• Generally:
• Write multiple times/week
• Write for your audience
• If your topic is complex, write long posts
• Mix with shorter ones if you want
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25. How to keep track of material
• Research your field
• Keep track of links in bookmarking service (delicious, diig) - later, you can
share them
• Subscribe to blogs using Google Reader
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26. Commenting Strategies
• Find your field’s bloggers
• Visit their site
• Read other comments
• Leave a comment that contributes to the conversation
• Link to read other blogs as well
• Respond to comments on your own site
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27. Want More?
• Tech Liminal offers:
• Weekly Friday WordPress support group
• Social Media for Job Seekers Workshops (September 2011)
• Sign up for our newsletter at:
http://techliminal.com
• Or check out these blogs for more tips and hints:
• http://website-in-a-weekend.net
• http://tedcurran.net
• http://almostsavvy.com
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28. thank you
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