How Blogging can get you more Money and a Better Job Part II
Sep 28th, 2009 by Carlos
On Friday I wrote about the different ways blogging can make you more money and get you a better job. Believe it or not, I ran out of space, so here is the part II of a post that I’m really proud of because I honestly believe that blogging is something everyone can do to make themselves a better employee.
SEO
Why on earth would you need to know about search-engine optimization? Well, because it’s how people find things online, and knowing how it works (at least the basics) is essential if you’re doing any kind of business (or blogging) online.
Because I had done so much research to drive traffic to this site (with varying levels of success), when I began to see opportunities at my new job to put some of the things I’d learned into practice, I had the confidence to do it. Why? I had already experimented with some things on this site and had read so much about it that I knew what I was talking about.
That gave me a chance to lead on a project I wouldn’t of otherwise.
Metrics
Never heard of time on site, bounce rate, or % new visits? After starting a blog and running it for a while, you’ll learn this stuff (or you should).
Odds are, your job has some kind of Internet component to it. And simply knowing this stuff will allow you take part in conversations without sounding like a moron. Which is always a good thing.
Communication Skills
What on earth could blogging teach you about communicating? Well, you’re going to have to communicate with A LOT of people when you blog. Other bloggers, your readers, advertisers (if you go that route), and a whole bunch of other people that are going to help you on your way.
If you can’t communicate what you want or what you need to them, you’re going to have a really hard time of it. Remember, you’re basically running your own business here so you have to be able to communicate with all the different aspects of the biz.
After doing this for a while, it felt easy going to work and only having to communicate with a select group of people, most of which were in the same office. When we opened a new office on the west coast, I felt like communicating with people over there was pretty easy: I was used to emailing with a bunch of strangers from around the world while running this blog.
Networking
If you’re read any of the “How to Become a Better Blogger” posts that are out there, you know that one of the big rules is to interact with other bloggers. It’s the best way to get tips, advice, and inbound links.
Successful bloggers will probably tell you that they spend 25% of their time writing and 50% of the time networking. At least at the start (the rest of the time is spend fiddling with technical details…a nightmare).
And remember, networking isn’t about getting what you want. Real, genuine networking is a lot deeper than that.
Portfolio
Wait a minute…aren’t portfolios for ad guys or writers or designers? Sure, but if you aren’t any of them, wouldn’t you love to walk into an interview and say, “Here is a link to my portfolio of work”?
It’s distinguish you from every other candidate in the pile. The trick is to make sure your blog is relevant to what you do. If you’re a writer, write about writing. If you’re an accountant, tackle changes in the law and better ways of dealing with issues that come out of those changes.
The idea is to show employers that you’ve been doing interesting work in this field for some time now. All by yourself, for no money at all (or very little money).
I’ve said this before and one reader asked me how he could write about “Applications Support” stuff on a blog when a lot of the stuff he’s touching is “sensitive material.” Well, it leads into my last point…
Creativity
Imagine if you work in “Applications Support” and most of what you do every day is “sensitive.” You go to a job interview and the interviewer asks you some questions, then says, “I see you have a blog. What’s it about?”
And you explain to him/her that since you deal with sensitive data, you’ve written about stuff like efficiency and forecasting the types of problems that could arise.
It’s a chance to show off your creativity and initiative. How many Applications Support candidates come in the door with that in their holster?
Blogging is The New Sliced Bread
Yeah, that’s right. Blogging can get you a better job, more money, and it will cure AIDS. There, I said it.
Everyone should start a blog right away because, in a few years, you’ll probably be the minority and job interviews might screech to a halt with “Oh you DON’T have a blog? We’ll let you know.”
