Successful Blog

How to Wow with Your First Resume

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Ana Rose

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In these days of online job sites, it may seem the resume is dead. In reality it’s far from that. Whether it’s a traditional hiring process or one that starts on the Internet, you’ll find that having your goals and what you can offer organized will make any job search easier.

How to Wow with Your First Resume

Resumes always tend to make a candidate jittery for basically two reasons, viz., if the proper format is not known to them and secondly, if they do not have any experience to show and I mean the voluntary kinds. A candidate also gains advantage if he or she is involved in some extracurricular activity. At the entry level resume, one has the liberty to mention about the activities that are not totally related to the job profile.

Resume – Tricky Document
First resumes are the easiest and at times the trickiest to write, depending on the job field and the profile of work. Since freshmen have no substantial experience in the practical field, they need to pay special attention to the presentation of their credentials in the resume. The resume thus functions like a document that represents the candidate to the recruiter and employer. To ensure there are no chances of getting rejected in the initial selection rounds, the entry level resume template will come to your rescue.

Purpose of Resume

The following will tell you what to include in the resume, but before that it is important to know and be sure of the purpose of making the resume, i.e. to get a job or to secure an internship. In case of the former, we will see the points below, but in the latter case one needs to highlight the interest in the subject, marks scored in those subjects, hobbies or special efforts taken in order to learn more about it.

Tabular Format for Systematic Presentation

Entry level and college resume templates focus on the academics; make sure you present your details with respect to what subjects you have studied, which college, the university, the academic duration, specialization subjects, etc. Do make use of tables (tabular format) for putting in your details systematically.

Special Sections to be Highlighted

Extracurricular activities of the candidates are something which they can cash in on. In case the candidate has interest or some experience in their choice of line, then it should be highlighted right after the education section or just before it, if one has something of outstanding nature to mention related to the same.

Skills

A dedicated section for mentioning the special skills set and abilities, technical competencies, etc., is advisable. Use bulletined points and include two line elaboration with details like where did you participate in the activity, what you are competent in, for example, computer skills, using some particular software program, etc.

Creating a good impression is important whether you’re new graduate, a college freshman, or someone re-entering the workforce after a long absence. Use these tips to create a strong image.

Author’s Bio:
Ana Rose is a freelance writer who writes on various career related subjects and she keeps her interest in writing about resume and cover letters. For more info visit bestsampleresume

How to Rebuild Rankings after the Penguin Update

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B. Lyttle

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The Penguin Update by Google came into effect on April 24th, 2012. Although it received its fair share of contradictory criticism and appreciation, it made one thing very clear – the webmasters trying to trick Google by finding loopholes in the system and indulging in spam will constantly be weeded out, sooner or later, with every algorithm update.

How to Rebuild Rankings after the Penguin Update

If you’re a webmaster who’s still trying to figure out ways to rebuild a new SEO strategy after the Penguin update, these tips will help you recover your site from the oblivious pages to the top rankings that receive all the limelight once again:

1. Remove Irrelevant Links – Sure guest posting is a great way to get some free content while adding value to your site and giving your readers a fresh perspective on things. But if yours is a sports website accepting guest posts related to a completely different niche like cooking or finance, you’re only paving way for your website to sink in murky waters. Get rid of all such links on your site that are not relevant to your niche.

2. Provide Quality Content on Your Website and Contribute Guest Posts to Relevant Sites – Buying backlinks is a quite popular SEO tactic and is gaining huge momentum these days but it doesn’t always pay. Instead, it can lead to a lot of trouble for you when these paid links are automated links. If you have any such links or have any spam websites linking to you, contact the webmasters of these websites immediately and politely request them to remove these links.

It is best that you earn backlinks only from the sites that are relevant to your niche. The best way to do this is, by providing good quality content on your website that encourages natural link building of your website, as well as contributing guest posts to other established blogs in your relevant niche.

3. Vary Anchor Texts – If your SEO strategy was using your 2-3 main keywords as your anchor texts, there’s no way your site could come through clean in the Penguin update because this clearly indicates spam links. And, Google’s Penguin update’s aim is to eliminate all spam.

While it is important that you are ranked for your main keyword, it’s very important that your linking strategy should look absolutely natural, according to SEO experts at Click Consult. Avoiding any kind of pattern, especially in the anchor texts can take you a long way in SEO and in restoring the rankings of your website.

Make your anchor texts look natural by varying your main keywords, using brand names as anchor texts and others. For example, a main keyword like “Halloween Costumes” can be made to look natural by using anchor texts, like “90s Halloween costumes”, “Halloween costumes for plus size men” and others.

Restoring your rankings after the Penguin update is not as difficult as it was at the time of Panda update. Though the Penguin update dropped the axe on a lot of companies, creating a spam-free site with quality and relevant content will help you climb the ranking ladder again.

Author’s Bio:
B. Lyttle is a SEO expert with over 5 years of experience under her belt. She’s a contributor for the site, Click Consult.com, the #1 SEO Company in UK.

The Secret to Success

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Rosemary O’Neill

Success in Life, Business, and Golf

Molly:
That was incredible! That was the shot of the tournament!

Roy:
I just gave away the U.S. Open.

Molly: It doesn’t matter.

Roy:
One time in my life I know
the safe play to hit and I still …,
I still can’t make myself do it.

Molly: It doesn’t matter.

Roy: My whole career, my whole life on the line …
I just made a 12 on the last hole of the Open!

Molly: You sure did. It was the greatest 12 of all time.
No one’s going to remember the Open 10 years from now, who won … but they’ll remember your 12! My, God, Roy, it was…Well, it’s immortal! I am so proud of you!

–Kevin Costner and Rene Russo in the movie Tin Cup.

Perhaps I have golf on the brain this week, since I live just a few miles away from where the PGA Tournament will be played this year. But I’ve always had a soft spot for Tin Cup, Kevin Costner’s movie about a washed up golf pro.

The enduring lesson of Tin Cup is that, sometimes, no matter how crazy you seem to the rest of the world, you’re still doing the right thing for you. After all, Roy gets the girl in the end.

The Secret to Success

In business, as in life, you often have the choice of the easy lay up onto the green vs the risky shot across the water hazard. It might even be in a clutch situation, with everything on the line and crowds of people watching.

The person who wins in that situation is the person who has clearly defined criteria for success. And that might not mean winning the tournament. It might mean getting past fear and going all out in a quest for knowledge.

Fear of failure, fear of looking stupid, these things keep us from going straight at our goals. We tell ourselves that it couldn’t possibly work. Stop worrying about how it’s going to work, and start focusing on what success means to you. See it, savor it, vividly imagine it every morning.

Then pick up your trusty 5 iron and go straight at that hole.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

5 Ways to Build Connections that Make Loyal Customers

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Tara Hornor

Why Using the Golden Rule in Business Works

The golden rule in business is just like the age-old standard of care: treat customers how you want to be treated. It is important that, as a business owner, you always think of your customers and what they want, like, and simply prefer above everything else.

If customers are not interested in what you have to offer and do not feel a personal connection, they will likely not return again. You can send them an email newsletter or direct mail postcards each week, but if they do not feel your “love” for them, you can still lose them as a customer. It is always easier to maintain previous customer relationships rather than gain new ones. Instead of putting yourself through this headache of losing and replacing customers, you have to constantly make connections with your current customers, especially if you want an easy road to success.

5 Ways to Build Connections that Make Loyal Customers

Whether you operate your small business from a local store or your business is operated entirely online, it is not so difficult to build connections that make loyal customers as long as you follow a few simple steps, which include

  1. Ask questions
  2. Talk about what they are interested in
  3. Listen to what customers have to say
  4. Have patience
  5. Use social media

1.) Ask Questions

Ask your customers questions — about their interests, what they like to do, and what they prefer when buying certain products or using certain services. It helps match the customer to the products that cater to their specific wants and needs. Use surveys, follow-up phone calls, or direct emails to ask them how you can improve.

2.) Talk about Them

People want to hear about themselves. You can do this throughout your marketing content. Talk about their problems that you can solve. Highlight recent positive customer experiences. Fill your pages with solutions to their problems – don’t just talk about yourself.

3.) Listen Carefully

Make sure you provide plenty of options for your customers to get in touch, in case problems occur. And just as important, when problems arise make sure you follow up and listen carefully to what happened. Acknowledge customers’ concerns and act aggressively to resolve any outstanding issues. Use a direct email address, Twitter and other social media profiles, and phone to give customers easy access to you.

4.) Be Patient

Patience is important. Avoid confrontation, even if something negative is said. Stuff happens and a patient, caring tone with a customer is critical to long-term relationship building. No matter how exasperated you are or they get, stay calm and work to resolve issues. You may turn a customer who called with an intent of burning bridges into a powerful advocate for your business simply by patiently working through issues.

5.) Use Social Media for Feedback to Build a Connection

Social media is an excellent tool for gaining feedback from your customers, which is especially ideal if you are running an online business. Through social networking sites, you can stay in touch with your customers and communicate with them on a regular basis. Your goal is to make them feel appreciated, as if they are family, so be sure to respond to the comments they leave on your profile.

How you follow the Golden Rule in your business will determine how many loyal customers you acquire. Therefore, take the time necessary to treat customers well, to listen to their feedback and complaints, and to constantly improve your process of dealing with individual customers.

These are just a few ways that you can build connections that make loyal customers. Give these five a try. They will work for you whether you operate your small business from a local store or if your business is operated entirely online.

What else do you suggest to build customer connections that last?

Author’s Bio:
Tara Hornor writes about marketing, advertising, branding, web and graphic design, and desktop publishing for PrintPlace.com a company that offers online printing for print marketing media. Find her on Twitter as @TaraHornor .

 

How to Create a Digital Marketing Strategy

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Colin MacDougal

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Creating a buzz on this ultra crowded web of people, information, and brands is a challenging task. Only by forming a smart strategy and then executing it do marketers succeed.

Know Your Customers

The very first step that marketers have to focus on is consumer research before they can board the brand wagon. It is mandatory that sufficient research be conducted before even the tiniest effort of brand promotion because according to Sun Tzu, ‘Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.’ And strategies can be developed only by someone informed. Demographic and psychographic details are used to develop a customer profile.

Create a Brand

Using information from the customer analysis, focus on the creation of the three following things:

  • Brand Essence – What is the one clear, crisp idea that the brand is about? The people behind Coke have worked to promote is as a brand that represents happiness, Lux is all about star appeal, while BIC characterizes disposability. Remember, a brand’s essence is the one thing about it that can never be change.
  • Brand Values – What values that surround the brand? In addition to being a symbol of happiness, Coke also symbolizes celebration, sharing, love, friendship, familial values, etc.
  • Brand Persona – If brand essence and brand values were personified, they would create brand persona.

Customer Internet Availability

Once the branding cycle is complete, probe into the web browsing behavior of the target market. The timing, the frequency, the websites/social media they use most to interact with others, the things they like to share, the things they enjoy but do not choose to share with others, the average amount of time spent on one sitting at a social networking site, etc.

Keep an Eye on the Competition

Along with details of web browsing behavior of the target market, knowledge about what the competition is doing on the Internet is also crucial. Find out what the industry’s leaders are doing and which and how new entrants in the market have been able to attract significant audiences at different social networking sites and other online mediums.

Select Mediums

Keep in mind the selection of online media the target market uses and the different platforms used by the competition. There are two main strategies that marketers can go for – offensive or defensive. Campaigns with larger resources can afford to adopt an offensive strategy and establish their presence on online platforms that are already dominated by competitors. On the other hand, marketers may also adopt a defensive strategy by attacking the competition where it is not looking. In other words, it can establish its presence on mediums that the target market frequently uses but which haven’t been used by competitors yet.

Some of the most frequently used mediums and tactics for online marketing campaigns include application development, meta engines, online stores, PR engines, blogs, feed services such as RSS, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social media and affiliate marketing.

Analyze Results

Having conducted the research, created a strategy, and then applied it, the last yet perhaps the most important step of the entire process is to analyze the results. Thanks to tools such as Google Analytics, the results of an online marketing campaign can be determined. The findings can be used to improve future efforts to promote a brand online.

Author’s Bio:
Colin MacDougal works with www.HostPapa.com company serving over 100,000 customers around the world. Since launching in 2006, HostPapa has offered reliable, budget-friendly, easy-to-use web solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. You can find HostPapa at http://www.facebook.com/hostpapa

7 Keys to Loyal, Lasting Customer Relationships

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Every Business Is Relationships

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It doesn’t matter what your role is in business.
You won’t get very far without the help of other people.

It doesn’t matter whether your work is solo or as one of thousands in a big corporation.
Your work will require you to interact with people.

To build a product, offer a service, tell people about that product or service, make a sale, solve a problem, or gather feedback. It’s hard to imagine a business situation where people aren’t involved. To be successful, some social skills are an imperative. To build a team or grow a business, we need to get other people engaged and involved.

Business is relationships and relationships are everyone’s business.

Transaction is not Connection

In some ways, every person we interact with — employees, bosses, vendors, partners, shareholders, family, friends — is a customer. Those interactions can be transactional. You do this and I’ll do that. Relationship over until the next offer.
We do the this so that we get that prize.

We see this and do this online and off.

  • “Like” our Facebook page, and get a coupon for a free taco.
  • Follow us on Twitter and we’ll retweet you 5 times.
  • Enter our contest and you could win!
  • Buy our product and get 10% more.
  • Buy from us and get a free hat!

The problem with that transaction — the quid pro quo agreement doesn’t develop a relationship.

Our attention is on the prize not the person or even the business who offered it. We earned the prize.
Unless they offer another prize, we don’t really have a reason to interact with that business or person again. If someone offers a better prize for less work or investment, they’ll get our time.

Transactions are not connections. It takes a connection to have reason for returning.

7 Keys to Loyal, Lasting Customer Relationships

Transactional business is tough. And it’s risky. It’s tiring and costly to keep reminding customers to come back and buy again. Another vendor can offer a better, or even the same, transaction and if the timing, placement, or prize is attractive when customers have a need to buy again they’re gone. How far will you walk to get a lower ATM fee?

But, build a relationship and the game changes. You’ve suddenly established context. Context shows people how you fit into their lives. Now that other vendor can’t replicate or replace what you’ve built. It takes a little more time and maybe some thinking, but the investment is worth it. Invest in people and they’re more likely to invest back.

If you want customers to form a relationship a fiercely loyal customer, stick by these 7 keys to a loyal, lasting customer relationship.

  1. Show up whole and human. Listen when people talk. We respond to generosity and compassion.
  2. Talk in your authentic voice. Let your values speak for you. You’ll attract people who share them.
  3. Tell your own truth. Tell the best true story about you — the one that gets customers to see that you’re like them.
  4. Have room for customers to tell their best story too. When they do, find a way to applaud.
  5. Don’t try to tie ideas up in a bow. Leave room for contributions, conversation, and growth through collaboration.
  6. Invite the best people to contribute. Let customers into your business to do things unrelated to buying, like swapping success stories, sharing their wisdom, and helping other customers have a better experience.
  7. Be helpful, not hypeful. . . . Make everything about them not you.

People make relationships with people, not with businesses. Investing authentic attention in customers, taking time to see, hear, and understand their needs, wishes, and wants, builds trust. Trust makes things faster and easier. We buy more and bigger things from people we trust.

Got advise on how to win your loyalty as a customer?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss