theblogmarketeer.com

With the current economy being what it is, it is essential for job hunters to have access to as many job websites and job seeker tools as is possible.

When researching websites that post job opportunities, most job hunters stick with the usual culprits, such as Monster and CareerBuilder.

But there are more options out there, especially for the trained professional.

Take the American Career Group for example. Ever heard of them?

Maybe not. The American Career Group is a recruiting and staffing company that uses the Internet to it’s full potential in filling jobs that need to be filled, with qualified professionals.

Instead of catering to every single profession out there, and thus, not being specialized in any field, American Career Group focuses on a select group of professions.

These professions include:

• Accounting and Finance
• Clerical and Administrative
• Customer Service
• Medical and Healthcare
• Human Resources
• Information Technology
• Marketing and Advertising
• Merchandising, Purchasing and Retail
• Sales and Sales Management
• Travel, Hospitality and Restaurants

By focusing on these selected fields of expertise, American Career Group can then focus on providing the best possible candidates to fulfill their job openings, while giving the job seeker the best possible job openings available.

When it comes to job hunting, now more than ever, it pays to do your research.

So if you are job hunting, even if you currently have a professional position, make sure you check out all of the angles. Then decide which one suits your needs the best!

Good luck!

While it is not uncommon for individuals, or even companies to request their sites be removed from Google’s’ massive index, it is also not uncommon for Google to remove sites themselves.

Sound fishy?

Google states in their webmaster help pages that they reserve the right to remove sites for legal reasons, and of course for sites that attempt to subvert the search engine crawling process.

But what if you feel your site has been targeted for other reasons?

Now, obviously if your site is geared towards things such as piracy or illegal trade, then you shouldn’t be feeling victimized, just a little guilty maybe. But if you feel you are legitimate in your web presence, then maybe you should re-evaluate your choice of wording or hyperlinks.

Another possibility, is to contact someone who has experience in the field of Internet reputation management. Carl Sgro is one of the many consultants that can guide companies and individuals through the process of reinstating a website into Google’s’ index. while this process may seem like a futile effort when going up against Google, business development professionals can be an essential tool in clearing you sites good name.

Carl Sgro has over 25 years experience helping companies grow and expand their web presence by using sound SEO and SEM principals. Such industry knowledge is invaluable when it comes to discovering why Google removed a site from their listings.

While consultants such as Carl Sgro are not the be all, end all of reacquiring Google status, it never hurts to have someone on your side when dealing with your businesses reputation and presence.

Most bloggers know that they can make a little side money by blogging about ads on their blog.

But how many know about, or what is entailed by sponsored posting?

While the concept is relatively simple, the ramifications on your blog are not as clear initially.

In essence, sponsored posting is when a company tells you exactly what a blog post on your blog will look like, and what it will have in it. In a nutshell, they write the post for you.

Sound good?

To some, this is a great thing. All you do is simply copy the post content, and paste it into a log post on your blog.

Easy enough.

But what if you don’t like what is either being sold, or how it is written. Remember, these are blatant advertisements. These are not subtle marketing hints that can be masked into a post pertaining to something different.

Of course, with most sponsored posting companies, you can opt out of a sponsored post. Of course doing this has it’s own ramifications, such as loss of immediate revenue, and posible future offers being reduced.

Basically, do the research before you enter the sponsored posting game. For one sponsored posting site to research, check out Sponzai, by Izea. They are reputable, and a good company.

Make sure you are comfortable with what someone else is writing on your posts before you agree to let them!

Good luck and happy blogging!

As many everyone knows, this is a great season for deals on gifts.

But, did you know that there can be great deals found on web hosting packages and domain names? Now is actually a great time to go ahead and create that website, or blog!

All you need is the desire, a name, a theme, and of course, a little coin to get started.

Go to web hosts, or just search for deals on hosting packages.

If you want, you can also subscibe to “deals” emails from companies like GoDaddy!, that will send you sweet deals in your email!

Good luck!

If you are planning on trying your hand at paid blogging, make sure you know what you’re getting into before you post anything on your blog.

Why, you ask?

Basically, there are less than reputable persons on the Internet and any nice looking site can be a scam waiting to happen. Sure it may not cost you anything financially, but it is still irritating and can possibly to something worse, like identity theft.

Here are some simple commandments to help separate the legit from the scams:

• Know Thy Terms Of Payment – Does the payer pay every 2 weeks? 30 Days after post approved? After a minimum $50 account balance has been reached? Once you know this, you can better judge how often you need to post for this company.
• Know Thy Sites Credibility - As I have stated in this post and others, there are companies out there that are, well, cheats. Do your research. If someone is unhappy with a certain paid to blog site, it may not be a big deal. If several people are unhappy, it might be reason to avoid the site all together.
• Know Thy Fine Print – Again, understand the Terms and Conditions a paid blog site has. If they don’t have one, then maybe they aren’t legitimate. Also, this may be a good place to find payment details.
• Know Thy Own Information – Kinda cryptic, I know. Basically, if a site wants your SSN or PayPal account info, make sure you know who you are giving it to. See the second bullet for another reason for this precaution.
• Know Thy Sites Style – If a website looks terrible, or looks like a 12 year old made it, how well do you think it works? Based on that assessment, how well do you think it is operated?

If you searched Google or Bing for paid blogging sites, you are bound to find blog posts from fairly credible bloggers who will give a list of paid blogging sites and a small description of their “competence.”

Take heed when these blog posts defame certain sites, as this might be a clue as to the legitimacy of the site.

Again, be careful, be vigilant.

Happy blogging!

There is an unfortunate side effect of people and technology, scams.

Unfortunately, even paid blogging sites can be in on this disturbing trend.

Now, am I speaking from experience?

I am not totally sure as of right now, but I believe I am. But if when my little “issue” is over, than I will definitely write about the company, and their problems here.

So, what kind of scams can a pay-you-to-blog site do?

Well, how about not paying your for work done? How about forcing ads and popups onto your blog via a simple “tracking” script?

The scams can be slightly less offensive, but are typically worse.

So before you agree to do anything for anyone, make sure you carefully read the Terms and Conditions page or post well. If they don’t have a terms and conditions page, maybe they aren’t as reputable as they appear to be.

Be careful, be vigilant, be smart.

The first thing people notice when they land on your blog is it’s appearance.

Having an attractive blog can be the first step, or the last step, in successful blogging. So how do you know what works and what doesn’t?

Most of this is personal preference. But here are a few tips:

• Blog Templates - All you need to do is Google blog templates (and maybe add your platform in there, ie.., Wordpress) and you will get hundreds of links to sites with good, or bad, templates to peruse. Find one that fits your blogs theme, and is easily readable and not too overbearing.
• Minimize Ads – Using ads on your blog to subsidize your “rent” isn’t a bad thing, but it can be overdone. If you can limit the number of ads on your blog to 3, or so, you can better space them out, and reduce the annoying your users.
• Form vs. Function – The purpose of a blog is to deliver information. If your blog tries to be a web server or MP3 host mechanism, maybe it shouldn’t be a blog.
• Keep It Simple – Layouts should be easy to read and the navigation used should be intuitive.

Obviously there are more items that one can find to make your blog better for users to..well, use. Visiting some of the more famous blogs can shed a little light on things.

Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with layouts and especially, templates. You can always change a template if you don’t like it!

If you have ever wanted to know what a “good” blog looks and reads like, then look no further than Time’s Top 25 Best Blogs 2009 .

The list includes some names like TPM (Talking Points Memo), Lifehacker, and The Daily Dish. Some of these you may have heard of, others not. But looking at these “famous” blogs may give you some insight into what it takes to make a popular, or at least well written, blog.

Now, most of these are news type of blogs. News is everywhere and is mostly copied from source to source. The key with these blogs is how they take the news and report or detail it to their audience.

Entertainment blogs may not get as much out of these blogs aside from layout and font styles, but every blogger can learn from the level of writing that is done on these blogs.

Even if you find yourself bored or at odds with these blogs opinions or contents, you can still glean a tidbit or two style and technique that may prove valuable in your own blogging.

Take notes, read carefully, and maybe you can learn a trick or two from these masters.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 18 months or so, you will have no doubt heard about the troubling economic problems currently plaguing the country.

While some sectors of industry hold fairly strong in these economic climates, others don’t. Such is the case with web marketing.

If you make a living, or just some spare cash from time to time, you have probably noticed a downward swing in your Internet based revenue in the past year or so. People who get paid to blog, or even just to host ads on their sites have noticed this decrease.

But is there still money out there to be made?

Of course.

After all, marketing still falls under the old adage, it takes money to make money.In my own current paid to blog campaigns, I have seen a major fluctuation in not only numbers of ads coming out, but also in the amounts being paid for them.

And it not always the big shot companies that are still paying out for ads on the web. I have done a lot of small, website only based company ads also. This could be a good sign that if smaller companies can afford the ads, maybe the big boys aren’t too far behind.

So while the money flowing to would be ad sellers, both Internet based and TV wise, is smaller, and getting smaller all the time, there is still money being spent on these ads.

So, if your business, either blogging for money, or selling ad space, is hurting under the current economic crunch, there is always the glimmer of hope that things will turn around. The questions is just when they will turn around.

In the modern working world, how can you find a balance between that in which you need to do, and that in which you want to do?

For most of us, it’s not that hard.

You go to work, then you go home. Easy.

But what if what it is that you want to do, is work?

Huh?

If you are an entrepreneur, you understand the question. If not, then chances are you may not get what it is that is being asked.

Being an  entrepreneur is work, yet it is a labor of love to quote a phrase. Those who I know that are entrepreneurs thrive at the work they do. It is simply one of the few things in life that make them exceptionally happy.

So I rephrase the question, how do you find balance between the work you have to do, and the work you love to do?

Sure, for some entrepreneurs, the work you have to do, is the work love to do. But not all entrepreneurs can be so lucky.

For some, it is a seemingly never ending work schedule, allowing for little or no time off to recoup, or relax.

Finding this balance can be the difference between a hard working and rewarding existence, and a bitter exhausting conflict based existence.

Vacations, time alone, “personal space.” All of these simple, yet required things are free of monetary cost, yet can be expensive personally. So how can you attain them, without losing something else, or someone else you love?

Not being an entrepreneur, but knowing several, I often fail to understand the drive that those that are entrepreneur have. But, I do understand completely the struggle to find the balance one needs in life between work and play, even if your play is work.