How to Organize and Optimize Your Blog

Got a Company or Personal Blog? Four Tools to Organize and Optimize...

If you're trying to figure out how to make that company blog more than just a chore--check out this article and these tools suggested by business author, Janine Popick:

"At my e-mail marketing company, VerticalResponse, we've got a very active marketing blog that my content team writes, edits and manages. We've got a dozen internal folks and a handful of guest writers, plus a few freelancers contributing content. We post daily and, sometimes, even two to three times a day.
With all that content to manage, I asked our content marketing director how she keeps it all together and consistently delivers quality results. Here are some of her team's favorite tools that your business can start using today:

WordPress, WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin

About a year ago we did a massive redesign and moved our blog from TypePad to WordPress. (You can choose between WordPress.com which is hosted for you, or WordPress.org which you need to self host or find a third party to host for you.) Ever since we've been lovin' WordPress for its ease of use, cool themes and the massive amount of plugins that allow you to do just about anything you can think of.

Speaking of plugins, because the team has to keep track of daily posts, they recently installed the WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin.The editorial calendar gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog.

Cost: Starts at free for WordPress.com and WordPress.org is free without hosting fees.

Evernote

Evernote is an uber, power-packed note-taking app and I wanted to know how my content team was putting it to use. Turns out, they often use Evernote when they're away at conferences and blogging from the event. They use it to write their blog post outlines while listening to speakers, and then later they go back to fill in the details. What's great is that they can quickly copy their post right into WordPress and hit publish.

They also are big fans of the Evernote Web Clipper, which allows you to save anything you see online--including text, links and images--into your Evernote account with a single click. This is really useful when you are gathering ideas, research or curating content.

Cost: Free, or $5 per month for Evernote Premium

Yoast

Every good online marketer and blogger knows that in order to get your content found you need to optimize it for search engines and easy reading by humans. Yoast is a handy WordPress plugin that allows you to do just that. According to their website, "It incorporates everything from a snippet preview and page analysis functionality that helps you optimize your pages content, images titles, meta descriptions and more to XML sitemaps, and loads of optimization options in between."

Don't worry if that's a bunch of lingo you don't quite understand; Yoast will tell you exactly what those terms mean and what to do. You and your team can use the tool to optimize the heck out of your posts to make sure they are found by the search engines. My content team loves Yoast because in just a few seconds they can fill in the fields and see any changes they need to make. Simple and super effective.

Cost: Free

Scribe

Scribe (from the good folks at Copyblogger) helps you deliver the trifecta of content, search and social. According to their website, "Scribe makes content marketing effective and efficient with three essential actionable functions: Research, optimize, and connect."

The first function, research, allows you to do keyword research to see what terms are most popular, as well as how competitive they are. It also lets you optimize your content for sharing. This is really useful for the team to see what conversations are happening around topics they are creating content for, and ensure that what we're producing is shareable. Scribe's optimize and connect features help you build your site authority and Google PageRank, and connects you with other sites that have authority so you can establish relationships with them. It's good stuff when you are trying to get your content to stand out from the masses.

Cost: Ranges from $27-$97 per month based on plan."
**********************************************************************************
JANINE POPICK is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service email and event marketing, online surveys, social media, and direct mail solutions. The company was ranked No. 2,802 on the 2012 Inc. 5000.
**********************************************************************************
MITTONMedia provides consultation for employee recruitment programs that lower costs and get results. Contact John Mitton for more information.

Use "Doughnut Engagement" for More Effective Recruitment Messaging

How a box of doughnuts can help you recruit higher quality candidates...

One of the ways we help our recruitment clients get better results in a hurry is to remind them to use the strategy of  "Doughnut Engagement." Employers sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for a corporate branding program. Which is helpful for getting everyone on the same page but can also inadvertently lead to sabotaging recruitment efforts.

Why? 

As a result of gathering up all that employer branding research, subsequent recruitment messages often end up spitting out talking point after talking point focused solely on providing information about the employer.

What's missing?

"Doughnut Engagement"

Someone once wrote, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." In other words when quality candidates are looking for a change of scenery, one of the most important questions to be answered is "What's In This for Me and My Family?" How will their lives be improved by going to work for you and your company?

Here's where the "Doughnut Engagement" strategy comes in handy. We all have different tastes, right? When you go out to buy a dozen doughnuts, what's most important to you? Knowing everything possible about the bakery or knowing that the bakery will have your favorite flavors of doughnuts in the display case, ready to be consumed?

At MITTONMedia we use in-house surveys to help employers identify which of their  "flavors" seem to be attracting the highest number of quality candidates. The resulting hiring messages then focus almost exclusively on showcasing this "What's In It for Me" information.

Our in-house surveys also check out "flavors" that might be inhibiting results for the recruitment program and try to remove them from the menu as quickly as possible.

When it's time to create your next round of hiring messages, remember to blend employer-of-choice branding information with the strategy of "Doughnut Engagement." Or call in MITTONMedia. We'll bring the coffee.
******************************************************************************
MITTONMedia provides consultative services for a number of HR-related areas, including how to design recruitment programs that lower costs and get results. For more information, send an email to MITTONMedia President, John Mitton, at jmitton@mittonmedia.com.

At MITTONMedia, we do the work. You get the results...and quite possibly a promotion!

What is MITTONMedia? See what a recuiter said after seeing results they'd never seen before from a firm like ours

See the results of a self-reflection exercise done my MITTONMedia staffers in Houston after receiving a "Thank You" note from an employer that blew them away:

http://www.mittonmedia.com/mittonmedia-how-employer-client-describeds-mittonmedia

What is MITTONMedia? A recruiter chimes in...

What is MITTONMedia? See the results of a self-reflection exercise by our Houston office after receiving a "Thank You" note that blew us away:

http://www.mittonmedia.com/mittonmedia-how-employer-client-describeds-mittonmedia

Why It's Tough Finding Summer Jobs for Teenagers

Dwindling Summer Jobs for Teenagers 

What kinds of summer jobs did you have as a teenager?  As my own Teen knocked on door after door this summer, I thought back to the jobs I worked as a teenager:

·         Paint & Carpet store

·         Sporting Goods store

·         Working the scale at a gravel pit

·         Paving highways

·         Counter guy at A&W

·         Working the "Pelican Scoop" on board cargo ships at grain elevators in Superior, Wisconsin.(Yes, the same port made famous by Gordon Lightfoot in his song about the doomed Edmund Fitzgerald. Memorable because President Carter had just lifted the Russian grain embargo. I helped load the first Russian freighters. Russian sailors were nice enough but those guys walking around with machine guns were a little intimidating.)

·         Brick layer helper. (Mixed the mud, toted the bricks, and built/tore down the scaffolding.)

Our teen eventually found a job washing dishes, 4p-1a, five days a week at a very popular restaurant in the area. Don't laugh. You should see his paychecks! Was washing dishes his "Dream Job?" No, of course not.

Was washing dishes his "Dream Job?" No, it wasn't. But he quickly realized if he wanted to work then he would have to adjust and downgrade his expectations.

What about the growing number of teenagers who are not as fortunate in landing a summer job? For example, did you know the June, 2013 unemployment for 16-19 year old's was at 26.6 percent. That rate is rivaled only by the worst years of the recent recession. And the number of 16-19 year old's actively looking for work has plummeted during the past ten years, dropping from 44.5% to the current 34.3%

In his article, New Rite of Passage for Teens: Summer Unemployment, author John Zappe writes about what is driving the unemployment numbers for teenagers:

·         Fewer jobs: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report for last month’s employment said 779,000 teens got jobs in June. That’s the second strongest June gain since the recession began in December 2007. But, it is far below the 1.114 million of June 2007.

·         Increased competition from non-traditional sources: At least since the recession, competition for jobs — any job, including those traditionally taken by teenagers — has become more intense. They find themselves being edged out by recent college graduates, retirees needing to supplement their diminished 401(k)s, and by older workers, unemployed by layoffs and mergers.

·         Decline of the American mall: John Challenger, CEO of global research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, also blames the rise of Internet retailing. “Another trend,” he says that is hurting teen employment, “is the decline of the American mall, which has long been a traditional employer of teenaged summer job seekers. As more and more Americans flock to the internet for their shopping needs, traditional brick and mortar stores are seeing traffic decline along with the need for extra summer employees.”

(Posted by John Zappe, July 10, 2013, on www.ere.net)

*****************************************************************************
MITTONMedia has taken the employee recruitment industry and changed the dynamics of its hiring and retention programs. Our basic philosophy is to create a dynamic presence for a corporation which reaches and engages fully qualified employed, top shelf employees. MITTONMedia uses multiple forms of media, traditional routes like public and private Career Fairs, and social networks to recruit and staff job opportunities for major corporations.

In addition, our innovative approach has proven to be a great cost-cutter, lowering the price of staff acquisition while raising the quality of candidates.

For more information contact MITTONMedia President, John Mitton, at jmitton@mittonmedia.com. Or call John directly at 832.969.5627.

When does "Employer Branding" get in the way of success?

A corporate employer spends hundreds of thousand of dollars creating a brand message that positions the company as an "Employer of Choice." Do they now get to stand back and enjoy a sharp increase in applicant flow? Not necessarily.

To many HR professionals, "Employer Branding" suggests company-focused messaging:

• "We are the leading provider of widgets for the past 100 years." 
• "We are the giant in our industry. Feel fortunate we invited you to move your career here."
• "We have been named a 'Top 100 Employer' for the past five years running."

What quality candidates are looking for, however, is candidate-focused messaging. They want employer's to answer, "What's In It for Me?" How will life become better if the candidate chooses to move their career to the new employer?

To begin enjoying an increase in your applicant flow, be sure to address some or all of these areas in your hiring messages:

• Work/Life Balance
• Points of Difference. Show candidates things you offer that they cannot get with other employers in the area.
• Commitment to personal and professional growth. Share examples.
• Show me the money! If you are not a top salary provider then share examples of how the company compensates in other ways, like flexible scheduling, enhanced benefits package, or rapid advancement.

 You don't always need hundreds of thousands of dollars to engage quality candidates. Just show them how much you care.

What's Wrong With Kids Today?!

medialifemagazine.com

Rachel speaks!


Rachel, what's wrong with kids today?


By Rachel Mar 5, 2010 - 1:03:28 AM


Dear Rachel,

Maybe I’m over-reacting because I haven’t done this for a while, but what is wrong with today’s kids? Over the past couple of months I’ve been called to talk to young people applying for jobs in media at our agency because the person who usually does this is out on maternity leave. Some of the young people I meet are impressive but too many are on the moon. They don’t come prepared for the interview, and they don’t really seem to care what sort of impression they make. It’s as if they are doing me a favor by showing up. Some are downright arrogant. I wouldn’t hire any of them. What gives? Sign me, Beaned in Boston

Dear Beaned,

I will jump to their defense, if briefly.

These days I don’t think young people have the work experience behind them that kids of earlier generations had, like summer jobs and part-time work in college. So I think when they go looking for that first job they suffer from a lot of misconceptions about how they should present themselves.

They think they must come across as self-assured, and too often the result is to appear arrogant.

But I think another problem is that many have come out of college media programs where they think they learned everything there is to know about media. When they get to the interview they want you to know just what they know. So they chatter on, and you have to listen.

In their defense, I think they’re probably pretty good kids beneath the bluster.

How do you handle them in the interview?

I think you should be polite but very firm about what the agency expects of people it hires. See if they’re listening. If they are, it’s a good sign.

I also think you need to take control of the conversation. Don’t let them talk on.

Ultimately, your goal is to filter out the ringers to get to those who would make good hires for your agency. As soon as you realize the person you are talking to is not going to make the cut, move to end the interview with a few polite comments along the lines of we’ll call if we have something that’s right for you.

You may go through dozens of such interviews before you find your person, which might seem like a lot of time better spent doing more worthwhile things. But it’s a good investment of time if the person you settle on is a good hire.

If you don’t find that person after dozens of interviews, you may want to widen your net.
The one mistake you do not want to make it is to hire that person who’s the best of a bad lot, the least annoying of a not very promising set of candidates. If you have doubts about that person in your first meeting, you need to trust your gut and take a pass.

You can’t hire weak candidates and shape them into good workers. It doesn’t happen. Trust me. I know.



© 2010 Media Life