General Career Blog

Blog posting serves two very important roles insofar as it is not only expected to attract new site visitors but also keep them continually returning. All popular blogs have one thing in common and that is they keep the blog reader Happy with fresh and frequent updates. This may seem like trying to be on the ‘top of your game’ 24/7 but there really is a way to handily keep your blog entries interesting and fresh! Nobody said having a successful blog was easy but it is also not as overwhelming as it may seem.

Here are 5 simple rules to follow to maintain a steady stream of popular posts to your blog.

Keep it Short and Sweet

Unless you have got a blockbuster post chock full of so much information that the post needs to be article length or longer keep your post short. Most popular posts are of 300 words or less.

The blog reader by nature is like a hummingbird in that they want to quickly drift in read what you got to say they dart off. By keeping your post short they will be able to accomplish this and you also won’t have to labor over a 500 plus word post.

Learn to say more with fewer words!

Supply Content That ‘Serves’

What I mean here is that your content needs to appeal to the reader for some reason or the other. Your content can be of useful information or perhaps something insightful or thought provoking. Even the use of humor is a good idea since everybody ( I hope) enjoys a good laugh!

The point is you always want your reader coming away with something after they have read one of your posts.

Visual Aids

The use of pictures of graphics helps to break up the page somewhat allowing eyes a little less strain. Continuous reading of tightly packed words puts a tremendous strain on the eyes.

By ‘inserting’ a picture or possibly even a short video that may help get your point across you are ‘killing two birds with one stone.’

Guest Blogger

If you experience an occasional brain freeze fear not. You can always ‘enlist’ the aid of a guest blogger who will lend a new perspective to your site. This will also be a fresh experience for your readers and we all know they love fresh!

Down the road you can return the favor and fill in at their site.

Use Links

If you happen across interesting content on another blog do not be afraid to link to it by referring your readers to the material over there. Your readers will appreciate it as will the site owner of the blog you have referred them to.

In the future that blogger could very well return the favor bringing you a new stream of traffic.

Your blog posting is a key factor in attracting both the new blog reader while maintaining the loyalty of the old ones.  Site visitors want content that is of interest to them and they want it often. Most of the popular blogs have realized this and are able to appease their followers with frequent blog entries that serve readers in some way. Whether your post are thought provoking, useful, humorous, or maybe even shocking it doesn’t matter. You just want to be sure they serve some sort of purpose and that your readers know they won’t have to wait long for a new post. By combining the 5 rules above with just a little effort you should be able to easily maintain a steady flow of content to keep your blog alive and flourishing.

Journaling:  writing down your thoughts, observations and experiences in a specific place like a journal, notebook or computer folder.   While I know this is important in the pursuit of a writing career my first thought was my lack of success in keeping a journal. People had given me enough as gifts so I had tried over the years to keep a handwritten journal.  I would write a lot the first month of my new journal it seemed and then it would taper off to weekly, then monthly, and suddenly my entries were six months apart. 

      While I treasure the things I did record in my journal, I felt like a failure at my lack of regularity in writing.  That is, until I realized that journaling can come in many forms and types.  Mentioning three might give you some ideas toward developing the positive habit of writing consistently.

• (1) A journal-writing your thoughts by hand in a journal or notebook or keeping a journal on the computer is the most common way to begin to write on a consistent basis. Though it didn’t work for me, some people have taken journals and used the entries for stories or books so they can be a good source of ideas.
• (2) A blog- a blog or web log is an online journal that you post to on the internet, either privately or allowing the public to see what you have to say. I started two different blogs a year ago and post to them every Monday. One blog is on my life as a Christian and the other on my life as a writer. Sometimes the two intermingle but blogging is one way to journal thoughts and connect with others at the same time. To check out my blogs go to http://jenlhall63.blogspot.com/ or http://jenlhall63.christianblogsites.com/blog/
• (3) Articles or “idea” papers- the third way and one I used the most in my early writing years consisted of writing about what I was studying at the moment. Since bible study has been very important to me for many years, I began by simply studying and writing my ideas down. Some would take the form of Bible studies while others were taking Biblical principles and real life experiences to format an “idea” paper. I carefully filed them and kept them which came in handy later when I began writing articles for a church newsletter. These “idea” papers have been useful as I now write for article websites and a women’s magazine. Studying and writing about different subjects kept my interest so I wrote consistently over several years.

     Don’t feel hemmed in when you take a class or go online and people suggest doing things a certain way.  I have certainly tried to learn from the experience of others but when it comes down to it, I had to do what works for me.  Time, personality, work, and obligations all equate into the way that you can personally begin to write on a consistent basis.  The main thing is to write…write…write…

     Next week we will discuss how being a “reader” and reading will make you a better writer. 

Love is a strange thing. Although the both of you may have broken up, it is still possible to get your ex to love you once again. In this article, let me share with you 3 tips to make your ex love you again:

Next, visit the website below to get a step-by-step system to get your ex to love you once again. I have not come across a better system than this. Visit now:

Usually when you are looking for a job, you would ask for help from family and friends.  You would contact these people to ask for information on current job openings, business opportunities and tips.

Your family, relatives and friends belong to your warm contact list.  The warm contact list is the list of people with whom you have or had some personal association.  A former classmate, officemate or neighbor may belong to your warm contact list.

Who may be included in your warm contact list?  Here are a number of selections.

- Relatives and Friends

These people are always willing to help you in your job search or business venture.  They will be able to provide you information if they have some, or refer you to trustworthy people who will be able to help you.  If they will introduce you to some of their contacts, they can surely provide honest information to you regarding the person you are going to associate with.

- Members of the church, political party, social club or fraternity or sorority

You probably did not expect it, but people who share the same faith, beliefs or hobbies may also help you with finding a job.  You may have a different career from theirs, but they might know somebody who is in the same field or will be able to help you in your career.

However, depending on your level of association with them, they may think twice about giving their opinion or thoughts about their contacts.  Their opinion can sometimes help you in making a strategy on how to approach and ask for help from their contacts.

- People who sell you things

You may think that your relationship with these people is purely based on trading goods and services, then paying for them.  However, people who sell you things are also sources of information when networking.

Since these people sell their goods to different types of persons, they may have associated with somebody who belongs to the same field as you do, or have heard information about your target job from their other clients.

These people will also be happy to help you, since they know that maintaining a pleasant relationship with you means a stable business.  Also, if you have a good job means you have increased your purchasing power, and then it could also mean that you may purchase more from them.

- Former employers, colleagues or co-workers

Maintaining a good relationship with previous employers and colleagues has more benefits than you can imagine.  This is the reason that most people try their best to iron out any difficulties with their previous employers even if they are no longer associated with the company.  Aside from the possibility that your potential employer will call previous employers when they review your job history, former employers and colleagues are also a good source of information related to that field.

When you ask for help from family and friends, there is the possibility that the information that they can give to you is just from another source.  They may not be able to give you first-hand information or detailed information unless they also work in the same field that you came from or would like to go into.

This is very different when you consult former employers and colleagues from the same sector.  They will be able to provide you with valuable information and may be able to clarify such information and answer you questions.

- Members of your professional organization

If you belong to a professional organization related to the field in which you are looking for a job, you can consult the organization for current posting from the members.  If you don’t belong to any, consider joining one since this will be beneficial to you career growth.

A professional organization can provide you unbiased information on current job openings from its members.  The organization can also give you details on the company profile and even on current market and career trends.

These are the most important people that you should include when creating a list of your warm contacts.  It is better if you contact them all so you can have as many options in your job search.  When you talk to them, tell them that you are actively seeking a job.