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Whether you’re currently on the internship or entry-level job hunt or will be in the not-too-distant future, starting a professional blog relevant to your chosen career path may help establish your credibility—and get you noticed by potential employers.
“Though I haven’t independently confirmed this yet, I’m pretty sure that’s how I got my job at Google. Everyone who interviewed me, from the recruiter in the phone screen to the senior attorneys during the videoconference, asked me about [my] blog,” said Jarred Taylor in a recent Brazen Careerist blog post.
1. Get your own domain. “It's okay to experiment and learn using one of the hosted blogging platforms, like Blogger, Typepad or Wordpress, but you want to show you are savvy and invested enough to own your own blog and URL,” said Jonathan Fields, a blogger and author of “Career Renegade: How To Make A Great Living Doing What You Love.”
2. Select a topic or niche. “If you want to write about other things as well, do it in another forum, or figure out a way to tie the lessons from the one to the other. For example, don't do random concert reviews or political rants isn a blog that's supposed to be about computer applications,” said Tom Brakke, a blogger at the research puzzle.
3. Admit upfront you are not an expert. “The market is crowded by experts. What people want are resources and people who know how to navigate and interpret these resources productively. Anyone can label themselves an expert, but it takes hard work and dedication to be considered resourceful and thus, employable,” said Brandon J. Mendelson, a blogger at Class Conflict.
4. Decide on your posting frequency, and stay with it. “A lot of new bloggers initially post a lot and then start to neglect their blog. This will significantly reduce your traffic,” said Stephane Grenier, a blogger and author of “Blog Blazers.”
5. Be yourself. “Blogs are written as commentary, and effective bloggers will have their personal style show through in their posts,” said Barry Graubart, a blogger at Content Matters. “But, not that personal – this is not your MySpace or Facebook page.”
6. Write interesting content – and write it well. “Be creative. A blog is not a diary, nor should it try to be. Show you are innovative and that you have ideas others probably don’t,” said Andrea Kobylnik, a public relations professional and blogging expert.
Dr. Michael Smith, professor of communication at La Salle University, adds, “Make sure the blog postings are consistently well-written. Nothing undermines your expertise like poor writing.”
7. Do your homework. “In order to keep up your regime, you will need to show diligence. That means doing research, unearthing things that are not in the ordinary stream of what someone commonly surfing the net will run across. Find the scholarly journals, the trade magazines, the old books and the obscure mailing lists that define the field and mine them for ideas and quotes,” said Edward Vielmetti, a blogger at Superpatron.
8. Follow all the major bloggers within your field. “Study them and provide constructive, useful comments on their blogs when appropriate. Link to their blog posts. If you’ve got interesting content, you’ll get their attention, and they may return the favor by commenting on your content,” said David Erickson, a blogger and director of e-strategy at Tunheim Partners.
9. Promote your blog. “Just because you build it, doesn't mean they'll come. You need to let the public know about your blog's existence by publicizing it through word-of-mouth, link exchanges, search engine optimization, online advertising like Google AdWords, etc.,” said Mark Grabowski, a journalism professor at Marist College and creator of CubReporters.org.
Rebecca Thorman, a Generation Y blogger and executive director of MAGNET, adds, “Too many beginning bloggers keep their blogs private and don't spread the message around. Put your blog address in your e-mail signature, tell your 300 closest friends, link to it in Facebook. You never know who will see it and offer you a job.”
10. Don't be afraid to be wrong. “Blogs are mostly opinion based. So, inherently, you're not always going to be on target. People will criticize you, even ridicule you, but any good writer knows that this is unavoidable,” said Ryan Paugh, the community manager and co-founder of Brazen Careerist, Inc.
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