seo penguin

Are You a Technology Dinosaur?

Apr 5, 2010 conference, laidoffcamp, sem, seo, social media

Are you a Technology Dinosaur?
Charlene from SocialMediaDIY

Self employed in Phoenix since 1995 with 15 years of working from her home office. She is not a gadget person and is constantly at work to not become a dinosaur.

• Tip 1: Fossilized email address – all the cool kids use Google, you should too
• It shows your comfort zone and you don’t want to stick out in a bad way.
• Gmail will let you blend in with everyone else. Almost all of the free ones are bad email addresses, and through your service provider. It’s all about perception, people view anything but a domain name and a Gmail address as old school. It doesn’t matter which one is the best, it matters which one is the more common. If you don’t want to stand out, that’s where you go.
• Set up a gmail.com account or an email through a custom domain name.
• Do not use a nickname, it’s not professional, unless it’s important to your business don’t use it.
• Tip 2: Don’t hide behind an old photograph and a fake persona. Don’t use a myspace-esque or dating service image, use a picture that really represents who you are. It doesn’t have to be glamorous, it has to be real. Get over yourself.
• Don’t include pictures of your pets, children, of you on the beach/landscapes
• Square format, not tall and skinny.
• Needs to be professional.
• It’ll show up on email, social networking sites (twitter, facebook, linkedin, blog commenting, etc), put in on your business card, and in peoples memories.
• Tip 3: Dusty paper resume. You are not your resume, and are more than your experience. It’s considered marketing collateral… people get too attached to that piece of paper as a representation of themselves. Your resume is just a map to show where you have been. Your self esteem needs to be focused on who you are and not tied into your resume.
• Use linkedin. Ask for and give out linkedin recommendations.
• Try creating a one page resume (which it should be anyway) and put at the bottom – see my full resume on linkedin.
• Tip 4: You have a paper address book. Build your digital network – use gmail or vyllij to manage those connections.
• People who know your work become people who will help you find job leads. Find people on linkedin but do not accept invitations from people you don’t know.
• Make sure to add people you meet through social media and events (email them to follow up that you met them! It helps keep you fresh in their memory)
• Use Twitter to get to know people, don’t use linkedin for that.
• Tip 5: Are you out of touch with your industry
• Read the bloggers (use an RSS feed) who are out there to stay in touch with trends and issues in your field – use places like alltop to find good bloggers, blog owners will often link to other influential bloggers in your industry.
• Spend at least 15 minutes a day keeping up with continuing your education.
• Get involved in trade or professional organizations. Get involved by showing up or volunteering.
• Tip 6: Blog
• It’s nice to say that you have experience on blogging, and understanding how to blog, and how blogging software can be an advantage to you, and your potential company.
• Don’t start a professional blog unless you have commitment (blog at least once a week), opinions, technical skills (or can find someone with those skills) and courage. Don’t start until you have at LEAST 50 topics – think diary entries and include photos/links. Start with a personal blog on hobbies/interests. It’s a great way to meet like minded people. If you blog about your passion it can take you on a journey you haven’t expected.
• Tumblr
• Wordpress
• Blogger
• Tip 7: Can’t text message? Uh oh…
• 4.1 billion messages per day JUST in the us. That’s 14 messages per person per day!
• Texting replaces talking in some situations – when you’re in a private place, in a meeting, etc.
• Tip 8: Leverage your community
• Coworking
• Meet up with people through tweetups, valley events, etc.