So we got this great idea for how we can bring value to people and give something back by launching this site, but the big question that I’d have as a reader is “does this stuff actually work“. Well, there is only one way to find out. We plan on documenting the launch of this site every step of the way. It’s not going to give anybody any good if we have this wonderful site full of resources and no visitors. So, lets look at this as an exercise is self-promotion. You are a brand, and site project (ideserveajob.com) is a brand. Let’s work together.
One favor we would like to ask is please, let us know where you found us. I love Google Analytics, but nothing like hearing from a real visitor. So, enough talk, lets get down to business..
Launching the site, step by step
Step 1. Planning your blog
Who is this blog for____
Positioning it well ____
Get a good name ___
You can always add functionality later, but it certainly help to make a list of all features that you may need sooner rather then later. For this blog a couple of things that we would like to add early on are
– forums
Step 2. Get it going quickly
Decide what information you are going to present and who the audience is. Identify a template (skin to use)
get hosting
add Google Analytics
Step 3. Editorial Plan
there is nothing worse then coming to a site that has no content. We typically suggest that the site is not launched until there are at least 10 or more long posts. Everybody has a different approach to writing a blog. What I like to do is keep a list of topics and whenever I can’t think of anything to write about, I’ll just grab something from the list. I believe this advice originally came from Steve Pavlina (www.stevepavlina.com) – a professional blogger and Internet Enterpreneur
Here are the topics that I have so far. Would love to hear your feedback and recommendations. The goal is to accumulate this content over the next 10 days to 2 weeks and only then start promoting the site.
Tentative topics
– launching a blog. Blog Strategy
– picking the right social media platforms to market a blog based on demographics (these two topics will actually help us help you.. doesn’t that sound kind of cool and lame at the same time?)
– why IDeserveAJob.com – our mission statement. We plan on this being one of our cornerstone posts and go into a great length explaining why we think our work matters
– Why social media? What is this social media stuff anyway?
– Developing a Job Search strategy. Developing a new brand “YOU”.
– Brand Building – Step By Step.
– Sit back with a cup of something warm and enjoy: 25 videos on how to search for a job using social media
– Lists. Readers like lists, there is something about the lists that the readers really like – is it the sense of somebody else doing your homework? We are going to document all sites within Greater Cincinnati where one can look for networking events
– a guest post. No blog launch will be complete without getting a distinguished guest writer. There are typically two options here – get them to write some original content or at least find a post that you really like and ask for permission to put it on your site (with all the right attribution)
– some case studies. It would be nice to review what others are doing and what works.
step 3. Cost – this is an exercise in guerilla and social marketing – we are not going to invest any money in paid advertising. But let’s make Our cost is going to be
– hosting: MidPhase has a great deal – 4.95/month. Our our main site we have a blog post where we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using something like www.wordpress.com as a hosting platform for your blog.
– getting domain name
– getting wordpress theme.
That should do it to get us started. In the next post we are going to________
