Tag Archives ⇒ professional image

Social Bookmarking – LinkedIn

· Brandon Hann

LinkedIn is a really neat site that is basically like Facebook or MySpace except that it’s strictly for connecting with co-workers and other people in your industry. If you have a huge list of contacts in your field or a stack of business cards, you’ll want to check out this site.

What’s so great about LinkedIn?

In you’re currently using MySpace or Facebook to do all of your networking, you might be doing yourself a disservice because those sites are not geared for this type of networking. I’m not saying they can’t handle it, but instead, they focus primarily on sharing things like photos and videos over business-related ideas. Because of this, it’s not hard to get your personal life and your professional life mixed up.

Beyond that, you’ve probably heard of these stories where an employer has accessed the Facebook page of an employee to determine what kind of life they lead outside of work. If you’re trying to maintain a professional image at work, don’t let your wild weekend adventure take you down a few notches in the eyes of your boss.

LinkedIn helps you bypass this by allowing you to create a professional profile to share with all your colleagues and work friends without having to censor yourself.

More benefits of Linked In

  • Groups – LinkedIn now offers LinkedIn Groups, a new way for groups to bring value to their members. Many professionals advance their business goals by counting on professional groups, alumni organizations and work groups to make vital new business contacts which will enhance their trusted connections.
  • Find jobs – Using your LinkedIn profile as a professional resume can help you land jobs! There are tons of job opportunities out there that are tailored to match your profile, so it makes finding a new job much easier.
  • Network with others – Now you don’t have to search for people who might be related to you (in terms of your industry). They become part of your extended network and you can choose to add them to your list of contacts.

How does this help your site?

As with any online account system that contains a profile, you can add your site link(s) to it so anybody who’s a friend of yours or anyone that happens to stop by your profile will be able to see what you’re all about and they might be prompted to check out your website. Check out my LinkedIn profile to see what I’m talking about!

Get started with LinkedIn today!

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Site Creation – Web Hosting

· Brandon Hann

It goes without saying, but you do need a web host in order to have a website. A web host is a company that provides a server that all of your website’s files are stored on and then served up to the visitors that come see your page. There are literally thousands of web hosting companies out there that range from huge corporations down to the guy running a server in his bedroom. So how do you choose just one?

Most web hosts get their customers through referrals, so if you happen to hear some good reviews about a particular company, you should look into it. However, opinions on quality, speed, price and customer service vary significantly. It’s important that you decide for yourself how these factors rank on your list. As an example, you may find that paying more per month to get better customer support is worth it, but someone else might feel speed is more valuable.

Finding the perfect host

This process is really based on what your site’s needs are. If you’re running a simple blog and don’t expect a lot of traffic (at least in the beginning), you can get away with a hosting plan that’s as low as $4.99 per month. In fact, GoDaddy offers hosting plans tailored specifically for WordPress blogs. The advantage to using GoDaddy is that if you also register your domains here, all of your services will be under one roof.

On the other hand, if your site is going to be serving up lots of content to lots of traffic, you’re going to need something bigger. Here’s a breakdown of some ideal hosting types and their intended use:

Hosting Type Description Selling Points Price Range
Free Hosting Since nothing is free in this world, what few remaining “free” hosts there are, simply add some type of advertisement to your site. This can be a pop-up window, a link on every page, a banner somewhere on your site, etc. Stay away from free hosts if you’re shooting for a professional image! Upside: no costs. Downside: not a professional image None $0
Shared Hosting Shared hosting is the most common way of hosting a website. It allows a hosting company to place multiple customers on a single server, therefore “sharing” system resources with other websites. Upside: the cost of the server is spread over lots of users, reducing your monthly bill. Downside: you don’t have control over advanced back-end features. Cheap, basic, easy $20-50+
Virtual Private Server (VPS) VPS hosting gives you full control of your server. Think of it as a hybrid between dedicated hosting and shared hosting. VPS allows a hosting company to create multiple “virtual” servers on one physical server so each client has complete access to their own private server, but the clients still share hardware resources. Some hosting companies will dedicated certain hardware to each virtual server such as system memory. Upside: shared costs for dedicated access. Downside: shared hardware resources Root access, faster, advanced, flexible $50-150+
Dedicated Hosting If you want to have a server all to yourself, opt for dedicated hosting. This will give you your own server to do with it what you will. A word of caution: this may be too advanced for some users! However, if you run a high traffic site that requires stability and speed, this is the option for you. Upside: no resources shared. Downside: requires routine maintenance on your part. No shared resources, highly advanced, stable, flexible $150-750+
Managed Hosting Having a dedicated server can take a lot out of you if you’re managing it yourself. Most hosting companies offer managed services so you don’t have to worry about day-to-day tasks such as hardware monitoring, backups, virus scanning, etc. Also, if you have any issues, you can get help much faster. Upside: maintenance done by company. Downside: costs more per month. No shared resources, highly advanced, stable, flexible, managed $250-750+
Server Co-location Now you’re one step away from running your own hosting company! Co-location allows you to build your own physical server and install it at a data center. This option provides 100% flexibility and customization while gaining all the features of a managed dedicated server. If you’re running a site that requires this setup, you probably wouldn’t be needing my help! Upside: complete control. Downside: complete responsibility. 100% flexibility, super advanced, no shared resources Custom Quote
Reseller Hosting With reseller hosting plans, you’re essentially purchasing a hosting plan (usually higher end) and the company allows you to re-sell your services to your own clients under your brand. I’d estimate a guess that about 80% of the “cheap” webhosts you find are nothing more than resellers. In most cases, a re-sold hosting plan is part of a larger shared hosting plan. Upside: sell services using your own name. Downside: you have to manage and support your clients. Cheap, various options, start your own hosting business $30-200

The above list is just a sample and is not considered exhaustive.

My recommendation

Since I’ve only hosted with 3 different companies, I can only comment on them. But of those 3, my personal recommendation is MediaTemple.net. There are a few things I love about this company, but the biggest one is that you can start off small (as low as $20/month) and upgrade at any time without upsetting your service. They are also home to some of the biggest sites on the Internet. So far, they’re customer support has been impeccable and the service is great.

Ultimately, choose the host that you feel will serve your website the way you want and don’t be lured in by insane claims such as “unlimited bandwidth” or “unlimited server space”. Stick with a tried and true company.

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Proper Grammar and Presentation

· Brandon Hann

Writing a blog or creating a website can be easy when you know what your subject is, who you plan to approach it and how often you’re going to update, but if there’s one thing that can grind your hard efforts to a stop, it would be grammar and presentation.

Among other things, grammar can make a huge impression on your professional image and ultimately make or break your site. This is especially true when you’re selling things online. Imagine if you were buying from a online retailer and their site was loaded with spelling errors, incorrect product descriptions, wrong prices or just sloppy command of the site’s language? I’m fairly certain you would be less likely to buy from them if you had a choice of purchasing somewhere else.

It’s not just grammer, but your overall presentation. I was watching a video on YouTube about just this subject and it brought up a great point about presentation. The example was about online retailers who all share the same generic item description, so if you’re shopping, you might see the same product on thousands of different sites with the same description, price and everything. At that point, what’s going to make your decision on who to buy from?

Don’t let a visitor’s decision to be narrowed down to the name or even color of your site! Let them see your site as the more professional. Chances are if you’re selling products online, you’re going to be selling something that is out there more than you can imagine, so the best way to stand out is to create a better experience. Besides, Google is aware of the massive amounts of duplicate content out there, so give them a reason to rank you higher than the rest of these sites. You wouldn’t believe how little changes to your site can affect your search engine rankings.

The same rules apply in the real world. I guarantee you’re more willing to buy a tv from Best Buy than you are from a van in the parking lot. Ok, that was an extreme example, but you get the point!

Put some time into your site. Your visitors will notice. Nobody said it was going to be easy to manage a site, but if you really want to bring yourself forward in a sea of millions, that’s the only way you can do it. At least initially. As time goes on, you’ll gain more power and leverage, allowing you to accomplish more with less.