Jim Littlefield » Products

Why I Use Bit.ly and Recommend It

Jim — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:52:44 +0000

Until twitter came along I didn’t have much use for services that shorted web addresses. I quickly learned how useful they are, even beyond twitter. I saw many people on twitter were using bit.ly and decided to check it out. Here’s what I liked right off the bat:

There is no limit to how many web addresses (URLs) you can shorten
They offer a bookmarklet reveals a sidebar to shorten and share any page
It works with multiple twitter accounts

Though I’ve used bit.ly mostly with twitter, I learned it’s power and protection go beyond twitter. Here are a few examples.

Including a bit.ly link in a direct message on twitter (DM), an email, or blog comment gives me insight to the links being followed. This is particularly useful if the link is to somewhere other than a site I own. If I need to follow up, I know the message was opened and the link was followed.

There is also a nifty Chrome extension from bit.ly that goes beyond the bookmarklet and offers even more. Like the bookmarklet the extension will reveal the sidebar but also ads a hover feature. Hovering over a bit.ly link (and a few other types) not only shows the destination of the shortened link but also how many clicks link has generated. Hovering over a twitter id will show a snapshot of a persons profile. The snapshot helps me decide if I want to follow a link or the person.

Without that visibility I’ve followed a short-link about local flooding on twitter and suddenly landed on a fake virus scan site! The spammer were targeting the trending topics on twitter to grab traffic. Seeing where a link will go minimizes the risk following a shortened link. Now I know exactly where the bit.ly link will go anywhere a bit.ly link appears.

I’m recommending bit.ly. Have you find innovative ways to use bit.ly?

Researching Keywords for Your Resume

Jim — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:09:31 +0000

Some things I write about are just to put them out there. Other things like my resume are pages I want people to find when searching with Google or Bing. Before I start writing I need to know the words people are using to find what they want. That is the value of doing keyword research.

The keywords and keyword combinations are determined through keyword research. Research the search terms (aka keywords) people are using to find pages you want them to find.

The primary tools I use are:

My brain, based on my own knowledge of the subject
Google’s Search-based keyword tool and Google Insights for Search
Market Samuri which is a tool available for purchase
Job posts from positions you want

In some cases you might use a single keyword for very unique product names. If you’re targeting a very competitive keyword you’ll need to find keyword combinations. Some will be a few keywords other will have many keywords.

For example I have a job board site I created primarily for my own education and research purposes at Commission Sales Jobs. Using the search based keyword link tells me the keyword combination “Sales Jobs” is highly searched and highly competitive. But there are many additional and more targeted terms that people use to find sales jobs. These are the keywords you need to be using when building site content.

If you’re looking for employment look for keywords in job postings. Try searching on some of the terms and see the search results. I’ve had several recruiters contact me based on my online resume appearing in search results.

Searches with lots of keywords are a pretty good indicator that the person knows exactly what they want. I would argue that those are the people you really want to reach.

Planning a Class Reunion?

Jim — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:34:36 +0000

A group of us from high school decided late in the year we wanted to have a 30-year high school class reunion. Because time was limited we needed a quick way to get the word out get classmates to attend. Using facebook, wordpress and eventbright we were able to have a very successful and well attended reunion.

Ticket Sales for High School Class Reunion

Jeff Davis Class of 1979 Reunion Registration Page

To ensure the cost didn’t keep people away, we sold several different types of tickets ranging from $0 to $75. There is no commission for the free events. Eventbright charges a small commission for priced tickets. Using the eventbright registration cost $115. For that raised $4,500 for the event by selling 214 tickets.

How to Stand Out in a Crowded Job Market

Jim — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:48:46 +0000

WSJ’s Sarah Needleman talks with David Perry and Kevin Donlin, author and co-author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap Into the Hidden Job Market using Social Media and 999 other Tactics Today

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Standing Out in a Crowded Job Market
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Buy Now on Amazon.com Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap Into the Hidden Job Market using Social Media and 999 other Tactics Today