Five Things to Do When You are Looking for a Job

Five Things You Must Do in Your Job Search

Image Source: Google Images

1. Find out what jobs you would be passionate about.

Find out what skills you possess and like the most, and look for jobs that will use your skills.

2. Try out a few careers before deciding which one suits you best.

Put in some time exploring different careers especially if you are undecided, and see which ones better suit your personality.

3. Find out what organizations have the jobs that would suit you and your personality.

Think about all the different places you could possibly get hired and see if the options are what you are looking for.

4. Find out specific names of the businesses that fit your ideal job.

Do some research and searches online to find businesses that are in your area that have the qualifications and description of job position that you are looking for.

5. Do your research on the businesses you want to apply to before you reach out to them.

Make sure you know everything you can about the company before you decide to apply there. Be informed about the company ahead of time and apply because you feel it will be a good fit for you.

Bolles, Richard N. "Chapter 8 You Get to Choose Where You Work." What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. 2016 ed. Ten Speed, 2015. 191-209. Print. 

Some Inspiration to Get Certified in Google Analytics

Google Analytics Certification 

In 2013 top skills that got people hired included Digital and Online Marketing and Business Intelligence. Both of these skills include web analytics.

Being Google Analytics certified can help you become more knowledgeable and can also help the business you work for. You should include the certification on your resume and your LinkedIn profile.

Before you begin the test to get certified. You should prepare by looking at the qualification for Google Analytics at www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/learn/. 

Be sure to check out videos on YouTube about Google Analytics and the Analytics Academy. 

These sources will be extremely helpful to give you the knowledge you need to learn about analytics and pass the exam.

Being Google Analytics certified will truly help you out in the job market. You will have extra skills that are some of the top skills that got people hired just two years ago. These skills are becoming increasingly important in the business world and especially marketing.

Kelsey, Todd. "Chapter 8: Exploring Google Analytics Certification." Casa Marketing Intro to Google Analytics. RGB, 2015. 161-178. Print.

Image is a screenshot of my Google Partners Page.

Get a Better Idea of Who You Are

Understanding Yourself Makes It Easier to Find a Job

There are seven ways that prove that this works well.

Image Source: Google Images

1. If you find out what you like you can learn to describe yourself in new ways, and you can find the skills that you have that will work for different job-markets.

2. When you look into who you are and what skills you have you can then give a detailed description of what you are looking for. This includes what type of job you want and what work setting you want to work in.

3. Once you have a detailed idea of what you want to do, you will be more enthusiastic and the job search won't seem like a job.

4. You won't have to wait till companies have job openings. You can approach them because you know you have the skills they want.

5. Among other job applicants for the same position, you will stand out because you can more accurately describe your skills.

6. After gaining a better understanding of yourself, you will be able to better see what career will fit you especially if you are considering a completely different career.

7. Being unemployed is an opportunity to take the free time you have to explore who you are and understand your skills better.

Bolles, Richard N. "Chapter 7 You Need to Understand More Fully Who You Are." What Color Is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. 2016 ed. Ten Speed, 2015. 111-114. Print. 

Learning Analytics Easily with Gumroad- a Free Tool

eCommerce Analytics with Gumroad

Gumroad is a free platform that allows you to easily link Google Analytics to an eCommerce site. It's important to be able to directly see the conversion tracking so that you can see how effective your ad was or how effective keywords you selected were.

This can all be very useful in a business where they are tracking conversions to see how they can increase traffic to their website and increase ROI.

When you use Gumroad, this tool can help you see how many visitors your site had and how many visitors actually purchased your product. When you use this tool, you can see how effective your campaign is and you can improve aspects of it over time.

Create a Free Gumroad Account

In order to use Gumroad, you will need to create a free account by going to gumroad.com. You'll create a name for your store, and choose a username that will then become part of the link.

Then you can connect Google Analytics.

You'll use the link for gumroad, and you'll need to create a new property in Google Analytics. Once you have that set up, you will paste the link to your gumroad account into Google Analytics.

Then select "Get Tracking ID" and copy the ID and paste it into Gumroad under Advanced Settings. Once all this is set up, you will ad your product.

Review the Analytics

In order to review analytics in Gumroad, you do need to have had some traffic and at least one purchase. But once you have this traffic, you can begin to track the analytics and get a conversion rate.

Kelsey, Todd. "Chapter 7: Fun with ECommerce Analytics - Gumroad." Casa Marketing Intro to Google Analytics. RGB, 2015. 133-160. Print.

Image is a screenshot of gumroad.com.

The Importance of Adwords

Adwords and eCommerce

Google Adwords is used to advertise sites and track the conversion of the site. This means that when you combine Adwords with an eCommerce site, you can track everything from how they saw your ad to the purchases consumers make.

This blog post assumes that you have previously created the Shopify account, and that you will be using that site and combining it with Adwords.

The first step is to create an Adwords account. You can easily do this by going to http://www.google.com/adwords.

Then go to Tools > Conversions and click on "Conversions". You will have to enter a conversion name. If you click "The value of the conversion may vary", you will be able to set different prices. Set the conversion category to Purchase/Sale. Be sure that the markup language is HTML.

You can choose if you want to make changes to the code or not. This code is basically instructions to connect Shopify and Adwords.

How to Connect Adwords to Shopify

In your Shopify account, go to settings and click "Checkout". Paste the code from Adwords into the spot where it says, "Additional content and scripts". 

Then Make an Adwords Campaign

This is how you will create an ad that you can track conversions for. 

The first step is to login to your Adwords account and click "Campaign". Then you'll want to select "Search Network" only and you'll name your campaign. You'll then be able to set a budget, and this can be as little or as much as you want. 

Once you complete those steps, enter your landing page. This is the page of your site that you would like people to go to after they click on your ad.

Copy the Shopify link into Adwords, and you can then come up with keywords that you think people will search that are relevant to your product that you are advertising.

Review Your Campaign

You'll want to check the time frame of your campaign to make sure there is an end date so you won't continuously be charged anytime anyone clicks on your ad.

You should now be able to track conversions from your Shopify account with Adwords in place.

Kelsey, Todd. "Chapter 6: Fun with ECommerce Analytics Part II: Adwords." Casa Marketing Intro to Google Analytics. RGB, 2015. 105-132. Print.

Pictures are screenshots of Google Adwords.

Twelve Ways to Look for a Job

Twelve Ways to Help with Your Job Search

1. You can look on the internet to see if there are job postings.

Websites such as Monster, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, Career Bliss, TweetMyJobs, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are all places you can search for jobs online. 

2. Send out your resume online or by mailing to employers.

This usually lands people interviews that can lead to a potential job offer.

3. Search the newspaper for jobs.

Use your Sunday Newspaper to search for "Help Wanted Ads".

Image Source: Google Images

4. Find an employment agency that can help you find a job.

Search the Yellow Pages for these agencies. 

5. Find an ad in a trade journal and apply.

Journals can be found at www.planningshop.com/tradeassociations.asp

6. Look into "Job Clubs".

"Job Clubs" tend to be support groups for people looking for jobs. They usually meet once or twice a week. 

7. Go to your state or federal employment office to look for a job.

You can go to the website for your local federal/state unemployment service office at www.dol.gov/dol/location.htm

8. Find a place where employer's pick up workers.

Union hiring halls are usually a good place to look for jobs.

9. Ask someone for a job-lead.

Use networking to help you find job openings. 

10. Got to the physical location of where you want to apply and ask if they are hiring.

You can go to the place you want to work and see if they are hiring and if you can give them your resume. Directly talking to employers sometimes helps.

11. Search the Yellow Pages.

Find companies that may be of interest to you. Send out your resume to those companies.

12. Use this Parachute Approach.

If you are following along with the book "What Color is Your Parachute" then continue using these tips and eventually it will land you a job.

Bolles, Richard. "Chapter 6 What to Do When Your Job-Hunt Just Isn't Working." What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. 2016 ed. Ten Speed, 2015. 102-109. Print. 

How to Negotiate Your Salary

There are Six Secrets to Negotiating Your Salary at the End of an Interview

Did you know that you should make sure to find out the salary before you accept the job offer? It is important for you to find out before excepting a position. This can be intimidating to bring up in an interview or discuss with a potential employer. So here are six secrets that will help you feel more confident in negotiating a salary.

1. Wait until the end of the interview to discuss the salary. They should have clearly told you that they want to hire you.

You want this negotiation to happen at the end of the interview so that the employer has a chance to get to know you. This could be more favorable for you, as the employer may decide to offer you a higher salary than what they were thinking of for the position based on how well they like you as you are being interviewed. 

2. Use the negotiation to find out the highest salary the employer is willing to pay you. 

Employers usually have a salary figure in mind. It is your job to find out what that is and come up with a range to ask for that is close to that figure. 

Image Source: Google Images

3. Don't be the one to bring up the salary first.

Let the employer ask you what you want to be paid, or let them mention what the pay is. Studies have shown that whoever starts this conversation usually loses in the negotiation. 

4. Do some research on salary figures in your field area. 

Go to a job interview prepared knowing what the salary figures are for a person in the position the job interview is for. If you are educated, there is a chance you can get a higher salary than what the employer is willing to pay you. You will be able to ask for a higher salary.

5. Gather research on the range an employer is willing to pay, and come up with your own range.

You can ask other people or employees. Find out the pay of anyone above and below you, and you can base your range off of their salaries.

Image Source: Google Images

6. Make sure you discuss everything about salaries and benefits before taking the position.

See what benefits they are willing to offer you on top of the salary. Make sure the benefits that are important to you are covered. It is best to get your agreement in writing at this point so you can refer back to it if needed. They may honestly forget all that they promised you in the interview.

"Chapter 5 The Six Secrets of Salary Negotiation." What Color Is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. 2016 ed. Ten Speed, 2015. 82-97. Print. 

How to Track Your Business' ROI with Google Analytics

Track Your ROI with Google Analytics

Shopify is a Google recommended ecommerce site. When you set an account up, you can begin to track the data and see how much money you are making based on what you are spending. This can be very helpful for a business.

Here's How to Easily Set Up a Shopify Account

Image Source: Google Images

1. Begin by going to www.shopify.com and click on "Get Started"
2. You can choose to sign up for a free trial or you can pay $29.95 a month. To do the conversion tracking, you have to pay.
3. Type in your email address, a password, and a store name and then create your account.
4. Choose the online store and set up your account by adding your name and address.
5. Once you do that, you can add the digital product such as an E-Book that you can download. 
6. You can select an image to appear and can even customize how your online store looks.
7. You have to enter you bank account information to set up the account.
8. Set the price for downloads of your digital product.

If you are using this to test Google Analytics, then try to get friends and family to make a purchase so you can track the ROI. That will be discussed more in the next blog post. 

There is more information and step by step explanations of how to set up the Shopify Account in the book CASA Marketing by Todd Kelsey. 

Kelsey, Todd. "Chapter 5: Fun with ECommerce Analytics Part I: Shopify." CASA Marketing Intro to Google Analytics. 2015. 71-104. Print. 

16 Job Interview Tips

Tips to Consider When You Have a Job Interview

There are 16 tips that are important to consider before each and every job interview. These 16 tips are discussed thoroughly in the book, What Color is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles. This blog post will just highlight the importance of each tip. 

Image Source: Google Images

1. There is no such things as "employers."

Just because one company doesn't hire you, doesn't mean that every company out there won't. Each employer is different and with each "No" you will get closer to a "Yes". 

2. An interview should be prepared for, before you ever go in.

Make sure you find out as much about the company as you can before you go in. Be prepared to show them that you know about them.

3. Honor agreements. 

Set a time limit for how long the interview will be if you are asking the employer for their time. Don't over stay. Let them know that you are aware of how much time you told them you would take for your interview, and make sure the interview lasts that long.

4. An interview for a job is a lot like dating.

It's a two-way conversation to ask questions to find out if you both like each other and if you would be a good fit to work there.

5. Questions to expect from them, then questions to ask.

"Tell me about yourself" is the main thing that they will ask you. They want to see how you will answer that question. You should tell the employer about your experience, skills, and knowledge that you have that are relevant to that job.

6. During the interview, determine to observe "the 50-50 rule."

Speak half the time of the interview to show them you are interested in the job, but allow the employer to speak the other half of the time.

7. In answering the employer's questions, observe "the twenty-second to two-minute rule."

Answer questions in anywhere from 20 seconds to two minutes.

8. The employer is primarily concerned about risk.

They want to make sure you are going to be a good fit and worth their time and money. They are anxious about hiring the right person for the job.

9. It's the small things that are the killers, in a job interview.

Things like your appearance, habits, nervous mannerisms, lack of confidence, consideration toward other people, and your values all matter.

10. Be aware of the skills most employers are looking for, these days, regardless of the position you are seeking.

Some important skills are: being punctual, being dependable, having a good attitude, being driven, wanting more than a paycheck, being self-disciplined, being well-organized, social, knowing how to use a computer, knowing how to work well with teams, being flexible, able to learn, being creative, having integrity, and being loyal.

11. Try to think of some way to bring evidence of your skills, to the hiring interview.

If you have a physical thing you can show the employer about some accomplishment you have had you should bring it to the interview.

12. Do not bad-mouth your previous employer(s) during the interview, even if they were terrible people.

Try to say something nice about previous employers if you can.

13. Throughout the interview, keep in mind: employers don't really care about your past; they only ask about it, in order to try to predict your future (behavior) with them, if they decide to hire you.

Try to show them that you would be a good employee in the future.

14. As the interview proceeds, you want to quietly notice the time-frame of the questions the employer is asking. 

If the questions move quickly from the past to the future, you can be pretty sure that the interview is going well for you.

15. Before you leave the (final) interview, assuming you have decided that you like them and maybe they like you, there are five questions you should always ask: 

1. "Can you offer me this job?"
2. "When may I expect to hear from you?"
3. "Might I ask what would be the latest I can expect to hear from you?"
4. "May I contact you after that date, if for any reason you haven't gotten back to me by that time?"
5. "Can you think of anyone else who might be interested in my skills and experience?"

Image Source: Google Images

16. Thank-you notes must be sent after every interview by every job-hunter. 

This will help you to stand out from others who are being interviewed for the same position. 

Bolles, Richard N. "Chapter 4 Sixteen Tips About Interviewing for a Job." What Color Is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. 2016 ed. Ten Speed, 2015. 53-81. Print.

Campaign Performance

See How Your Campaign is Going

Google Analytics

You can log into your Google Analytics account to see how your campaign is going. You can check how many clicks your website has received. 

First you'll click on the globe icon next to your website, and then you'll click the overview tab on the left hand side of the screen. 

You can see how long someone was on your website, and you can see if they went to any other pages within your website. If they left right away and didn't visit any other pages, that refers to the term bounce rate.

You can also tell where the visits were from. The visits could be from all over the world.

Google Analytics collects data  for you about your website to see how current performance is going and then to help you make goals for the future.

Trends

Trending is another way to see how things perform over a measure of time. 

The longer your blog has been around the more you may be able to see a trend. If you continuously add content and update your blog, it may help increase the amount of traffic to your blog. 

Dashboards

Dashboards can help make it easier to see the performance of certain aspects of your campaign. Click on Reporting at the top and then New Dashboard. Select Starter Dashboard and you can name it whatever you want. You can then set a date range to see data from an amount of time.

The dashboard will organize all important data that Google Analytics collects about your website for a nice overview  about your website.

This is a screenshot of the Dashboard for my marketing blog.