Bloggers aren’t ‘trained writers’ (thank God!)

Henry Copeland — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 22:52:20 +0000

Martha Stewart, famous for her insider trading and trend-setting for the bourgeoisie, today took a whack at bloggers.

Who are these bloggers? They’re not trained editors and writers at Vogue magazine. I mean, there are bloggers writing recipes that aren’t tested, that aren’t necessarily very good or are copies of everything that really good editors have created and done. Bloggers create kind of a ‘popularity‘. But they are not the experts and we have to understand that.

Some bloggers are annoyed by Martha’s sneering.

I think Martha’s gotten at least one important think right. She’s right that many bloggers are not ‘trained writers.’ But she’s wrong that many bloggers are not experts. On the contrary, it’s the journalists who are not experts… they’re magpies, hopping from topic to topic as directed by their editors. Meanwhile, many bloggers are experts, writing daily about the same topic, a topic they’re passionate about, a topic they actuallyspecialize in for their day jobs. Which makes bloggers’ insights and questions far more important than those pushed out on deadline by the average dilettante journalist, trained or not.

Wanna link to a paragraph?

Henry Copeland — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:51:11 +0000

You may have heard that we’re putting some energy into Pullquote, a new tool that makes it easier for you to link to a paragraph. Let’s say you’re reading a long article and find some key nugget in the 17th paragraph. Rather than tweet a link to the whole article and suggest people “look near the bottom of the page,” you can now use Pullquote to direct readers directly to that paragraph. (Or sentence or even word.) This isn’t for everybody — mostly likely best for power-critics and people who like to share a lot on Twitter. Head over and join the beta if you’re interested.

22 things to think about when applying for a job

Nick Faber — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:30:37 +0000

image by flickr user hartboy

Amid rotten economy and 9% unemployment, we’re thrilled to be creating new jobs.

We’ve seen a bunch of job applications in recent months, and based on that experience, we’d like to share some do’s and don’ts.

First, 10 things to avoid when applying for a job. (Yes, we’ve seen all of these errors, some many times.)

So do NOT:

Send a resume with a DRAFT watermark across it
Get our location wrong
Get the job title wrong
Get our company name wrong (We’re not Blog Lads, thanks)
Forget to run spell and grammar checks
Highlight unnecessary qualifications (“I’m a realtor!”)
Tell us your typing WPM
Over-share (“I can send you a clean drug test!”)
Forget to send us a PDF resume
Label your resume ‘my_resume.pdf’

Here are 12 things to aim for when applying to one of our jobs. Or any other, for that matter.

1. Think of our needs. Your application is the first test of your ability to obsess about what a client (in this case Blogads) wants.

2. Read the job listings carefully, and respond exactly as requested. Think about delivering yourself in a package that fits exactly what we might be looking for.

3. Send your resume as a PDF. No Word files, no text files, no HTML. You want to be sure your resume looks as beautiful on our screen as yours. And we don’t want your viruses. Please. Despite our request, more than half of all job applications we receive are not in PDF format. Really?

4. Remember to name your file. We have lots of resumes to organize and review; renaming every resume is a pain. Use your own name in the file name and avoid calling your resume “new” or “improved” or “better than the last version.”

5. Write a great cover letter. Use your cover letter to enhance your resume and provide an arc tying together the data points it contains, not just recap it in prose form. Send it as the email itself or as an attachment. Not both, please.

(Need a hand getting your cover letter started? Local marketing shop Viget Labs has an awesome piece on cover letter salutations.)

6. Be an effective written communicator. Most positions at Blogads.com are heavily email-oriented. Show off your writing skills in your cover letter and any other communication you do with us.

7, Make a connection with us. Why do you like the Blogads.com and the position… and why are you a great fit for both? Show us that you have thought about our company and the position you’re applying for.

8. If you’re seeking a sales position, how are you selling yourself? If you ramble on for paragraphs without catching our attention, you’ll fall to the bottom of the stack.

9. Match the tone and details of the posting. Do a little research. If we’ve got a lot of dogs on our site, mention your love of dogs. Please make sure you are applying to OUR position. (P.S. We’re still based in Durham, not Wilmington.)

10. Tailor your resume for us. It’s OK to have a different version of your resume for each job you apply for. In fact, it’s expected. We ask for very specific qualifications, and those are the things we’d like to see in your resume. Give us what we’re looking for — but only if you’ve actually got it.

11. Be brief. If only half of your resume relates to the position to which you’re applying, the rest can be distracting. A one-page resume customized for us is just fine, thank you. Easier for us to read and we’re more likely to focus on the parts of your career that fit us.

12. Don’t leave us hanging. If we get in touch with you, don’t take weeks to get back to us. In all your follow-up communication with us, you are still being evaluated. Spelling and grammar rules still apply to follow-up questions and thank you notes as well.

Looking for even more advice? We really love this Craigslist rant on the subject.

Good luck out there!

Blogads for opinion makers » Meta

Bloggers aren’t ‘trained writers’ (thank God!)

Wanna link to a paragraph?

22 things to think about when applying for a job