Image via CrunchBase

Even if you have demonstrable skills and great results, what good will it do you if too few people know what a valuable asset you are to any company or any client?  Zero, or close to it, is the correct answer.  Remember that question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s there to hear it does it make a sound?” Answer: no, it makes sound waves; someone has to hear the sound waves for them to be perceived as sound.  And someone has to hear about your successes, achievements and accomplishments for you to  be perceived as effective and successful. There is real currency in perception. And it is up to you to shape those perceptions.

I just Googled my name, Gretchen Glasscock and it returned 9,350 results.  It’s kind of scary, when you think about it, how much information is out there about you.  There’s a profile of me on Amazon.com from when I reviewed a book on the Net for them.  One of my Internet providers, of many moons ago, has a profile posted of me with nothing but my name.  Which makes it all the more important for you to write your own profile, which is accurate and which you have control over, so that is the first place potential clients and colleagues go when looking for information about you. ( Not the website with you wearing a party hat or your nieces and nephews climbing on your shoulder as your dog is kissing your ear and you are struggling for balance.)

First, let’s focus on Linked In

Guy Kawasaki, the popular VC and entrepreneur has provided us with Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn. I’m going to point out a couple of his tips, but I’d also like to say how much I’ve learned from Guy who is probably one of the most popular personalities on the Net.  It’s easy to see why, when you read his linked in profile.  He comes through as very engaging and personable. He says of his first degree from Stanford, before he went for his MBA:

“These were some of the happiest days of my life. I loved Stanford. Sometimes I wish I could go back to school there. By the way, I majored in Psychology because it was the easiest major I could find.

I think most of us have a tendency to make these facts too stiff and formal. I know I do.  And I’m going to go back and work on mine, to let my hair down a bit, and be more personal, like Guy is.  The end result is you, the reader, immediately think of Guy Kawasaki as approachable, someone who’d like to help you, which is, after all, what you want when your goal is for people to seek you out for your service or product,

Some of Guy Kawasaki‘s advice for your Linked In page”

• Improve your connectability.

Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include past companies, education, affiliations, and activitiesYou can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as an attachment.

• Improve your Google PageRank.LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index. Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link in various places on the web> For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.
• Enhance your search engine results.In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site. To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”

These small changes, which don’t take long to execute can make a huge difference how visible you are on the Net, and that is your first hurdle: Visibility.  We will work on the rest as we go along.

To read Guy Kawasaki’s  entire post go to Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn

Related articles by Zemanta

• Boost traffic to your Web site
• Search Engine Optimization Tips and Techniques
• Why Search Engine Optimization Important for Your Website?

Ok. Let’s say you want to change jobs.  Or impress a potential client.  Or let someone you met at a loud and crowded networking Happy Hour get to a know a little something more in depth about you, beyond your business card and the fact that you were sipping your white wine while everyone else was knocking back a boatload of Glenlivet Scotch, so you possibly know a lot more about them than they do about you.

Do you send them an email with your resume or cv (curriculum vitae) attached?  I don’t think so.  The CV was introduced in 1902.  To put that in context: Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903; the Model T was introduced in 1908. You don’t want to be caught using out of date technology – you want to be on the cutting edge.  And you don’t want to be sending a document that is D.O.A. ( dead on arrival). One recruiting company founder called the classic, old fashioned resume ” a “career obituary” that becomes outdated the minute a candidate punches the send button.”  That is because it doesn’t continuously evolve and reflect your achievements and your career in real time with live links to what you’re doing now.

The solution, clearly, is an online portfolio, which highlights your strongest value proposition. It can encompass presentations, graphs, video, audio, work samples, scanned documents … a body of work which shows you in many dimensions and can include your reflections and how your work has deepened and progressed, something an old style resume could never do.

So, if we agree you should have an online portfolio, how do you go about getting one?

Well,  you can produce it yourself, although it may be a smoother and more effective process to get some professional help, particularly if you are time crunched or your tech skills are limited or you need some guidance in how best to showcase your skills.

One key thing to remember is generic resumes are used to eliminate people. “Until the development of résumés in an electronic format, employers would have to sort through massive stacks of paper to find suitable candidates without any way of filtering out the poor candidates. The Employment Management Association in 1997 reported that the average cost-per-hire for a print ad was $3,295, while the average cost-per-hire with the Internet was $377.^[4] This in turn has cut costs for many growing organizations, as well as saving time and energy in recruitment. Employers are now able to set search parameters in their database of résumés to reduce the number of résumés which must be reviewed in detail in the search for the ideal candidate.” Although an online resume is less expensive for companies to review and therefore to your advantage, the more generic the resume, the more you fit into a cookie-cutter format, the easier you are to eliminate, even without a thorough examination of your qualifications.

Some companies who produce online resumes say they exist for the candidate’s benefit, but often their business model is based on the fact that corporations, not candidates, are where the big money is, and their actual customer is HR.  Follow the money. Do you think VC investors put millions of dollars into free software to help you get a job, impress a client, hook a networker or otherwise serve your interests ? That would sure be nice, but no. They serve large corporations.The real purpose of some of these providers is to help HR do a better job of weeding out and eliminating candidates before the interview, thereby reducing hiring costs and saving millions of dollars for large companies. And AdvancingWomen.com is all for corporations increasing efficiency and saving money. However, what you want is to get  in the door and into an interview so you can land the job. And what corporations really want is to hire the best people so they can offer the best and most competitive product or service.

So AdvancingWomen.com believes it is in the best interest of both the large corporations and the candidates to build and review individualized portfolios focused on the business case for your value to a company.  Technology which accelerates the process and costs less can be a very good thing.  But, as we’ve seen in recent weeks, decisions are made every day which can be either very profitable or very costly, far more costly than hiring decisions, which are after all, like career portfolios, a bottom line investment. Portfolios which more fully display a candidate’s true value can be critical to both parties.

It is your responsibility to create a portfolio which will fully showcases and broadcasts your own value.

AdvancingWomen Career Portfolios can help with that. Our career partners have developed best practices in effective portfolio design over the last five years, producing portfolios that have helped hundreds of executives and professionals get jobs.  We can help you.

First, take stock of yourself, and see where you are in the food chain of your organization.

If you’re not at, or near the top, it’s time to take immediate remedial action. If you’re already in middle management, decide to take on the toughest hurdle: moving from middle to top management.

You probably will have to work consciously on modifying many of your habits and attitudes. Perhaps the most important attitude change will be to give up “the caretaker-of-the-details trap”. The shift from middle manager to top manager is a shift from “doing” to “directing” or delegating. A top manager must focus on big picture issues. You must learn to develop successful strategy and effective management of people. Doing someone else’s job can no longer be one of your options. Tackle the big problems….let someone else pick the ladies’ room wall paper. Learn to take well thought out risks, since being unremarkable and unnoticed at work won’t get you where you want to go either.

If you seem “stuck” in whatever position you’re in, take an analytical look at your company and its true “woman-friendly” quotient.

Does your company have women in executive offices and on the board of directors? Do female executives earn as much as their male counterparts? If not, you might start looking around at companies where you may find a more “level playing field” and greater opportunities for advancement. Even a lateral move can put the momentum back in your career.

Find the right company with a culture which supports your success.

Companies which have embraced “family friendly” and diversity oriented values will have designed an organization with the staffing philosophy and processes and development philosophy and processes to support those values. On a formal basis, managers will provide opportunities for visibility; explain and interpret organizational politics; map out clear developmental goals and support you in achieving them. On an informal basis, management will have credible advocates with positional authority to see that key people, and women in particular, are not excluded from informal networks. Advocates with authority will also assure that women have access to a line position with responsibility so they they may qualify for promotion to the next level. Within this framework you should try to align your career goals with what you see as the opportunities within your company.

Learn to negotiate, to uncover the “hidden agendas and masked perceptions”, to identify your true value, make it visible, and make the negotiation pivot around it.

Almost every day at work, we are faced with some type of negotiation. Not only must we negotiate for our salary, perks, benefits, title, office space and support staff, but daily issues involving our duties, the need for increased manpower, authority over projects, flexibility with clients, arrangements, communication or sharing of the workload with co-workers; all require a form of negotiation, which, if we fail to recognize, we will, in all probability, fail to win.

The only reason someone is negotiating with you is that you have a value which he wants. The more you can make that value visible, and make the negotiation pivot around it, the stronger your position will be. The first negotiation, which will shape much of your future is how much you will earn and what benefits you will receive. Bargain hard and smart. Your work life depends upon it.

To talk is to win.

At every opportunity, step up to the plate, speak up in an authoritative voice and present a message which is clear and communicates your firm belief in it. Whether it’s a high visibility assignment for your company, a line position which will get you in the running for senior management or a plum post in London — ask for it. Don’t hint. Forget indirection and subtlety. If you want a job within the company ask for it. And ask for the authority to do it right.

Get recognized, the not so easy task for women.

Why is it so difficult for women to get recognized in corporate America? It is one thing to perform effectively, and it is quite another to be perceived as performing effectively. The answer to being perceived as effective and getting recognized for it does not lie in performance. Research shows women perform as well on the job as men, often better, but men are prone to boasting and successful men have become experts in self promotion. To most women, boasting is anathema. A major turning point in most women’s careers comes when they recognize that self promotion is part of the game of business. Start immediately by weaving your accomplishments into your casual conversations. Absolutely anything can be your cue. Example: “I haven’t been anyplace the air conditioner was turned on so high since the Chamber of Commerce had that special banquet to honor me.”

If you want recognition, you must broadcast your achievements and press for appropriate rewards and advancement. No one else will do it for you. And if you start promoting yourself, you will soon feel comfortable doing it, and equally important, you will begin to realize you deserve it.

Go for the power and never stop moving up.

Power is an important currency in today’s workplace. In fact, power is largely in the perception of it. To be perceived as powerful, act like a leader. Take charge, take responsibility, come up with a solution. You don’t need to be president of a corporation or head of a committee. You just need to lead. Do you see a problem crying out for a solution? Develop a project to address it. Projects not only gather people together and marshal their strengths to achieve a defined and mutually beneficial goal, they advertise your skills and position you as a leader. Develop reputational power by tackling the critical issues and getting results.

Determine to hone and expand your skills, grow and promote yourself, build relationships and networks, deliver results and be sure to get credit for them. Then, continue to get feedback.

Are your career goals still the same, or have they changed. If they’ve changed, make the necessary adjustments and pursue new opportunities which match your new goals.

Check with the market to be certain you’re getting paid what you’re worth in the market today. Check salary benchmarks in your industry.

As measures of your success, you must….

• Have an exceptional skill or expertise at something which delivers real value.
• Focus on the practical result of the skill you deliver.
• Learn how to be a leader and a supportive team player at the same time.
• Be a visionary….. define a goal and make it a reality.

As Thoreau once said :” Keep marching continously in the direction of your dreams and one day you will be leading the life you have imagined.” It will never be sooner than today to start.

New complimentary e-book

Before the Web, everybody knew that the only reason you issued a press release was to get the media to write about you.
Ye Olde Press Release Rules
• Nobody saw the actual press release except a handful of reporters
and editors.
• You had to have significant news before you were allowed to write
a press release.
• A release had to include quotes from third parties, such as customers,
analysts and experts.
• The only way your buyers would learn about the press release’s
content was if the media wrote a story about it.
• The only way to measure the effectiveness of press releases was
through “clip books,” which collected every time the media deigned
to pick up your release.
No More.
The Web has transformed the rules and you must transform your releases to make
the most of the Web-enabled marketplace of ideas.

The new rules of press releases
• Don’t just send press releases when “big news” is happening;
find good reasons to send them all the time.
• Instead of just targeting a handful of journalists, create press releases
that appeal directly to your buyers ( clients, employers, other websites)
• Write releases replete with keyword-rich copy.
• Create links in releases to deliver potential customers to landing
pages on your Web site.
• Optimize press release delivery for searching and browsing.
• Drive people into the sales process with press releases.

As you are making this fundamental shift, ( to marketing yourself through press releases) what should you write press releases about? Big news
is great, but don’t wait. Write about just about anything that your organization is doing:

• CEO speaking at a conference? Write a release.
• Win an award? Write a release.
• Have a new take on an old problem? Write a release.
• Add a product feature? Write a release.
• Win a new customer? Write a release.
• Publish a white paper? Write a release.
• Get out of bed this morning? Okay, maybe not…but you are thinking the right way now!

Publish your press releases through a distribution service.
Publishers also recognize that simply creating compelling content is not enough; it has to reach interested readers.
The best way to publish press releases is to simultaneously post a release to your own Web site and send it to one of the press release wires.
There are a number of options for wire distribution of press releases. The benefit of using a press release distribution service is that your release will be sent to the online news services such as Yahoo!, Google, Lycos, and many others.
Many press release distribution services reach trade and industry Web sites as well. In fact, you can reach hundreds of Web sites with a single press release. Take a look at the various services and compare them yourself.
A Selection of the Larger Press Release Distribution Services

BusinessWire

PRWeb

PRNewswire

Market Wire

Be sure to use meaningful links and key words that target your potential customers.

Speak to your potential buyers directly.  Get them invoived in a dialogue so they will begin feeling more comfortable with you and/or your product.

It’s all about persistence.
Over time, there’s no doubt that in the Web economy, press releases
drive action and make those who create them successful.