Metrics Prove Employers (and Other Sites) Need to Blog

I've long been a strong advocate that employers should not only blog, but blog on their corporate web sites. Why? Because search engines like Google love blogs. They love blogs for the same reason that people love blogs: they tend to be very current, frequently updated, sources of information. In short, they're relevant and search engines rank pages based upon relevancy.

The logic made sense to me and, I think, most of the people that I talked with about blogging but until now I didn't have the empirical evidence to back up my beliefs. Now I do because a study was just released by HubSpot which found that organizations with blogs on their web sites have:

• 55% more visitors. More visitors mean more people to convert to leads and sales if you're a consumer marketer or more candidates and hires if you're marketing your employment opportunities.
• 97% more inbound links. These are critical to your site coming up at or near the top of the search engine rankings because inbound links signal to search engines that your pages and therefore your entire site is authoritative.
• 434% more indexed pages. This is also important because the more pages you have on your site, the more chances you have of getting found by your target audience when they use Google or any of the other search engines.

So, if you'd like to blog to better connect with your audience but your I.T. or marketing people are fretting, tell them that you appreciate their concern, remind them who is the boss (you are as they are mere advisors) and then force them to do what is best for the organization, for which you now have cold, hard proof.

Article by Steven Rothberg, and courtesy of CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates seeking entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Thinking About Authenticity

I realize that mentioning authenticity may seem cliche, and Laurie of Punk Rock HR is sick of thinking about it, but every where I go I hear people talk about being authentic. Comments I heard at the "HR Bloggers - Who Are These People and Why Should You Care?" session at the SHRM conference in New Orleans included the following.

• Tell your own story. He is who he is in person and on his blog. - from @thelance
• It's easier to be yourself when you blog. - from @jessica_lee
• If you can't be yourself when you blog, you're working for the wrong company. - from @lruettimann
• Risk adverse companies may push a blogger to go anonymous. - from @kris_dunn

I work from home so for me my social outlets are my cats, my Cool Works partners via IM and GTalk, my twitter friends, other social networking peeps, and the employers with whom I work. However, from June 20 to July 2, I got full face-to-face (f2f) social experience because of two planned trips, one for Cool Works through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and one for me / Cool Works for the annual SHRM conference in New Orleans. In some ways, it's too bad that the trips couldn't have been spread further apart to maintain my "contact high," but in some ways, I think that running so hard and fast kept my brain at the proper pace to absorb all of the energy from each event. Lots of goodness was received from each trip.

---

Cool Works Meetup Wrap Ups - Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV (Final) SHRM Wrap Up - For Three Strange Days...at SHRM - Conference Wrap Up

---

Now being self-absorbed for just a moment, I think I'm fairly authentic. The writing me and the talking me are the same. Comments from people I met on both trips support my belief, and frankly, really made my day(s). Back at you folks! Some examples:

• From a member of our My Cool Works social network after meeting me at Lake in Yellowstone National Park - "Lovely meeting you kari. i think i felt your energy before i saw you, and as you passed, i'm pretty sure i could have grabbed the electrons in your outer orbit. i'm very happy that you were you. i wish you more luck in life than even an unreasonable person could expect." [WOW]
• "I feel the same about @lruettimann, @kariquaas. She would ask the same Q's in person that she does on her blog." 9:47 AM Jul 1st from web - @leanneclc - Leanne Chase
• "@kariquaas - I will never *ever* mispronounce your name again. You're a wonderfully interesting person & it was great mtg you! #SHRM09" 3:13 PM Jul 2nd from web - @stelzner - Mark Stelzner
• "How did @kariquaas get so awesome?" 11:35 PM Jun 29th from twhirl - @SBWorkforce - SmartBriefWorkforce, aka Mary Ellen Slayter, whose writing I love!

Needless to say, but I'm flattered and happy that who I am online is who I am in person. I am me. If you don't like me, don't follow me. It's almost like @Animal's line of "If you're sensitive, don't follow me" on twitter. Being true to oneself is so critical. Like Kris Dunn of HR Capitalist said during the panel, blogging is about having an opinion, taking a stand and critical thinking. In addition to that I would like to state that sometimes it's hard enough to clarify my own thoughts so why on earth would I want to add the challenge of trying to think like someone else. Writing as yourself is easier, and also helps to develop your personal brand, a topic for another day.

So, therein lies the challenge to you. Are you you? If yes, great. If not, why not? Do you write as yourself or try to be someone else? If you write as yourself, good for you. If not, who else are you trying to be?

A How-To Guide to Corporate HR Blogging

Kudos and HUGE props to Ben Yoskovitz of Standout Jobs and Susan Burns of Talent Synchronicity for putting together this guide about blogging from a corporate HR department, or a one-(wo)man department as it may be for many of Cool Works' clients, called A Definitive Guide to Corporate HR Blogging. I highly recommend requesting this free guide from their website and reading it cover to cover. It's worth your time and energy and for those of you who have heard me speak at SHRA conferences about dabbling in social networking or blogs, here is the document you can share with your boss(es) to prove I'm right their value.

To Do List (hearkening back to Mark's legal presentations at SHRA) -

• Get the Free Guide!

That is all.

Blogging from SHRM in New Orleans

Just thought I would officially share that I'll be blogging from the annual SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) conference in New Orleans later this month. I am looking forward to being surrounded by talented HR folks out there getting the job done every day. Plus, I get to hang out with many of my good HR and Recruiting friends, and other personalities, who I follow via social media like Laurie from PunkRockHR, Joel from Cheezhead, Erin from ADEPT HRM Solutions, Austin from MyFirstPaycheck, Sharlyn from HR Bartender, and many more.

I'm especially looking forward to seeing the HR Bloggers present on Wednesday, July 1st at 11:30am hosted by China Gorman and Sheryl Crow on Tuesday night. Woo Hoo!

Someone recently asked me what "former HR person" meant to me in my Twitter bio and jokingly asked if that meant I was a "recovering HR person." After a mini-conversation, which is easy to accomplish in 140 characters, I explained that I pay attention to HR, but it's not my day job anymore. So, I've updated my bio to reflect that I'm an "HR Spectator," as suggested by another tweeter, and I suspect that I'll always be one of those. HR is an incredibly fun and challenging career, and although I don't do it day-to-day anymore, I still admire those who do, and I do my best to keep my skills sharp to honor their efforts.

Give me a shout if you'll be at the SHRM conference or follow this blog or follow me on twitter throughout the conference to hear the latest and the greatest from the HR world.

Hope to see you in New Orleans!