Gemstone Media Online

Your résumé is more than simply a documentation of your work history—it’s a marketing piece. An advertisement for prospective employers. And, it has the potential to get you great interviews. So it’s important for your résumé to not only showcase your experience and skills, but be carefully crafted to convince those looking to hire to take a chance on you.

From the employers’ point of view, hiring a new employee is a big risk. They need to find someone qualified for the position, but they also want to find a new employee who can adapt to their company culture and who’s smart enough to thrive in the work environment.

When you avoid common résumé pitfalls, you have a much better chance of proving that you’re worth the gamble.

Here are three easily avoidable résumé mistakes:

1. Listing an “objective” at the start of your résumé. The original thinking behind this was likely to show employers that you had goals, that you were on the upward path and therefore worth hiring. But it can easily backfire by convincing them that you won’t be satisfied for long with the job you’re applying for, or that your goals are not in line with the needs of the company. Better: Replace the “objective” section with a “summary” that highlights the “soft” skills that are hard to showcase within the “work history” section.

1. Listing job duties instead of accomplishments. Your purpose is to show your next boss how you’ll improve the company—not list all the things on your to-do list. Better: Show that you were a valuable asset to the company. If you can quote impressive statistics such as “increased sales by 20% in a three-month period,” that’s far more powerful than “managed sales staff.”
2. Including irrelevant information. Throwing in a personal tidbit can breathe a little life into your résumé, but don’t overdo it. Employers don’t need to know that you have a karate black belt, you grew up on a ranch in Wyoming, and you spend your weekends gardening. Unless those are all vital to your prospective job, they don’t all need to be there. Better: Choose one item of interest to place at the bottom of the résumé, but that’s it.

If you need further help creating a standout résumé, we’d love to help showcase your unique skills and experience. Whether you’re creating a backup résumé in case of need or you’re job hunting right now, Gemstone Media’s affordable rates make it easy to get the best résumé you’ve ever had. Contact us for details.

Monelle Smith blogs for Gemstone Media. Follow @GemstoneMedia

Surf the web a bit, and you’ll notice that some sites (or blog posts) seem to be have keywords crammed into every single sentence. When you read through the content, the keywords stick out like thorns on a rosebush. And while the bots and spiders may not mind the awkward sentences, this type of content makes for an uncomfortable reading experience for your human users.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Your keywords can integrate seamlessly with useful content—and still attract the search engines. After all, it’s not the thorns that bring in the honeybees, but the nectar and pollen.

Write the page content as if you were writing for a printed project instead of an online platform. Spend time showcasing your company’s USP and calling viewers to action. Make your copy as concise and potent as the glorious scent of a rose in bloom.

Then, rather than worrying about keyword density, start thinking about keyword relevance and specificity. If you sell teak patio tables, make sure to include all three of those words in your content—if you simply say, “furniture,” the search engines may bring people to your site who are looking for sofas or mattresses.

As for the web crawlers, which are the reason some companies put so many keywords in a site, they have their limits for keyword density as well. SEO experts aren’t in complete agreement about the ideal mix of keywords in a web page. The main question to ask yourself is if the keywords accurately reflect the page content and are used naturally. You can use an online density checker to find out how your site stacks up.

Now that your content is concise, persuasive, and has a reasonable amount of highly relevant keywords, it’s time to stop and smell the flowers on the thornless rosebush you’ve crafted. Breathe deeply and enjoy.

Let’s talk about verbs. Back when you were in English class, you learned that a verb was the word that told what action was happening in the sentence. But there’s more to verbs in the grown-up business world—way more. In marketing, these bossy little words can order people around. They tell people what to do, and sometimes they actually do it. “Click here for more info.” “Order today.” “Buy now and save.” People do these things, and it’s all because of the verbs.

Effective verbs in your marketing materials rally your prospects. They’re a battlefield trumpet that calls on your soldiers (audience) to advance on the enemy (to take some kind of action—which is why your sales pitch needs a “call to action”). And they matter—maybe more than any other kind of words in your site (or brochure, email, blog, or newsletter). Using verbs well in your call to action makes a huge difference in your marketing. Here’s how:

Activate—Long, passive verbs put me to sleep. You, too, probably. Keep it short.
Not so great: If you’d like more information, please give us a phone call.
Better: Call now for details!

Reward action—Make sure there’s a reason to do what you’re asking.
Not so great: Click like on our page.
Better: Like our page to get monthly discounts.

Be reasonable—A smaller request is more likely to be acted upon.
Not so great: Buy the full set for $1,359 today. Sorry, no refunds.
Better: Try a FREE sample today!

Link the keywords—Use important words in your online calls to action.
Not so great: Click here to learn more about how to improve your business writing.
Better: Learn how to improve your business writing.

Make it visible—Give your call to action some celebrity status with bolding, punctuation, all-caps, underlines, interesting layouts, larger point sizes, or different fonts.
Not so great: Buy more to save more.
Better: 

Find the verbs that create a call to action that’s persuasive and noticeable, and you’ll increase the odds that your audience will do just what you ask. Your call to action is your flag bearer in the marketing battle. It’s your trumpeter. So go ahead and sound the clarion call!

Who’s your market? Do NOT say, “Everyone.” There’s no such thing as a company that sells to absolutely everyone—offerings can be restricted by cost, size, cultural relevance, or simply geography. No matter what your product or service is, it will only appeal to a portion of people. Finding that portion (and marketing to it) is essential to growing your business without wasting money getting your name in front of non-buyers.

There are several ways to sort the great mass of “everyone” into Likely Prospects and Unlikely Prospects. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

First, decide if your product/service is most useful for individuals/families or businesses. See? Already you’ve ruled out a huge segment of non-buyers.

Second, decide where your product/service sits on the pricing spectrum.

If your company sells high-end plumbing fixtures, you’ll be on the “expenisve” end of the spectrum so you can skip marketing to builders that specialize in apartment complexes. On the other hand, if you’re marketing low-cost jewelry, you’ll be on the “bargain” end, and don’t need to spend the time and money required to get your products in front of wealthy buyers.

This spectrum concept can be used for many variables, by the way. Instead of affordability, you could measure decision-making styles for snack food purchases.

You could define your market segment by their preferred time of day for online purchases.

The goal is to find the spectrums that most accurately divide your best customers from the rest of the crowd.

Third, you find the motivation. Even within that targeted market segment, there will be people who are more motivated than others to buy from you. Finding the motivated buyers will refine your search even further. To do that, you need to know what problems your product/service solves. If you’re selling ergonomic office chairs, your product solves the problem of back and neck strain. If you’re an insurance agent, you’re solving the problem of how to pay for emergencies.

Once you’ve narrowed down the whole, wide world into the people who are most likely to need—and want—to buy from you, you’ve found your best market segment. Marketing to this group will give you far better results than trying to appeal to everyone. Which is good for the budget and the bottom line.

Monelle Smith is the content director at business communications firm Gemstone Media, Inc. in Boise, Idaho. Follow her.

When people think about reading their favorite novel, they imagine curling up cozily on the couch with a great read. Why is that? Because they’re reading for pleasure. Because reading a fun book is fun.

When you’re writing for your business, you can tap into some of that fun (for you and for your audience) by stealing (I mean, borrowing) some of fiction writers’ best sly sales tricks (I mean, literary devices).

1. Show, don’t tell. Fiction writers hear (and say) this all the time. It means, don’t tell me the character is tired, but show her drag her feet as she walks. Show her head drooping nearly to her chest. Business application: Don’t tell me your product leaves customers satisfied, but show me your satisfied customers by using images, testimonials, statistics, etc.
2. Write for the audience. A legal thriller will use quite different language than a picture book about what to expect on the first day of kindergarten. Business application: Always, ALWAYS remember the kinds of people that you expect to read what you write. Write for them.
3. Word count counts. Literary novels, early-reader chapter books, and graphic novels all have different word count (and format) requirements. No decent writer would try to cram the same number of words into every type of book. Business application: If you’re writing a white paper on a technical process, it’s probably going to require more words than a tri-fold brochure. For short documents, pick out the essential details and highlight those ideas. Don’t try to fit it all in.
4. Find emotion. If a reader doesn’t connect with the main character, they likely won’t finish the book. Readers need to care—deeply—about what happens to the book’s character in order to want to hear how the story ends. Business application: Make sure you’re offering your audience both logical and emotional ways to connect with your product or service. That helps them want to understand—and hopefully use—what your company offers.

Use literary devices (I mean, sly sales tricks) to help you improve your business writing and make your writing more enjoyable for everyone. After all, why should the fiction-writing folks have all the fun?

Monelle Smith is the content director for Gemstone Media, Inc. 

Everyone has a “voice.” A police officer, a grocery-store checker, a mom at the park with her kids—they all speak differently, and you can tell them apart without even looking at them.

So, does your company have a strong brand voice? Does it help you stand out from the competition in a good way?

For many of us, when we think of business writing, we immediately tighten our metaphorical tie and get out the thesaurus so we can sprinkle some smart-person words in whatever we’re writing. We want to sound like an authority, so we switch to passive verbs and obfuscate (smart-person-word alert!) as much as possible. That’s how it’s done, right?

No. That’s how it’s done wrong. Your company’s voice should be clear, straightforward, and sound as much as possible like the brand has come to life. Let’s look at a few examples of great brand voices. Actually, let’s listen to them. When you click the link, close your eyes and hear what those brands sound like. Then go ahead and click the replay button and watch ‘em so you don’t feel like you’e missed out on anything.

Remember those Mac vs. PC ads? The guy playing the Mac looked, acted, and sounded like the brand incarnate (smart-person-word alert, but we’re going to let it pass).

How about the Old Spice bodywash ads? He refreshed the Old Spice brand, and it’s not just because he went nicely shirtless; it’s because of what he said and the voice he used. The sailboat and horse did help, though.

One more, and I saved the cutest for last. The E-trade babies. Do they sound like babies? No, they sound like the spirit of E-trade come to life: young middle-class professionals who want to play the market through technology.

Next time you sit down to write for your company, take a few minutes and have a philosophical discussion with your brand. Who does it want to be when it grows up? What kind of music/sports/hobbies does it like? What year did it graduate from high school? Is it nostalgic for the good old days or impatient for the future? Really get to know your brand as a person. Then write with that voice, every time, and you’ll stand out from those competitors who are still reaching for the thesaurus.

Monelle Smith is the Content Director at Gemstone Media, Inc. Follow her @GemstoneMedia

You know you need keywords for SEO. That’s what your IT/web design/marketing people are saying, and they’re saying it loudly enough and consistently enough that you figure it must be true.

But how do you choose effective SEO keywords? Where do you start? You start right here.

Go back to the basics. What’s your USP*? If you serve the upper end of your market, price-wise, keywords like “bargain” or “cheap” are unlikely to work as hard at bringing your target audience to your site as keywords like “high quality” or “long-lasting.” And that is the point of keywords—not to increase hits on your site (well, okay, partly that) but to help you grow your business. And growing your business generally means finding actual paying customers. So include your uniqueness in your keywords.

Think bigger—and specific. Instead of finding stand-alone keywords, you’re searching for keyword phrases that will focus on exactly the right audience. People searching for an architect who specializes in historical-site remodeling in Boise, Idaho, don’t just search on the word “architect.” They’ll search for something like “historic renovation architects Boise” to find just what they need, in the right location. So don’t be afraid of having a three- or four-word keyword phrase.

Remember the code. Put your (carefully selected) keywords in your site content, for sure. Also put them in the coding. If you built your site within a CMS** you should be able to access “tags,” or code that attaches to different parts of your site to show search engines what lives there. Make sure your title tags, description tags, and alt-text tags use appropriate SEO keywords to show search engines what kind of content your visitors will find in your site.

Play the name game. Use strong keywords when naming any files hosted on your site, such as JPGs, PNGs, PDFs, videos, or other documents. This also applies to the page title—the text that appears at the top of a web browser. For example, the title “Acme, Inc.: 30 years of quality restoration architecture” is far more compelling than “Acme, Inc.: About” for both readers and Google. Every bit of targeting helps inform the search engines, sort of like the signs at shopping mall entrances that list all the stores, their locations, and what they sell.

Change it up. Does every page on your site talk about the exact same thing? No? Then why would you use the same keywords throughout? Tailor your keywords (and your content) to the value that each page offers viewers. Also, make sure your content looks fresh and appetizing to search engines by uploading new, useful content frequently. Blog posts, how-to videos, and rotating special offers are great places to start.

Monelle Smith is the Content Director at Gemstone Media, Inc. Follow her @GemstoneMedia

*USP = Unique selling proposition, which is what sets you apart from your competition. Are you more affordable? Do you offer better service? Perhaps you have a better selection?

**Content management system, such as WordPress, Drupal, BigCommerce, etc.

When normal people are having knock-down, drag-out arguments about politics and religion, here at Gemstone Media we’re shouting over punctuation. Okay, maybe we’re not absolutely shouting, but we explain our reasoning on punctuation choices quite firmly. Some of us use sweeping hand gestures. It is NOT a pretty sight.

Fighting over punctuation is a good thing, because punctuation is important, as everyone knows from the uncredited Pinterest/Facebook post about dietary choices and familial relatives.

Punctuation Saves Lives

It’s okay to be passionate about punctuation—as long as you back up the strong emotions with solid technique. Remember The Karate Kid? He had to spend time practicing “wax on, wax off” (or “pick up the hoodie” if you’re under 30) until he was so comfortable with the skills that that he could do them without thinking.

So, how do you learn about punctuation? You read, silly! Most of us have this I-know-it’s-right-but-I-can’t-tell-you-why feeling about punctuation that we’ve gotten from reading books since The Cat in the Hat. (High school English classes probably helped, too, but not always.)

But there’s more. There’s a fabulous book on punctuation that is one of my favorite books. Not just one of my favorite books about punctuation, but favorite books, period. It’s more fun than anything they made you read in high school English. It’s the book you’ve been waiting your whole, entire life to read, because it changes punctuation from this thing you have to do to get by, like laundry, into this thing that gives you a warm glow of achievement, like running a 10K. Only there’s no sweating or oxygen deprivation involved, so it’s actually better than running a 10K.

Ready? This magic book is called Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. Buy it. Borrow it. Grab it at the library. Whatever works.

Seriously, it’s a great book. Check it out. Then tell me what you think, because I love to hear people rave about great writing and her delicious British writer-voice. Also, then we can argue about serial commas. I’ll bring the sweeping hand gestures.

There’s more to creating an effective curated blog for your company than simply linking to articles with your favorite keywords. Learn how to fine-tune your efforts with this article about curated blogging from 12Most.com.

You’ve got customers, even in this tight economy. That’s no mean feat. How do you keep in front of them? Here are seven great ways to keep a tight hold on your company’s mindshare without paying a fortune.

• E-mail newsletters—As long as your newsletter actually contains useful tips and tricks rather than a sales pitch, your customers will appreciate being kept up-to-date on niche events and news.
• Social media—You don’t have to write a newsletter-length article to get in front of people. Give your loyals a place to go to get snippets of interest. Start with Facebook or Twitter, and go from there. How do you get followers/fans? Ask. And ask again.
• Become a joiner—If your business relies on local traffic, attend networking functions to give people a chance to get to know you and develop trust. When there’s a friendly face attached to your company branding, they’ll be more comfortable calling you.
• Give it away—You’re an expert in your field. Share your wisdom through free tutorials, webinars, or an e-book. Just make sure your branding and contact info is prominently placed for those who need more—and now know where to get it.
• Ask for (and give) referrals—Your current clients can be your best source of new clients. A polite request for testimonials and referrals can help your happy customers multiply. Don’t forget to return the favor—referring clients to others is a great way to say “thank you.”
• Pride for the brand—If you represent your company in public, it goes without saying that you should look professional and sharp. Depending on your industry, make sure your company pride shows with a name tag or logo on your shirt.
• Direct mail—Direct mail can reach prospects who don’t respond to other methods. Make sure your letter or postcard is interesting, convincing, and gives readers enough information to make a decision. Send out small, regular batches to maximize business.

With the market beginning its upswing, getting the word out now puts your company ahead of the game.

Monelle Smith blogs for Gemstone Media, Inc., in Boise, Idaho.