Put the Web to Work

Important Advice for Job Seekers from a Small Business Owner  We recently had an opening for a new team member at MSW Interactive Designs and received more than 50 resumes for the position. After going through the process of narrowing the field down for possible interviews, we would like to give some advice for job seekers in this month’s column. This advice applies to any candidate for any job. As an applicant, you should be proactive about each of these before sending a resume to a potential employer. Assume that the employer is going to look at each of these and make some assumptions about you. 1. Google Yourself. Online information about you can easily be found by searching your name in Google. If you find something that might be a negative flag for an employer, be ready to explain it upfront. Everyone can make mistakes, so just be proactive. Know that if it’s out there, they have probably seen it. 2. Scrub Your Facebook Profile, Posts, and Photos. If y...

It's more important than ever to be aware of what consumers are saying about your business. Negative online reviews can cause tremendous damage to your online reputation and sales. Consumer reviews may include both positive and negative commentary regarding price, customer service, as well as overall quality of their experience with your business.  Positive reviews are fantastic and we'll write an article in the near future about how to acquire more positive reviews online. It's the negative reviews that you need to know about quickly, so you can properly address them before they do harm to your reputation. 1. Google Alerts. You consider setting up Google alerts for your business name, the names of key team members, and your website address, at a minimum.  Google will then send you email alerting you to any mentions concerning your business, as well as any other alerts you setup.  To set go, to www.google.com/alerts 2. Social Mention. Social Mention al...