This is a guest post by Eliza Morgan who is a full time blogger. She specializes in writing about business credit cards. You can reach her at: elizamorgan856 at gmail dot com.
In harsh economic times like the current, people have to find more and more ways to get a little extra from their careers and maintain their authority over competition. This is particularly true for those just starting their careers or are even still getting educations for their careers, but it also still holds true for anyone; even though you have a nice, cushy job at the moment, there is no guarantee that it will always be there or that your experience alone will get you a new or better one.

Whoever you are, blogging can help your career tremendously for a variety of reasons.




The Best Work Sample

Having a website full of content and ideas related to your career gives you a huge push in job search situations. Even if your career doesn’t require much writing, being able to effectively communicate what you do (and demonstrating that ability eloquently through a blog) is always a plus. Not to mention, your blog will likely be filled with posts demonstrating your career skills and critical thinking as well. For those of you with careers in writing or communications, this is a must. Having online resources to show for yourself should be an essential portion of your application.


Demonstrates Writing and Language Ability

Being able to effectively communicate is an important part of most jobs. Your blog will not only exemplify this through your posts but also through the dialogue you have with your readers in the comments section.


Demonstrates Flexibility

Writing is not the only component of maintaining a successful blog. For your blog to truly be a hit, you will want to market your blog through SEO and social media, choose a great design theme for your blog, choose other useful plug-ins for your blog, find and keep advertisers or affiliate programs, keep branding consistent, and a whole slew of other things. Sure, you don’t have to master all of these things if you are maintaining the blog for purely career-building reasons, but getting your feet wet in some of these areas will show tremendous flexibility to future employers. Even if you are contracting out professionals and freelancers to spruce up some areas of your blog, just knowing what your blog needs and finding people to help it will likely impress future employers.


Tips for Blogging Success

While I do think more people should utilize blogging, I also think you should wait and give some time and thought to the concept of your blog before rushing into it. If your blog ends up looking like a lazy attempt at self-promotion, no one will read it and future employers will probably mark you down because of it. The following are some tips and ideas to consider before starting a blog:

• What useful information will you provide and who will read it?
• Are there similar blogs already around? If so, how will your blog be different or improve upon existing blogs?
• Do you have time to maintain and update your blog regularly?