Onward Search Internet Marketing Blog

Where to Find Onward Search (June 15, 2009 - June 19, 2009)

Ken Clark — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:38:00 -0400

This week is chock full of networking events in the Boston and NYC metro area, and we are going to be very busy. Here's a quick rundown of everywhere we will be this week and where you can find us:

Boston:

Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE) - Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston, MA (June 15-18) - IRCE is always one of the best shows of the year, and we will have a full team there. We're exhibiting at Booth #350.
Pecha Kucha Night - Mantra, 52 Temple Place, Boston, MA (June 17 - 6:30pm) - Pecha Kucha is a fun gathering of graphics designers who provide short presentations on a variety of topics. It is free and open to the public and always has great content, great company, and great food and drinks.
AIGA Boston AFTA - Neoscape, 330 Congress Street, Boston, MA (June 18 - 6:00pm) - Onward's Sarah Wilkins will be attending Neoscape's first ever AFTA event at their studios. It should be a great opportunity to see Neoscape and network with your contemporaries in the Boston area.

New York:

DM Days - Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, NY (June 16-18) - Another "must attend" conference for marketers. We're exhibiting here and you can find us at Booth #235.
SEMPO NY - Digital Media for Search Professionals - Yahoo, New York, NY (June 16 - 6:30pm) - SEMPO NY always hosts funevents and this should be no exception. Sign-up if you are in NYC and are not yet attending!

I hope we have the opportunity to see you all there. For additional info and updates on these events, please follow us at @onwardsearch on Twitter.

The Spring Networking Season is Coming...

Ken Clark — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:13:00 -0400

With all the media attention on social networking of late, it is easy to forget that in-person events are probably the best way to build your personal and business networks. The spring networking season is definitely upon us, and there are a lot of great internet marketing-focused local and national events that we'll be attending over the upcoming months.

This week alone Onward Search will be attending three events. Here's where you can find us:

Tuesday, May 12: Determining the SEO Health of Your Website - Boston Marriott Peabody, Boston, MA, 6:30PM - 9:30PM. This event is sponsored by SEMNE and features Jill Whalen discussing what she looks for when performing an SEO site audit, as well as conducting some live site audits from the audience. We're really looking forward to hearing Jill speak and will have several Onward Search team members at the event.

Thursday, May 14: Connstep Manufacturing & Business Conference - Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, CT. Connstep provides consulting and training solutions to Connecticut's manufacturing industry, and I will be presenting with Kathy Hokunson of Site-Seeker, Inc. on how manufacturing companies can leverage internet marketing to grow their business.

Thursday, May 14: SEMPO NY @ Google: Data Stories - Google HQ, New York City, NY, 6:30PM - ??? SEMPO NY, which hosts some of the best networking events around, has a great night planned at Google's NYC headquarters. There is always great networking at SEMPO NY's events, and we will have a number of our team members there.

We're going to do our best to chat with as many people as we can, but please hunt us down if you're going to be at any of these events! They should all be a good time.

Looking to the future, we have a pretty busy calendar and will be attending a number of other networking events in the upcoming months. We will be posting updates on our whereabouts and where we will be via our @onwardsearch Twitter account as well as this blog.

Thanks and happy networking!

How to Get the Hottest News on Internet Marketing Jobs

Reilly O'Donnell — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:49:00 -0400

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to update you on some changes we will be making to the Onward Search Blog. Going forward, we will be discontinuing our "This Week in..." blog posts and will instead be providing links to articles important and content through our twitter account so we can get them to you faster in a more real-time environment.

We will continue to write articles and tips for the blog to help you further your internet marketing career, but we felt the best way to keep you up-to-date on the latest news and trends in the industry will be through twitter.

Thank you for all your support to date and please feel free to give us feedback to help us provide you with the best content going forward.

Sincerely,

Reilly

Come See Onward Search Present on the Search Marketing Career Landscape at Pubcon South

Reilly O'Donnell — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:19:00 -0400

This week our own Ken Clark, will be speaking at WebmasterWorld's first ever PubCon event in Texas. Ken will be speaking on the panel titled, "Career Gut Check - SEM/SEO Employment Landscape." This panel will discuss the current employment trends in the internet marketing industry and what you need to know to stay ahead in this economy.

The session will take place from 1:20pm - 2:30pm on March 12th in Salon B of the conference hall and will be moderated by Carolyn Shelby. Ken will be joined on stage by Lyndsay Walker Bhalut, Joanna Lord, and Gary Swart to discuss the current search marketing career landscape.

PubCon South begins this week on Wednesday, March 11th and will run through Friday the 13th. For its inaugural year, it is being held in Austin, Texas at the Norris Executive Conference Center. The conference will feature highly anticipated keynote speeches from Guy Kawasaki and Matt Cutts, as well as three conference tracks offering a wide range of educational topics for both novices and experts.

If you are going to be out at PubCon this week, I would definitely suggest attending the panel to learn more about the state of internet marketing industry and how you should position yourself to further your internet marketing career.

Boost Your Creative Design Resume

Reilly O'Donnell — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:12:00 -0400

In the world of creative design, your portfolio and accomplishments have the ability to speak louder than the names of the companies you have worked for.

If you are looking for ways to boost your creative design resume, one great way is to enter awards contests. They add tremendous credibility to your portfolio, and depending on the size and scope of the contest, your work can be promoted worldwide with little effort.

Communication Arts is currently accepting entries for their 50th Annual Illustration Competition. Entries will be accepted through Friday, March 6, 2009 for illustrations printed or produced between March 12, 2008 and March 6, 2009 in the following categories:

Advertising
Books
Animation
Editorial
For sale
Institutional
Self-promotion
Unpublished

If chosen by the awards committee your art will be published in Communications Arts Illustration Annual, which is distribute worldwide to over 70,000 people.

So if you are looking for another way to boost exposure to any illustrations you have completed in the past year, you should definitely consider the Communications Arts Competition.

Follow Onward Search on Twitter for Hot Jobs and Top Talent

Reilly O'Donnell — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:22:00 -0400

Onward Search is now officially on twitter.

We have decided to take advantage of this great service to bring you real time updates on hot internet marketing and creative jobs, as well as to inform you about top talent in the industry who will not be on the market long.

Start following us today so you don't miss any updates.

This Week In Search Marketing Staffing - 1/21/09

Reilly O'Donnell — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:46:00 -0400

Are you addicted to twitter, MySpace, and facebook? Did you receive a Harvard education? Any chance Womanizer is on repeat in the background right now? If you answered yes to all these questions, then maybe you should look into becoming Britney Spears’ new media manager. Apparently the pop princess is looking for someone to manage her online presence and keep her current comeback in full swing. The job posting, which was originally posted on a private Harvard-only job board, calls for a social media addict to take ownership of Britney’s online identity and to engage her following. So if you fit the qualifications, this could be your ultimate job opportunity.

Because of the short supply of SEO professionals, recruiting top talent can be very difficult. Last week, Richard Baxter, of SEOGadget, posted a great article titled How to Recruit an SEO. Richard describes how by being smart about each step of the hiring process, you can improve the candidates that you attract and be sure to lock down the candidate that fits perfectly with your company. Richard focuses on four areas of the recruitment process:

Creating the job description and job advertisements
Placing the ads in the right spots and with the right recruiter
The interview
Salaries/Offers

It can be hard to lock down good SEO talent these days, so if you want to make sure you aren’t wasting time and missing opportunities, take a look at Richard’s article.

Maximizing your use of the internet, can really let you set yourself apart from others when looking for your next job. Dan Schawbel, of Mashable, recently put together a good article on HOW TO: Build the Ultimate Social Media Resume. By establishing a strong online presence, you can easily exhibit your strengths and skills to the world and attract employers to seek you out. Dan’s process to creating the ultimate social media resume is:

Start with a website or blog
URL is key (think www.yourname.com)
Decide on the format and design
Enhance your resume with multimedia
Integrate your social media profiles
Make your resume shareable

If you are currently developing your social media resume I would definitely suggest looking at Dan’s post, which goes into detail about how each step should be tackled and perfected.

One of the best ways to strengthen your job security is to expand your skill set in order to make yourself indispensable. Gino, of You The Designer, recently posted a list of the top 5 Complimentary Skills to Graphic Design. By developing your abilities in new skills, you will be able to improve your job security, and will likely be able to demand a higher paycheck. Gino’s list includes

Web Design
Illustration
Online Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Blogging

With all these skills at your disposal, you will not only have job security, but will likely be sought after by a number of companies.

That's it for this week, check back next week for another update.

This Week In Search Marketing Staffing - 1/07/09

Reilly O'Donnell — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:21:00 -0400

Happy New Year and Welcome Back to This Week in Search Marketing Staffing.

As we move closer and closer to a new president, everyone is making their guesses as to what President-Elect Obama will do in his first 100 days. ComputerWorld believes that an economic stimulus package, expected early in the year, could create thousands of IT Jobs. If funds are made available in the right places it is possible that the stimulus plan could create as many as 300,000 high-tech IT positions. Professionals looking to take advantage of this situation should show their employers how their skill sets could be used in potential projects. Many of the new jobs will require a combination of unique skill sets which will require expertise in at least one technical field. While all this is still hypothetical, Obama’s “Pro-Tech Agenda” supports the thought that IT will continue to flourish in 2009.

Social media is quickly making it’s way into every aspect of our lives. Whether it is staying in touch via facebook, getting the hottest news from Digg, or settling a friendly debate by looking something up on wikipedia, social media tools are helping us in new ways everyday. If you are currently looking for a job, social media can also help with that. Mashable recently published their 7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media. Their 7 secrets are:

Conduct a people search instead of a job search
Use attraction-based marketing to get job offers
Be proactive on Twitter
Capitalize on Linkedin
Advertise Your brand using Adwords and Facebook Social Ads
Construct a video resume and upload it to YouTube
Subscribe to blogs that have job listings

Mashable breaks down the specifics of each of their “secrets” and how you can use them to successfully find your next job.

If you are hesitant to believe that someone can actually land a job using social media, then you should take a look at Scott Orth’s Social Media Job Hunt Experiment on SEMpdx. After being laid off, Scott set out to find his next job using social media; facebook, twitter, linkedin, and his personal website. Initially Scott received the best responses using twitter, but was disappointed with his results using Linkedin and facebook. Quickly Scott learned in order to successfully use social media lock in his next job, he would have to stay persistent. By remaining vigilent Scott was able to make some great connections and eventually landed a new position within one week of beginning his experiment. Scott summed up what he learned from his experiment in his final post, Living Under a Bridge - Final Wrap Up.

Looking for a new skill to help boost your professional stock? Look into learning virtualization, which is quickly becoming one of the hottest, most demanded skills in IT. The VP of Dice.com, reports that while overall the job count on their IT job board has dropped 12% since January 2008, the number of virtualization jobs has increased nearly 40% in the same period. Currently Dice.com has nearly 1000 jobs requesting VMware skills, and another 600 looking for general virtualization skills.

Dave Harry, of Huomah and Reliable-SEO, recently put together a great list of SEO resources in his post, SEO Higher Learning. In an effort to promote the concept of continued learning within SEO, Dave lists over a hundred different resources to help search marketers better understand some of the more technical aspects of search engines. By understanding the fundamentals a good search marketer will be able to make more educated decisions when faced with new problems. Dave’s list includes a number of books, free courses, research papers, videos, patents, journals, tools, and blogs. If you can make it through all of Dave’s resources without learning anything, you are probably lying.

That's it for this week. Check back next week for another update.

Onward Search Quick Tip #5 - Ask a Lot of Questions

Reilly O'Donnell — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:04:00 -0400

Questions are good. They help you reinforce decisions, clear up confusion, and learn more about yourself. When looking for a new job you will be required to ask a lot of questions of yourself and of prospective employers. The more questions you ask, the better prepared you will be to accomplish your goals.

Asking Questions of Yourself:

Self assessment is very important to personal growth. If you are in between jobs it is crucial to really know who you are and what you want. In order to get a good handle on this you need to ask yourself a number of questions. By knowing what you are good at and what you aren’t good at, you will be able to focus your job search on positions that play to your strengths. If you are aware of the type of corporate culture that plays well with your work habits, you will be able to avoid companies that you might not mesh with. When asking questions of yourself, think about your career. Some sample questions you can ask yourself include:

Where do I want to be in 5, 10, 15 years?
Do the jobs I am looking at support my career ambitions?
What separates me from other professionals?

If you know what you want, it will allow you to put more confidence behind your decisions and drive yourself to achieve more than before.

Asking Questions in Interviews:

When going into an interview, always be prepared with good questions to ask. The process of thinking of questions will allow you to evaluate what truly is important to you about the position you are looking at. When you get a chance to ask questions in an interview, make the most out of it. Some possible questions to ask in an interview include:

What would be expected from me in my first week, month, quarter, of work?
Does the position function as part of a team or more as an independent collaberator?
What growth potential does this position have?

By asking thoughtful questions, potential employers will easily be able to sense that you are sincerely interested in the position.

The more you know about yourself and prospective jobs, the more confident you will be to make decisions. Asking questions allows you to uncover details that aren’t obvious on the surface, and will get your mind thinking about other topics you might have otherwise overlooked. Having a complete understanding of your strengths and what you want to accomplish will allow you to take control and move closer to reaching your goals.

This Week In Search Marketing Staffing - 12/9/08

Reilly O'Donnell — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:46:00 -0400

The analytics expert Avinash Kaushik recently provided some great analytics career advice in his latest post, Analytics Career Advice, “I am an Analytics God, I Want More $$. How?” As someone who has climbed the analytics ladder, Avinash has some great experiences to pull from to help fellow analyst move their careers forward. As always the most important aspect to advancing your career is self evaluation. Avinash provides us with four questions to begin this:

Do you like being an individual contributor?
Do you like managing people?
Are your true “Analyst” skills your massive mastery of how to solve every technical problem with every tool and how to implement anything?
Are your true “Analyst” skills your understanding of your company’s business strategy?

Depending on how you answer these four questions Avinash details four possible career paths, their dollar potential, and their long term growth prospects.

Technical Individual Contributor
Business Individual Contributor
Technical Team Leader
Business Team Leader

If you are a web analyst and are unsure of where your career is moving I would definitely suggest reading Avinash’s article, he does a really good job detailing the differences between each individual career path and which skills support each path.

The 2008 Open World Forum in Paris recently concluded, but not before announcing the FLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software) 2020 Roadmap (pdf). The FLOSS 2020 Roadmap is a 78 page report that outlines where open source IT currently is, and makes predictions of where it is headed for the year 2020 based associated recommendations. With the growth of several factors including cloud computing, green IT, and virtual organizations, the roadmap details how by 2011 27% of IT jobs will be related to open source, and by 2020 that number will grow to 40% of IT Jobs. While these predictions are based on a number of assumptions, open source is definitely poised to grow in the coming year, and it will interesting to watch how closely it follows the latest FLOSS roadmap.

With the continuing stream of layoffs, more job seekers are turning to the internet for their next job. A recent study performed by Jobs2Web revealed that in the month of October the search term “jobs” was search on average 151 million times, more than a 20% increase from the previous month. This boast in search activity made “jobs” the sixth most searched for term in October. In their research, Jobs2Web also noted that most online job searches were performed in New York, California, and Texas. While the number of people searching for jobs online has increased over the past couple months, many companies’ job listings remain hidden to job seekers. Because of poorly optimized career sites, many search engines are unable to index thousands of job listings and job seekers are forced to rely on paid job boards and social networks. As companies adopt better search practices they will have an easier time filling many of their hard to fill roles

Based on employer job postings over a 120 day period JobFox has determined their list of the Top 25 Most Recession-Proof Job Candidates (pdf). Within the top 10 of their ranks were two IT specialties. As of the end of October, Software Designer/Developers and Network/System Administrators were ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, earning on average between $55k-$85k per year. While most industries have seen a drop in employment numbers, IT actually added jobs in October. Other IT professions featured in the top 25 were Technology Executives at 16th and IT Security at 20th. While JobFox noted there have been less jobs posted in recent months, “there is still a lot of demand with 75,000 open tech positions.”

This Week In Search Marketing Staffing - 12/3/08

Reilly O'Donnell — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:40:00 -0400

Looking for a new job is never fun. Being rejected for job is even less fun. These days companies are looking through so many candidates that you can’t get too caught up in rejection. In the article, Job Hunting Realities: What ‘No’ Really Means, BusinessWeek writer Jeff Schmidt lists why companies might really be passing on you. Recently ADP Research revealed that large organizations are reviewing over 20 applicants per opening, making competition fierce. At the end of the day when a company makes a hiring decision it isn’t always going to be the best or brightest candidate, but the candidate who they feel is the safest bet. As Jeff points out, “Job Hunting is Unfair,” and “Employers Don’t Always Act Like Professionals,” so if you have recently been rejected, shake it off and start sending out more resumes.

Josh Garner of SEO Factor recently got the opportunity to interview Todd Mintz to Talk Resumes and Job Searching. Todd has been in the SEO industry for some time and understands many of the nuances associated with SEO job hunting. Because of the technical nature of the industry, how you represent yourself on the internet is a big issue. Managing your online presence can really allow you to stand out, so make sure your Linkedin profile is updated and you are aware what pops up when you “Google” your name. One great point Todd makes is that the “job search is a numbers game and the more resumes you send out, the better your chances of landing an interview.” You need to build a list of companies you would like to work for and blast out your resume to as many as possible. Since only a fraction of open jobs are advertised, don’t hesitate to submit your resume to a company that isn’t displaying any openings.

As more people begin to accept that we have been in a recession for the past year, they are looking for ways to allow their companies to thrive in the down economy. The internet is the cost-effective answer that many of these companies are finding. Nicholas Carlson, Silicon Alley Insider, recently noted how much sense it makes to invest in web design and SEO after over-hearing and questioning web designers at a business lunch. In his mind the Recession Winners are Web Designers and SEOs.

Are you thinking about relocating? Well BusinessWeek has just released their list of the America’s Most and Least Favorite Cities as a reference for people looking to relocate for work. The survey looked at a number of factors and asked survey takers to choose which cities they would be interested/not interested in moving to and what three attributes about the city lead to their decision. According to their results New York City was the number one best city to work and live because of its entertainment options, professional/personal opportunities, and the ease of transportation. In they case of NYC though, people also ranked it as the number one worst city to work and live because of the high cost of living and health and safety concerns. While this list shouldn’t be used to decide where you are going to move tomorrow, it can give you a nice snapshot of some places you may have never considered.

It looks like this year’s Super Bowl contenders have already been decided, Monster vs CareerBuilder. After watching CareerBuilder showcase their commercials during the Super Bowl for the past 4 years, Monster plans to return to the year’s biggest game. Recently Monster became an official sponsor of the NFL and during the Super Bowl they will be promoting a contest as well the new design of their site, which will be released in January. In another four years it will be interesting to see how many people remember Monster and CareerBuilder’s commercials vs how many remember who won.

That's it for this week. Check back next week for another update.

This Week In Search Marketing Staffing - 11/20/08

Reilly O'Donnell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:43:00 -0400

While unemployment rates continue to climb, IT professionals remain in high demand largely due to the growing role of computers in the workplace. Ladd Egan of KRCG recently looked at how the IT job market is faring in his article, High Demand for Information Technology Jobs. One interesting fact Ladd noted is that according to Beyond.com, nearly 13% of all jobs posted online are in the information technology field, second only to job postings in the Healthcare and Medical industries. Thus we can feel confident in saying the IT field will continue to grow as more and more jobs are created to support tomorrow’s technology.

In other news, InfoWorld recently released their 2009 IT Career Survival Guide. As part of the guide, they pooled a number of resources they had developed throughout the year, as well as additional content to round out their guide. Some of my favorite resources from the guide are:

InfoWorld’s Survival Guide has over 25 IT Career resources, so if you have any questions about what to do next with your career, check it out.

Finally, while online advertising has continuously grown quarter over quarter for the past year, there has been a tremendous slow down in growth in the most recent quarters. Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch, recently compared the online advertising revenues of the big four (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Ask) to find that Online Ad Growth Grinds To A Halt. A year ago, online advertising was growing over 12% quarter over quarter, but in Q3 of this year online ad sales only grew 0.61% compared to Q2’s results. This small amount of growth can be misleading as Google is the only company used in the analysis whose revenues increased from Q2 2008 to Q3 2008. It will be interesting to see if there is any growth in Q4, as well as whether growth picks up when the economy stabilizes.

That's it for this week, check back next week for another update.

This Week in Search Marketing Staffing - 11/12/08

Reilly O'Donnell — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:33:00 -0400

This week BtoB Magazine reported that Search Marketing Remains Strong. While companies are scaling back during uncertain times and removing advertising dollars from traditional media, such as television and print, search marketing continues to grow and remain stable. For the third quarter just completed, search marketing grew 32% year over year according to a Corvario study. The efficiency and measurability of search marketing continues to provide companies with a safe way to advertise during hard times.

Over at Search Insider, Gerry Bavaro, wrote a great article echoing the stability of the search industry titled, You Will Weather This Storm (registration required). Becaue consumers have changed their spending habits and patterns, search marketers need to be savvy to what works now with more prudent shoppers to remain effective. Gerry believes that with the current shifts in buyer behavior search marketing may lead to less of an ability to recognize ROI immediately, but will still be effective for companies who shape their campaigns to reach customers at the right stages of the buying cycle.

Across the country unemployment rates are continuing to climb with a large majority of the layoffs coming in the manufacturing and financial sectors. Despite continuous layoffs, demand is still very high for technology professionals. After crunching an enormous amount of government data, Laurence Shatkin came up with his list of the 150 Top Recession Proof jobs. Based on Laurence’s research, the top three recession proof professions were in the technology sector:

Computer systems analysts
Network systems and data communications analysts
Network and computer systems administrators

While companies are looking for ways cut costs and improve efficiencies, many are looking and finding the answers in improved technology.

After a successful first run, the University of California San Diego will be inviting SEO Inc. back to offer another course in SEO. UCSD first tested the 2.5 credit, 3 day course over the summer. The course is structured to help webmasters, business owners and corporate marketers learn the essentials to using SEO and SEM to increasing their online visibility and boost their brand awareness. The class will be held in both the fall and winter semesters at UCSD. The fall course will be held this week November 12th-14th, and the winter course will be held February 17th-19th, 2009. Enrollment for both classes is available on the UCSD website.

That's it for this week, sorry for the delay, PubCon called. Check back next week for another update.

Onward Search Headed to PubCon Next Week

Reilly O'Donnell — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:53:00 -0400

Next week PubCon starts up and everyone attending from Onward Search is very excited.

This is the first time Onward Search will exhibit at PubCon and we expect it to be a really good show. We are all signed up to participate in SEOmoz's WereWolf party (even though I'm still a little unsure what that's going to entail).

This year Onward Search will be sending out four people from the team:

Josh Gampel - VP, Staffing Services

Leon Sylvester - Business Development Manager

Christopher Taylor - Recruiter

Reilly O'Donnell - Operations Manager

Onward Search will be located at booth #9. Everyone should stop by the booth, even if you don't want to talk to us, because we will be raffling off a Nintendo Wii.

Hope to see you in Vegas next week.

Onward Search - Pubcon 2008.pdf (26.36 kb)

This Week In Search Marketing Staffing - 11/4/08

Reilly O'Donnell — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:39:00 -0400

If you are having a hard time finding a job, maybe it is time to look for a hybrid job. Many companies are looking for candidates who have expertise in multiple fields to increase the number of synergies in the workplace. The Boston Herald reported in their article, In Tough Job Market, Qualifying For “Hybrid” Job Can Help, that companies like IBM are developing new positions which combine degrees and skill sets to create a new type of position. At IBM, one position combines information technology expertise with knowledge of petroleum exploration and production. While investing time to pick up an additional skill can help, make sure it is something you enjoy. The best thing that might ever happen to you is landing a job that requires you to take advantage of your two favorite skills.

The Blogger & Podcaster Media Network (BPMN) is the latest way to help you monetize your blog. Of all the bloggers out there only a fraction have been able to translate their work into steady income. For bloggers still looking for their payday, the BPMN will help them promote their sites to gain more traffic, as well as make money doing it. Bloggers who join the network will receive promotion packages worth as much as $2000 from PRnewswire, and will be able to make $500-$1000 a year for each blogger they bring to the network. By joining numerous small blogs together into one network, BPMN will be able to negotiate better ad deals that might have been reserved for large blogs. Although it is yet to be seen whether BPMN will be able to support more full time bloggers, it should at least provide an additional revenue stream for many small bloggers.

The hottest tech skill to possess right now is the ability to program an iPhone. According to oDesk, over the last 6 months the demand for iPhone Developers has increased 500%. In Wired’s article, Hard Times? Not for iPhone Developers, they discuss this growing trend and how it is creating new opportunities for ambitious developers. With the success of Apple’s app store, companies all across the globe are planning their iPhone application strategy to improve visibility and increase revenues. Whether you are looking for your next independent project or a freelancer looking for a new job, the iPhone might be able to help get you there.

With the growth that has been seen in internet marketing over the last couple years, many colleges have begun taking steps towards creating the next generation of internet marketers. At Rasmussen College in Minnesota, there are two new degree programs aimed specifically at internet marketing. Rasmussen offers both a two year associate degree, which is attainable online, and a four year bachelor’s degree. Fremont College is another institution which is helping to promote the growth of internet marketing. Just recently they began offering four new courses in their Associate Degree in Business Administration cirriculum. As more students exit college wth internet marketing knowledge, the inudstry will be more suited to grow and mature.

That is it for this week, check back next week for another update.