How did I spend last weekend? I attended and presented at Podcamp East! PodCamp East is a social, digital media conference all podcasting, blogging, social media, and technology. It is an open and collaborative event with discussions and interaction from attendees. This was my 3rd time presenting and my room was packed! All the chairs …
by Donna Serdula 
Peter Sterlacci of Believe. Become. Be Your Brand is holding a September Vlogathon in which every day he posts a daily video from a different thought leader expressing their views on personal branding. You may remember that Peter recently interviewed me for his ‘mechanics’ of personal branding video series. It was a great interview and …
by Donna Serdula 
Today I presented a Webinar for CareerBuilder.com’s Empowering Employment Author Webinar Series. This series features authors & career experts who share their secrets, research, and tips to help job seekers. My topic was LinkedIn and I showed the audience 10 steps to optimize their LinkedIn profile. The webinar went well and there were plenty of …
by Donna Serdula 
I have been writing about the value of LinkedIn Groups for a very long time! Groups are great for marketing and networking. They are also a great way to expand your LinkedIn network. LinkedIn just added a great new feature to LinkedIn Groups that will help you determine if the group is a fit for …
by Donna Serdula 
The Wall Street Journal recently published a great article about the importance of your LinkedIn profile picture. Your profile picture is instrumental in forging your online brand and identity. According to LinkedIn research, profiles with a profile picture are seven times more likely to be viewed than profiles without a profile picture. This is huge! Since your profile picture directly affects your profile’s open rate, rather than uploading an outdated photo of yourself taken at a wedding, why not approach the selection of your profile photo strategically?
Link to WSJ article, The Art of Online Portraiture by CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN
Here are some tips I culled from the article along with my own reaction and recommendations:
by Donna Serdula 
1. STOP! Take a breath. Know that everything is going to be OK. Trust me, I speak from experience when I say, “When one door closes, another door opens.”2. Time to take a self assessment. What do you want to do with your life? What is your dream job? What is the next logical step …
by Donna Serdula 
Invites Welcome is a service that for a fee, allows you to add your name to a directory list that is freely distributed to people interested in growing their LinkedIn network. Getting your name on the list means invitations GALORE! Galore? The site says “over 25,000 free and paid Members have access to the List.”
by Donna Serdula 
I am a LION, hear me ROAR!
Your LinkedIn network is the most valuable part of LinkedIn and the key to truly leveraging the system. The problem is LinkedIn tells us to only connect with people you know and trust. Like a good little girl, I followed their directive for a very long time. But then I started to notice that in LinkedIn search results, certain profiles ranked higher than other profiles. These higher ranking profiles didn’t even match the search criteria that well. In fact, the higher ranking profile wasn’t even as closely connected to the searcher as other lower ranking profiles. Why were these higher ranking profiles getting SPECIAL treatment and placement?
by Donna Serdula 
Do you remember the movie, The Graduate? It starred a very young Dustin Hoffman. There is a famous quote from the movie you may remember:
I just want to say one word to you, Ben. Just one word. PLASTICS!
Well, dear readers, I have just one word to say to you, GROUPS!
by Donna Serdula 
Recently I have received a slew of LinkedIn recommendation requests from individuals that I don’t know very well or have never met. I found it rather surprising that these strangers would ask me for a recommendation, especially since we have never worked together. Here’s something to remember: If you wouldn’t recommend a person in the real world, there’s no need to recommend them in the cyber world.
Do not be afraid to say NO!
This is how I gently turned down the one request:
by Donna Serdula Input your search keywords and press Enter.
