Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

How to Use Linkedin to Grow Your Business

Even though Facebook and Twitter have LinkedIn outnumbered in terms of users, it is gaining momentum. The professional social networking site reached 200 million users in January 2013.

According to a January 2012 Forrester Research report, 75% of professionals say they rely on social networks to make business decisions, and 65% of businesses say they’ve acquired sales from LinkedIn.

Whether you own your own business or work for someone else, the principles of using LinkedIn as a marketing and business development tool are the same. LinkedIn can be used for SEO, reputation management, networking, and lead generation. To use LinkedIn as a sales and marketing tool, you need to build a network, attract followers, add value, have great content, and drive traffic. Here’s how.

Make Your Profile and Your Company Page Polished
There’s nothing worse than a poorly written or incomplete profile. If someone is considering doing business with you, he’s going to want to see that your profile is professional and enticing. Be sure that it’s clearly written, free of grammar errors and typos, and it highlights your achievements in a way that makes you stand out from the crowd. Just because LinkedIn is a professional social networking site doesn’t mean your profile has to by dry. Don’t be afraid to share some of your personality. After all, likeability goes a long way in business. Be sure to choose an appropriate photo. For your personal profile, make sure it’s a professional shot and not one of you at a party with a cocktail in your hand, or one of you on the beach in your swim suit. If it’s for your business, make sure it’s a clean, clear logo of your business. Ask your existing connections for endorsements and recommendations. Having a third party vouch for you is influential.

Make Connections and Build Relationships
It’s as simple as reaching out to people. Check out the connections of your existing contacts, and use the advanced search feature to seek out people in specific companies you want to connect with. When you do find someone you want to make a connection with, don’t just use a canned “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” message. Personalize the message to include with your connection request. It’ll make you look better and the person more likely to accept your invitation. People always want to know how a connection with you can benefit them, so you could start with that.

Join Groups and Be an Active Participant
LinkedIn Groups are an excellent way to have a dialogue with prospective new connections. LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups, so research groups that closely align with your interests, profession, and industry. For example, a person who is a marketing manager working for a hospital would want to join groups relevant to the healthcare industry and marketing profession. Once you’re a group member, give and receive information. Like you, others are members to grow and learn new things. Spend time reading what others are posting, but start some conversations of your own. Pose thought-provoking questions, share new industry statistics, or links to helpful articles. Make sure what you’re posting is relevant to the group, though. You can also offer answers to questions others are asking. Responding to questions is a great way to appear as a thought leader in your space. Groups are terrific for helping you to stay current on your industry and profession, which will come in handy when it’s time to pitch your next prospect.

Follow Companies and Individuals You Admire or Want to do Business With
Stay updated on happenings with companies you aspire to be or want to form a partnership with. You can find out about job openings, new hires, if they’re sending out Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that you can bid on, etc. Also, if you have an upcoming meeting with a person to whom you’ve never met, search for her on LinkedIn to get a sense of her past experience, education, and connections. That way, you can “name drop” a mutual connection or comment on her alma mater or previous employer making her all the more open to doing business with you.

Toot Your Own Horn
Did your company just win an award? Did you just launch a cool new product that is sure to excite your prospects and make your competitors green with envy? Post about it! It will drive traffic to your website so people can learn more about you or request more information about your products or services. However, there is a fine line between posting information you think others would be interested in and being “spammy.” So, tread lightly when it comes to self-promotion.

Think like an SEO
Keywords aren’t just important if you’re trying to get your website highly ranked on Google or Bing. They can also give you search ‘cred with LinkedIn Search. Identify the keywords that your prospects are using and searching for and incorporate them into your profile wherever possible such as the headline, current position, summary, specialties, and experience. But remember: Incorporate the keywords naturally so it sounds like a human wrote your profile and not a robot. On your own website, enable social sharing so your website content and blog can be promoted on LinkedIn, too. LinkedIn is also a great resource for outbound linking, which means you can send traffic to your website, blog, YouTube channel, etc. But, remember: White hat only, kids!

Advertising on LinkedIn
If you have some money to spend, consider LinkedIn Ads. Creating ads is an easy, DIY process. All you need is a credit card, an image for the ad, and some ad copy. You can set your own budget and spend as much or as little as you want. You bid how much you are willing to pay for a click on your ad, and you only pay when someone actually clicks it. There are multiple targeting options including job title, company, industry, etc. There are character limitations and image requirements to adhere to, but you can create multiple ads. You’ll be able to see which ad performs best as LinkedIn provides tracking and analytics right within the advertiser’s account interface.

Upgrade Your Account
If you really want to use LinkedIn as a marketing tool, you can pay to upgrade your account. LinkedIn Premium users have added features that basic users do not have access to such as increased visibility into who’s viewed your profile, full profile text for prospects, In Mail messages, advanced search features, and more.

LinkedIn is an excellent resource for growing your business if you take the time to learn the features, read about your industry and offer valuable information to your peers and prospects. To learn more about using LinkedIn for business, check out this white paper from the marketing software company Hubspot.

Link Round Up: Business Websites

As most business professionals can attest, keeping up with the latest information, trends and stocks is vital. With so many websites, blogs and resources out there, it can become inundating knowing which sources to visit.

We compiled a list of the top 10 business sites that receive the most monthly visitors according to Alexa.com. Share some of your favorite websites and blogs for business news in the comments section below!

1. Yahoo! Finance
2. CNN Money
3. WSJ
4. Google Finance
5. MSN Money Central
6. Business Week
7. Bloomberg
8. Forbes
9. MarketWatch
10. Business Insider

Link Round Up: Technology Websites

Keeping up with changes in technology can be daunting. Such rapid advances require tech industry professionals and enthusiasts to stay current practically daily. While there are a number of websites and blogs on the Internet focused on technology, we’ve compiled some of the more popular ones below.

Do you have a favorite technology website? If so, share it in our comments section!

1. TechCrunch
2. Mashable
3. Pandodaily
4. Boing Boing
5. Gizmodo
6. Wired
7. Lifehacker
8. Cnet
9. PC World
10. Search Engine Land

Anya Kamenetz to Speak at NCU Graduation on June 8

Writer Anya Kamenetz will deliver NCU’s 13th Annual commencement address. Northcentral’s 2013 graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 8 at 10 a.m. at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona.

Anya Kamenetz is an expert on learning and technology with a passion for the complexities of how we will learn, work and live in the new Millennium. She is the author of Generation Debt and her popular book, DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education, tells the story of how technology is disrupting one of the most tradition-bound industries in the country.

Named an “Educational Gamechanger” by Huffington Post, and a two-time winner of the national Education Writers of America prize, Kamenetz is a senior writer for Fast Company magazine and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media. Kamenetz’ writings have also appeared in New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, and The Nation.

The 2013 Northcentral University Commencement Ceremony can be viewed live via webcast at http://www.ncu.edu on June 8, 2013, beginning at 10 a.m. (MST).

NCU Yak Attack Team Member Finishes Race in 3rd Place

The results are in for the Northcentral University p/b Nepali Tea Traders Cycling Team that tackled the 2013 Yak Attack in Nepal.

• 3rd Place: Aayman Tamang (Nepali team member)
• 7th Place: Robert Burnett (USA team member and NCU student)
• 11th Place: Thor Leochell (USA team member and NCU student)
• 17th Place: Rajan Bhandari (Nepali team member)

Pictures from the award ceremony and the race are available online.

Expanding Your Education Through MOOCs

In a previous post, we explained what MOOCs are and what makes them unique compared to other forms of higher education. In this post, we’re going to talk about how you can actually use MOOCs to expand your education and training. Whether you are interested in simply gaining new knowledge, learning a new skill or further developing your professional abilities, MOOCs offer an accessible (open online courses) and affordable (usually free) way to accomplish this.

Currently, the top players in the MOOCasphere are Coursera, Udacity and edX. These MOOC providers have roots in some of today’s top colleges and universities (e.g. MIT, Harvard, Stanford) and can provide access to courses and/or professors from these schools (and others) without forcing you to become a student there first.

According to a New York Times article back in November 2012, common MOOC subjects include mathematics, computer science and business. However, courses can address everything from physics and electronics to medicine and the humanities—it all depends on which MOOC provider you use. Course offerings are most extensive at Coursera, which is currently the largest MOOC provider.

Dr. Skip Maffei, a business faculty member at Northcentral University sees MOOCS as a great opportunity for today’s students, especially non-traditional students who are experiencing increased educational opportunities through the Web.

“In the past 15 years or so, students mostly had the option of taking in-class courses,” notes Maffei. “However, today’s student has a range of options, including in-class courses, fully online, or a hybrid mix of in-class and online courses.”

MOOCs of course, fall into the “fully online” category, and offer an array of benefits for today’s non-traditional student. “The benefits include flexibility and a learning environment that can be adapted to students’ individual needs for a balance between work, family and academics,” continues Maffei. “Many students appear to have really grasped the opportunity and have made the academic experience more rewarding by embracing the options presented to them.”

Despite the ease of use, there are a few things you should keep in mind if you decide to enroll in a MOOC. First, if you are the type of student interested in MOOCs for potential credit, you will need to work very closely with your school to find out whether or not you can get transfer credit for your efforts. Second, if there is a way to get any semblance of credit (certificate, take proctored exam) you will probably have to pay for it. Nonetheless, MOOCs have certainly expanded the possibilities of online education, and everyone seems to have their own idea of what the MOOCasphere will look like in the future.

NCU education faculty member Dr. Renee Aitken, for example, believes MOOCs will become more widespread in higher education with students taking MOOCs for credit. “Currently, the decision to turn experience into credit (when available), or not, is decided by the learner,” says Aitken. “In the future, however, I see students bringing credits from a variety of courses and institutions to their degree granting institution and enriching not only their own understanding of the field but sharing those ideas with the faculty and their peers.”

Whether MOOCs continue to cater to students interested in higher education, become a standard source of college credits, provide a supplement to secondary education, or any of the other dozens of potential possibilities, for now at least, they are here for the taking in all their massive, open, online glory.

Happy MOOCing!

MOOCs Explained

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, you’ve probably heard of a little thing called MOOCs. In order to explain what MOOCs are, the most logical place to start is to decipher this odd, bovine-sounding acronym. Quite simply, MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course.

Massive refers to the fact that these courses can serve large numbers of people, sometimes accommodating thousands of students in one course. MOOCs are not constricted by classroom walls and fire codes like traditional campus courses or by limited enrollment numbers and faculty-student ratios like many other online courses. In the majority of cases, the number of students in a course simply depends on how many sign up.

MOOCs are also open, which means virtually anyone can sign up. As Northcentral University education faculty member Dr. Renee Aitken puts it, “MOOCs give anyone access to a systemic learning environment designed by a field expert.” In other words, you no longer need to be a student at Stanford to take Machine Learning with Professor (and Coursera co-founder) Ng, or study at M.I.T. to get an introduction to computer science and programming from Professor Eric Grimson. You simply register and sign up for whatever course you are interested in online (preferably checking that you meet any prerequisites beforehand for an ideal education experience) and you’re ready to go.

Of course, the controversy surrounding MOOCs seems to be less about the fact that they are massive and open, and more about the fact that most of them are free and do not count for academic credit. In a world where a college degree is practically a prerequisite for a job interview, how can you prove that you learned something in a MOOC if you don’t earn credit, or that it was really you and not silly (but brilliant) Uncle Earl passing all those MOOCs? Granted, the practice of awarding certificates of completion – for a small fee of course – is becoming more common, but it’s not quite the same as showing someone a copy of your unofficial college transcripts just yet, is it?

While the hypothesized pros and cons of MOOCs and their potential to alter the education landscape in the next five to ten years extend well beyond the confines of this blog post, it will certainly be interesting to see how things unfold, and whether or not MOOCs truly live up to their hype.

We’ll be following up this post with one on expanding your education through MOOCs so be sure to check back soon!

Yak Attack Update, Following Stage 7

Hello fellow NCU students and alumni,

Greetings from Manang! So far the race is going great. We have finished through stage 7 and are on our rest day now. The team is certainly tired, but we are in a great position to attack these last few stages. Aayman Tamang, one of our Nepali riders, has finished on the podium in several stages and is sitting in third place overall. He has a great shot at the overall podium and we will be working hard to keep him in that position.

I am currently sitting in 8th place overall and I am the 3rd best non-Nepali. I am hoping to improve my position over the next few stages as the altitude should play to my advantage over some of the other competitors. Thor is having a solid ride, finishing in the top 10 yesterday and holding on to 12th overall. His strong hiking skills and comfort at altitude should help him improve on that position.

Rajan, our other sponsored Nepali rider is the youngest in the race, and is gaining great experience. Despite his young age he is right on Thor’s heels in 13th overall.

We are really happy with our results so far.

Cheers, Rob