Unemployed? Start Blogging!

If you’re unemployed right now (or even if you’re not), there are some very good reasons for starting your own professional blog.

Especially if you are an expert (or an aspiring expert) in your field, you can use a blog to put your name out there as a go-to guru for your industry. It’s far better than just putting up a resume site, because the content of your blog will be propagated across the social networking community.

Having your own professional blog will show prospective employers and clients that you are a serious, dedicated professional in your field, who has expertise to share with colleagues.

Some advice for your professional blog:

Find a reliable web host. In other words, don’t use Google’s Blogger, or any other free blog hosting service. You need a host that takes customer support seriously. And using a professional, for-pay hosting service shouldn’t cost you more than $100 a year.

Find a host that has an application to automatically install blog software. That will save you a lot of trouble.

You don’t need your own domain name. If you want one, that’s perfectly cool, and shouldn’t cost you more than $10 a year. Buy the domain name through your web host  — that simplifies things immensely. But you don’t need one. People are going to find your blog through Google or Technorati, where domain names don’t matter.

Use WordPress. It’s simply the best blog software available right now. It’s easy to use, and it’s free (which in this case isn’t a bad thing). I’ve never needed technical support for WordPress in the years I’ve been using it. If you do end up needing support, however, you’ll have to pay for it.

Keep your private life separate. Don’t discuss your personal life on your professional blog. You can start a separate personal blog if you want, and talk all about your children, hobbies, or obscure sexual fetishes. But keep your professional blog on target. And certainly don’t write about anything you wouldn’t bring up around the water cooler at work.

Post new content every week. Visitors who like your content will bookmark your blog or add it to their RSS reader. But if there isn’t regular, new content, those people will stop checking. At the bare minimum, post once a week. Twice is better — and several posts per day is best of all!

Link to other blogs in your field. It may seem odd to link out to sites that are most likely competing with yours. But this is how blog software, and the blog search engines like Technorati, work. The more often you link out to other blogs, the more often they will link back to you, driving up your hits. When you do link to another blog, or add any outbound link, explain to your readers what the link is about, and what you think of it.

Don’t embarass or criticize former or current employers. This is death for your career. No firm wants to hire someone who will bash their company online, either while an employee or after they leave. Unless you’re blowing the whistle on some kind of illegal activity, don’t air your dirty laundry in public. If you want to criticize general trends in your industry, wihtout naming names, that may be okay. But if you have a current employer, they still may not approve. It’s a fine line — tread it carefully.

Tags: blogging, job advice, Job Search, unemployment advice

Payday Loans — Don’t Do it!

So you have some bills due, or an important payment you have to make, like rent. And your next paycheck or unemployment check is not going to arrive or clear in time. You only need a few hundred dollars, but without the money you face disaster — eviction, repossession of your car, or your kid is kicked out of school because you can’t pay tuition.

You’re going to consider going to one of those sketchy payday loan places.

Don’t do it.

Payday loans (also called paycheck advances or payday advances) are small, short-term loans intended to cover a borrower’s expenses until his or her next payday. They are also intended to charge you an absurdly high interest rate.

The problem is, if you want to borrow $300, you’re going to pay as much as $50 in interest and fees. (You cut them a $300 check dated for after your next paycheck, and they give you $250 in cash.) This might seem acceptable, when you’re desperate. Bus imagine how you would feel if an ATM machine charged you $50 to take out $300.

Assuming a two week loan period, finance charges on payday loans are typically in the range of 15% to 30% of the loan amount, which translates to rates ranging from 390% to 780% when expressed as an annual percentage rate.

Yikes.

And these payday loan places are carefully designed to appear downscale, when in fact most are owned by major banks. These banks don’t want you in their regular branches, because you’re poor or unemployed or experiencing a financial crisis. But they’ll happily charge you usurious finance charges when you’re at your most vulnerable.

So what can you do instead?

Borrow from friends and family. Many people don’t want to do this, as it can strain relationships. But it’s better than a payday loan. And if you pay it back on time, there shouldn’t be any problem. If you’re not sure you can pay the loan back, then don’t take a loan short term from anyone, whether a friend or a payday loan joint. If you’re honest about your ability to repay, maybe that friend or family member can still help you.

Ask for a payday advance — at work. Some employers will give you a small loan against your paycheck. Just ask your boss or HR person. In this economic climate, you won’t be the only one asking.

Manage your money better. Obviously, this won’t help you now. And some people seem to think the only reason anyone ever gets into financial trouble is because they didn’t manage their money properly. This is ridiculous — anyone in America, who isn’t independently wealthy, is just a sexual harassment suit or major injury away from financial trouble. There are things for which you can’t plan.

But doing a better job taking care of your money can’t hurt, and might help enough to keep you from needing a short term loan in the future.

Tags: bad banks, financial advice, financial crisis, payday loans, unemployment advice, usury