weekly journal three.

So, this is it. The last day of PBandJterm (or to be more profound, Creating and Managing Your Online Personal Brand) has arrived, and I must admit that it is bittersweet. Who would think that I would actually enjoy being at school for an extra three weeks? It’s a weird thought, I’m aware. I’ve already gone on and on about how much I enjoyed week one and week two. Now it’s time to talk about what was so great about week three.

This week got off to a great start. Derek Mabie (follow him on Twitter) came to class on Monday to talk to us about SEO.
“SEO? Heather what in the world is that?”
Oh, I’m glad you asked. SEO: Search Engine Optimization. Basically, it’s all about what you can do to get your name, company, whatever to the top of the list when there’s a Google search (or as Derek liked to call it, searching on the “Goog”). Before Monday, I had heard the term “SEO” but I did not have a clue in the world what it was. Derek was the perfect person to inform the class about it. He owns a company called Evolve Digital Labs (check them out). His company helps other companies to have a greater SEO. While he was talking I began to wonder how people learned about this kind of stuff. I have never heard of a “Principles in SEO” class or a “Bachelors in Search Engine Optimization.” This draws to an excellent conclusion though. There are companies who are looking for people to work for them and have knowledge of SEO. Having a solid, accurate knowledge about SEO seems to be a rare thing. Which means, if you know SEO, you shouldn’t have a hard time finding a job. To learn more about this, Derek Mabie provides a SEO Guide for Beginners for free on his website. There are some others online as well. This is one of those things where you just have to step out, learn, and explore. Derek really encourages students to look into it and try to learn more about how it works.

So, that was all on Monday. Then Wednesday came and we had more guest presenters (week of the speakers, right?). Two girls who began a blog called City In A Jar, Jessica (Twitter) and Maddie (Twitter), came in to talk about pursuing your ideas. These ladies met last year at a networking event and have been friends ever since. Their blog covers an array of topics such as fashion, food, exercise, adventures, and everything else to do in the city.
“So it’s a blog. What’s the big deal Heather?”
The big deal? Their blog is incredible. You want to know how good it is? They were just nominated for Best Personal Blog by the Riverfront Times. These girls have talent and have a passion, and they are pursuing it.

Mike Zandstra (Twitter) followed these lovely ladies’ presentation by informing the class on WordPress. You know how your blog address says “name.wordpress.com?” He explained what you can do to change it and why that’s such a great idea. I definitely plan on doing it once I get some free time on my hands. You can check out his presentation and learn more about how to go about switching your WordPress on his slideshare.

So there’s a wrap up of the final week.
I mean yeah, we had to write a few blog posts too, but this is the summary of the actual class events. I must admit, I’m going to miss my good ole’ PBandJterm classmates. Hopefully I’ll have classes with some of them next semester. Until then, see you later yal!