by Joan Silverstein, Center City Concierge

Some benefits can make an impact in the lives of employers and employees alike.  In today’s economy, how do you offer a more creative and cost cutting benefit that will:

• Improve productivity?
• Enhance workplace satisfaction?
• Boost employee commitment?
• Reduce absenteeism?

A concierge service is one such benefit. You might not think about concierge services other that those offered in hotels. But corporate concierge services are becoming more commonplace, since work/life balance affects everyone.

A corporate concierge can plan meetings, help employees during relocation, do web research, assist in cost-effective employee appreciation programs, perform personal shopping, plan special events and find a pet sitter, house cleaner or plumber.

Ten percent of the workday can be spent on personal tasks, according to the American Institute of Stress. Add to that the absenteeism resulting from the need to attend to life’s necessities, and you can see how these factors have a major impact on productivity and efficiency.

Ultimately, by offering concierge services to employees, you are acknowledging their commitment by providing them with a very valuable resource — time.

by Audrey Julienne, Raison d’Etre

What LinkedIn can do for you
There are four ways LinkedIn will add value to your professional life:

• Take control of your online identity – prior to you blog or company website, your LinkedIn profile is the first result on searches
• Find a dream job/client/business partner
• Maintain & foster relationships with colleagues (past, present & future), peers you meet at events, etc…
• Provide value to your professional network by recommending peers, answering their questions (LinkedIn Answers), giving introductions…

Developing a business headline or tagline
To stand out from other vendors, you need a unique market position. It should send a message as to why the public should employ you & your services. It should be interesting and should include value statements that attract the person to you and your profile:

• Define your unique market position
• Define your target audience
• Define the goals for your LinkedIn page

The importance of adding a photograph
Whether your target audience is restaurant owners, buyers or managers, it’s important to add a photograph. Anonymous profiles do little or nothing to project a professional image or to instill confidence in the person who is viewing your profile. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional business networking site. Accordingly, leave the family, pet photos offline or on other social networking sites.

Why and how to enter your education and employment information

• Enter all work positions. The public enjoys those “janitor” to “owner” stories.
• Enter the complete company name. If the name of the company has changed, include the former companies name (formerly…)
• Be open and honest with the information you provide. Do not exaggerate the position or your duties.
• When preparing the description, describe your duties accurately. Even if the job is not relevant, the skills learned may be.

The importance of keywords
Whether it’s Google, Yahoo or LinkedIn, search engines love good keywords. Before you enter your description, define your keywords.

• Identify your keywords.
• Expand your keywords looking for synonyms
• Analyze your keywords

Testing the effectiveness of using your keywords
Before you complete your description, test your keywords by searching for people on LinkedIn.

Setting up and driving traffic to your website
Do not use the LinkedIn tags like “My website” or “My blog.” Instead, use “Other” and write your own description. If you desire more traffic to your website, use less of a description and more of a call to action. Even if you don’t have a blog or three different websites, send prospects to three different landing pages.

Setting up your summary and other interest sections
The Summary section allows you to restate your background, skills, experience, areas of expertise…. Again, it should be a description that is keyword laden and consistent with your profile.
The Other section is the only area where you should disclose personal information such as interests, hobbies. It allows a more personal connection and your viewers to get a better sense of who you are.

A content management system (CMS) is software that allows you to manage your own website without knowing programming languages. It turns written or graphic content into HTML and posts it. It crops images, formats updates and handles other tasks.

A CMS allows you to update your site without incurring costs from a web designer. It’s usually easy, friendly and useful. Whether you need a CMS depends on the type of business you have, the scope of your website and the amount of marketing you plan on doing. You should have a CMS

• If you want an e-commerce site.
• If you are running a publication, magazine or newspaper online.
• If you often update menus, news, events, photos and such. 

You can choose from 3 types of CMS providers. 

• Use free software, such as WordPress or Drupal.
• Hire a web-developer to customize one of those software systems.
• Choose an independent CMS software provide.

Good luck.

by Phyllis Mufson, Catalyst for Personal & Professional Growth

Need help staying on track and staying motivated as you take steps to build your business? Consider setting goals and tracking your progress using the SMART model. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Get specific. While you might dream of getting in shape, setting a simple, clear, specific goal – such as being able to swim laps for an hour or to be awarded a black belt in karate – points you directly toward the actions to take to reach your goal.

Measurable goals include a way to track your progress. When goals are measurable, you know how far you are from achieving them and you know when you’ve reached them. For example, in Weight Watchers, members track their progress by writing what they eat, getting weighed weekly and winning rewards when they reach milestones.

Attainable goals are goals you believe you can accomplish, that are a realistic stretch. Most people find it difficult to maintain motivation for goals that are set too high – or too low.

Relevant goals are goals that are relevant to you. They are goals that you believe in and that you are willing and able to work toward. When you choose goals that are in line with your values – and in service of a vision of your life that has you excited – you will be truly motivated.

Time-bound means that your goal is anchored with a time frame. That is, “I will have five speaking engagements by September 1.” Goals without time-lines tend to get lost in what’s immediate and urgent in your current life. Commitment to time-lines and deadlines helps you focus your efforts and make a priority of doing the actions that are important to realizing your goals.