Help with free self-promotion on the internet

If you're starting a new business or project and want to create more awareness about it on the web, but aren't quite sure how to go about it, then Launch your Project is a good place to start.

Getting a new site or information about yourself into search engines can be quite a task, let alone getting awareness of your project on the web.

Launch your Project aims to help you by publishing your press release or a good description of your project on their site with free links. This will help you to get quality links, better traffic and more awareness of your project on the web.

The site is run by a php developer who says of himself: 'I have tons of ideas, and not enough attention to get people to use them. I don’t have a lot of money, so I have to make people notice by making a lot of noise. This project is one of the ways I am making noise.'

This is a free service as of right now, to help people get their project noticed. If you need help getting people to see your project or just getting it off the ground, give this site a try, you will be surprised. Plus its a free article about your site, and a free link to it too!

At Work Anywhere will certainly be using this as a promotional tool, what a great idea! We hope to pass the word on to as many people as possible who want to find work, post work, network, market themselves or create opportunities for free. Our beta version will belive in March, come and have a look!

Working from home: Pros and cons

Working from home has a lot going for it. For a start, you don't have to put up with office politics or people standing over you. And the only commute you have is from your bedroom to your desk.

That said, working from home is not for everyone. You need to have a certain sort of mindset to be able to work on your own, without people around you. And there are some pitfalls to watch out for. Read more on the Sydney Morning Herald blog.

I find working from home is a bit of a double-edged sword, but I think the pros out-weigh the cons, horses for courses.

The freedom and flexibility I now have are great, my work/life balance is greatly enhanced, I don't miss the commute or the office politics, but I do miss the camaraderie, the banter, talking work and kicking ideas around. These are things that can be covered over the internet but it isn't the same as human interaction.

On the bright side you can take as much holiday as you want, when you want. If you work over the internet and are going somewhere with a good connection, you can take your work with you. On the other hand, you don't have paid leave, sick leave or compassioante leave. You don't work, you don't earn - simple.

It can be distracting to work from home as there is so much going on around you, wheras an office is simply a workplace. Therefore I find a certain amount of self-discipline is required if you are to be productive, motivated and focused.

It's a good idea to leave the house at least once a day, and to exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you have the space, keep your working area seperate so you can walk away at the end of the day. Try to maintain a routine, but change it every now and then.

Lots of tips and advice like this will be on http://www.atworkanywhere.com/ when the beta goes live in March 2009 and we'd love to hear your opinions!

Do you work from home? Do you prefer it from office working? What advice would you give other people working from home?

Recruiters are using Web 2.0 tools to find new talent

Entrepreneur.com has written an interesting article about how internet tools such as social networks, blogging and other Web 2.0 networking tools are becominging increasingly popular to hire people. As employers learn more about how to use these tools, the way recruitment is done looks to change radically.

Case studies include San Francisco PR entrepreneur Jason Throckmorton, founder of $5 million LaunchSquad, Ben Swartz, co-founder and president of Chicago-based interactive marketing advisory firm Marcel Media, estimates he's hired three-quarters of his 21-person staff using Web 2.0 resources.

InsidersReferral.com Inc.'s job site Jobirn (jobirn.com) hooks up candidates, employers and recruiters via IM rather than conventional but slower e-mail and TheCareerMole.com sets up a channel for current employees to mentor candidates and provide information about company culture and jobs.

Some people believe that nothing will replace human recruiters, and I certainly agree that nothing replaces a face-to-face conversation as there is only so much you can learn from a piece of paper, the rest emerges from body language for example. However, so much can be gained from Web 2.0 recruiting.

It can save time, money and facilitate rapid communication; by checking out a person on a social network you can see who they are connected with and there's an old saying that you can judge a man by the company he keeps.

The world is a small place, by checking out those connections, you're bound to know someone who knows someone who you can make discreet enquries of. You have access to timely and accurate information, time can be saved by quick responses by all parties.

Increasingly, large and small companies are encouraging employees to maintain their own blogs - yet another thread in a potential recruit's history.

At Work Anywhere intends to harness a lot of these concepts and we're including them in our product - live at the end of February. You can register and have a look now while the site is under development, feedback is welcome!