14 Nov, 2008
Q&A with Amybeth Hale — CWB Blogger of the Month
Posted by: Shannan Boyer In: Cincinnati Woman Blogger of the Month|Shannan
Name and About your Blog(s)? Amybeth Hale – Research Goddess (www.researchgoddess.com). I also co-edit The Source Newsletter (www.thesourcenewsletter.com), which is a newsletter/blog dedicated solely to research and sourcing in the recruiting industry. My personal blog, Research Goddess, was started out of necessity to stay connected to other researchers when I left my first job. It has grown from there to become a resource for other researchers, as well as a place to discuss social media and its application in the recruiting world.
Neighborhood/City? I live in West Chester, across the street from The Cone
How long have you been blogging? I started by blog in October 2006, so just over 2 years now.
Why did you start blogging? I used to work for an MRI franchise office here in town, and MRI ran an internet research listserv group that I was heavily involved in. When I moved on from that office, I was no longer allowed to access this listserv, so I needed to find an alternative way to reach out to the research community. On top of making social network connections with many researchers, I decided to start the blog in order to remain in touch with the research community.
Most memorable experience as a blogger? There have been several! The first one was being contacted by Jim Stroud after posting my first blog post, a story about how I got interested in research in the first place. Second would have to be when I attended SourceCon in 2007 and people came up to me saying “Oh, YOU’RE the Research Goddess – I love your blog!” (I’m now more well-known as ‘Research Goddess’ than by my own name!) And the third would have to be when ERE sponsored me earlier this year to attend the Web 2.0 Expo out in San Francisco. Being recognized by ERE as someone worth sending to a large social media conference to cover it from a recruiting standpoint was a true honor for me.
Favorite offline activities Seriously, there are things to do offline???? Just kidding. I enjoy spending time with my brother and his family here in town. I love to travel (most people know this too hehe), and read. I also enjoy meeting new people and helping out other new researchers when I can. I love going to football and hockey games as much as I enjoy going to a symphony concert. I also like long walks on the beach and dining out at nice restaurants, for all the single eligible men out there (hehe).
Neighborhood/City? I live in West Chester, across the street from The Cone
How long have you been blogging? I started by blog in October 2006, so just over 2 years now.
Why did you start blogging? I used to work for an MRI franchise office here in town, and MRI ran an internet research listserv group that I was heavily involved in. When I moved on from that office, I was no longer allowed to access this listserv, so I needed to find an alternative way to reach out to the research community. On top of making social network connections with many researchers, I decided to start the blog in order to remain in touch with the research community.
Most memorable experience as a blogger? There have been several! The first one was being contacted by Jim Stroud after posting my first blog post, a story about how I got interested in research in the first place. Second would have to be when I attended SourceCon in 2007 and people came up to me saying “Oh, YOU’RE the Research Goddess – I love your blog!” (I’m now more well-known as ‘Research Goddess’ than by my own name!) And the third would have to be when ERE sponsored me earlier this year to attend the Web 2.0 Expo out in San Francisco. Being recognized by ERE as someone worth sending to a large social media conference to cover it from a recruiting standpoint was a true honor for me.
Favorite offline activities Seriously, there are things to do offline????
Just kidding. I enjoy spending time with my brother and his family here in town. I love to travel (most people know this too hehe), and read. I also enjoy meeting new people and helping out other new researchers when I can. I love going to football and hockey games as much as I enjoy going to a symphony concert. I also like long walks on the beach and dining out at nice restaurants, for all the single eligible men out there (hehe).
Who has been your biggest influence with regards to your blog? My biggest influence has always been the person who inspired me to blog in the first place, and that person is Joel Cheesman. When I was working remotely for a company based out of Cleveland, I discovered and started reading his blog, Cheezhead. I also discovered that he lives in Cleveland, so I reached out to Joel before I was to head up to Cleveland to see if I could take him to dinner and pick his brain about all things blog-related. Joel met up with me, bought ME dinner, and spent a good 2 hours telling me all about how he started blogging, giving me good tips on how to reach the most targeted audiences, and offering me advice on how to make the most of my social media presence. Joel is a humble guy and I know he doesn’t like it when I do this, but I am forever grateful to him for taking that time to help me out.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start a blog?
- Decide on a topic – the worst thing you can do is be all over the board with your content. You can write on differing topics as long as they’re somewhat related. For example, I write about research, but I also write about social media, which is related to research by virtue of usable resources. I also started tying in social media with PR since I now work for a PR agency. Make sure there’s some kind of a flow.
- Make sure you are committed to blogging. If you don’t think you can commit to at least one new post per week, wait until you know you can find the time to do so.
- Before you launch your blog, have at least 5 articles pre-written, and always try to keep a couple “in the works.” That way if you ever have writers’ bloc, you have some back-up material to go with.
- Don’t be lame about your URL: make sure it’s something that people can remember/spell. It’s also a good idea to reserve your www.firstnamelastname.com for yourself, even if you don’t plan to use that as your main site. (for the future)
- Be yourself – don’t try to copy-cat too much of someone else’s style, even if you worship the ground they walk on. Staying true to you will reward you with a loyal audience down the road.
- BE PATIENT – you will not have 1,000 readers overnight. You need to engage, comment on other people’s blogs, link back to others’ posts, and give give give without expecting much in return initially. But stay persistent and you will be rewarded in the long run!
