Israeli Blogger’s Event with Jacob Share of Job Mob

Shira Abel and Jacob Share

When Jacob Share noticed that he had an easier time getting job interviews than his friends, he decided to publish his tips on a blog even though he barely knew what one was. After three years, his Job Mob is among the ten most popular job search blogs, with 1.5 million page views in 2009.

Jacob told his story at the second Israeli Blogger’s Evening at the home of Sarah Melamed of Foodbridge and organized by me along with Miriam Kresh of Israeli Kitchen.

With a large dose of warmth, enthusiasm, and encouragement, Jacob told of his successes and failures.  Here are a few of many suggestions shared from his extensive blogging knowledge and experience:

  • Go ahead and start. Your blog doesn’t have to be perfect.
  • You don’t have to be a good writer to start a blog, but you do need to improve your skills. Jacob leaves up old posts to show how far he has come.
  • All beginnings are hard. That is why so many bloggers fail. It takes time and experience to succeed.
  • If you spend a lot of time on something, you will become an expert.
  • A WordPress self-hosted site is the best blog platform. It costs less than $100 a year.
  • Twitter isn’t for telling your readers what you had for lunch. Instead, tweet useful information for your followers.
  • Don’t make assumptions. Instead, test different options. Jacob prefers text, but  started making audio and video podcasts when he realized visitors wanted them.
  • Don’t blindly follow conventional wisdom. Jacob automatically follows anyone who follows him on Twitter, and sends a direct message asking if they have a job search question. Both techniques are disparaged by experts, but they work for Job Mob. Jacob  filters out spammers with software and focuses on connecting with his audience.
  • Keep trying new things. Invest time in learning new ways to promote and monetize, then analyze their effectiveness. Every blogger will need a different approach.
  • Give generously of your time and expertise without expecting anything in return. It usually comes back to you in one way or another.

Jacob put that last one into practice throughout the evening, answering questions with barely a break. The next day he emailed us a list of relevant websites.

Afterward, we enjoyed the refreshments and talked one on one. Then we gathered in a circle to introduce ourselves and discuss blogging challenges until late in the evening. Two days after the event, I know that several bloggers have taken his suggestions to heart.

Here’s a list of bloggers who attended:

Jacob Share: JobMob: www.jobmob.co.il and www.groupwritingprojects.com

Sarah Melamed: Foodbridge: www.sarahmelamed.com. Special thanks to Sarah and family for the gracious hospitality at their beautiful home.

Hannah Katsman: A Mother in Israel: www.AMotherInIsrael.com and www.CookingManager.com

Miriam Kresh: Israeli Kitchen: www.israelikitchen.com

David Nordell: Terror Finance: www.terrorfinance.org

Michelle Nordell: Baroness Tapuzina: www.baronesstapuzina.com

Blanche Melamed: Blanche and Guy Designs: www.blancheandguy.blogspot.com

Harry Rubenstein: The View From Here: www.theviewfromhere.net

Dena Lerner: Israel Restaurant Review http://israelrestaurantreview.wordpress.com/

Kate: One Tired Ema: www.onetiredema.wordpress.com

Baila Brecher: I’ll Call Baila: www.illcallbaila.blogspot.com Baila is currently hosting the 249th edition of Haveil Havalim, the Jewish-Israeli blog carnival.

Robin: Around the Island: www.aroundtheisland.blogspot.com

Shira Abel: Tchochkes: www.tchochkes.com

Nissan Ratzlav-Katz: NRK le-israelim baolam ha-asakim: www.nrkonline.wordpress.com (Hebrew)

Scott Piro: Gefilte Fish Out of Water: http://gfishoutofwater.wordpress.com/

Liz Steinberg: Cafe Liz: www.food.lizsteinberg.com

Yael Lee: Apples and Honey (Finnish): http://appelsiinejahunajaa.blogspot.com/

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy:

Blogger’s Evening in Petach Tikva

Advice for Beginning Bloggers: Allow Full RSS Feeds

Advice for Beginning Bloggers: Blog Under Your Real Name

Advice for Beginning Bloggers: Linking to Earlier Posts

Reviving a Tired Blog

Israeli bloggers: Tweet a message to @mominisrael so I can add you to my Twitter list of Israeli bloggers.

Photo credit: Miriam Kresh

Comments

  1. Wow, sounds great!

    Wish I could have been there, but it turns out we had a simcha that evening anyway.

    Can you email me the list of websites? Thanks!

    Look forward to attending the next event!

    (still don’t see a button for receiving notification of follow up comments)

  2. It really was a nice evening. I’m sorry I didn’t/couldn’t stay for the last part. You’re a champ for putting up all those links!

  3. I love the GoAhead and Start point… not to mention a blog doesn’t have to be perfect – that is the best thing about blogging!!! Good enough and improving is really just fine!!! Sounds like you guys have such fun!

  4. Thanks for summarizing the event! It was great to meet so many people in real life. I’m a newby in Israel so it was nice to be around all those American accents, too. Thanks for all the great advice everyone. See you all again in the springtime!

  5. Thank you for organizing this event. I have already implemented several suggestions that Jacob made and have already seen fruitful results. It was really nice to finally meet some of the foodbloggers I have been following.

  6. This sounds like an interesting and friendly event. It is always interesting to get new tips so as not to fall into a rut.

  7. nice idea, good luck
    a quick question if I may, if I already use a blog.wordpress.com platform and want to migrate it to a self hosted with its own domain name, is it doable without losing all my existing search engine achievements and links around the net to the current url?

  8. Hi Rofi,
    I’ve never used wordpress.com but I believe that the search engines will consider it a new domain. You will be able to redirect old links to the new blog, and I believe there is a way to keep your “link juice.”