Establish an Online Presence for Your Mediation Business
When most people are in the market for something, including a mediator, they search for it online. When people search for mediation services, you want your name to pop up at or near the top of the search results, and when people click your link, you want your site to send a clear message that you’re the mediator they want to hire.
Launch a website, blog, or both
The first order of business in establishing an online presence is to build a center of operations — a website, blog, or combination of the two. Having a site in place simplifies your other online efforts; for example, if you create a Facebook page later, you can feed content from your blog to your Facebook page to automate the process of keeping your page up to date.
In addition, your website or blog gives you a destination to drive traffic to, so if you have a free business listing on Google Places, for example, you can drive traffic from that listing to your site.
Choose a turnkey, do-it-yourself, or custom solution
When you’re ready to set up shop on the web, you have some decisions to make, the first of which is related to how much of your own time, effort, and expertise you want to invest in building and maintaining your site. You have three choices here:
Turnkey: With a turnkey solution, a service sets up your website and provides instructions and tools to populate it with the desired content. Mediate.com offers the most popular turnkey website solution for mediators — its Dynamic Web Site Package.
The most popular turnkey blog provider for lawyers is LexBlog. The LexBlog package is pricey, but it comes with free webinars on how to best utilize social media to market your services.
More important for the mediator in the litigated dispute market is LexBlog’s placement of your blog entries on its many marketing portals, meaning that your blog is one of the few alternative dispute resolution (ADR) blogs in an online universe populated by your market — lawyers.
For no additional fee, LexBlog tweets your interesting posts, includes them on subject matter pages on its own website, and displays your tweets on LexTweet, its legal community of members who use Twitter to discuss the law. That’s a lot of marketing to a highly concentrated niche market.
Do-it-yourself: You can create your own website or blog through a web hosting service, such as Bluehost, InMotion, HostGator, or iPage. These services enable you to register your own domain (such as yourname.com) and provide content management systems (CMSs), such as WordPress, that you can install and use to build and maintain your website or blog. This is the most affordable option, but it requires time and a certain amount of technical knowledge and talent.
Custom solution: You can hire a web developer to set up a site for you according to your specifications. This may seem like the most costly option, but you can find plenty of highly skilled people willing to work inexpensively just to get their web design businesses off the ground.
Decide on a website, blog, or combination website/blog
If you want a web presence without having to constantly post fresh content, a website is the ideal solution. A blog requires regular attention, typically at least two posts a week to keep visitors engaged. Perhaps even more important, a blog tells search directories that your site is constantly posting fresh content, which can significantly improve its search engine ranking.
If you want fresh content but don’t have the time or inclination to develop it, hosting through Mediate.com is a very good option. Along with your website, Mediate.com provides fresh content in your area of practice once a week.
A third option is a combination website/blog. These sites typically consist of several pages of static content — including an about page, a contact page, and a page for each service you provide (mediation, training, consulting, speaking, and so on) — as well as a separate blog page, which can function as your home page.
You can create and maintain a combination website/blog using a blogging platform such as WordPress. Check out a negotiation training and consulting site at she negotiates for an example of a combination website/blog.
Include a biography and a professional-looking photo of yourself on your site. People want to know the person they’re thinking about working with, and putting your bio and photograph out there in public helps build trust.
Blog your way to opportunities
To be a thought leader in the field of mediation, you should blog. You can set up a separate blog or have an integrated website/blog, but you really should be posting fresh content at least twice a week, along with contributing to online discussions in mediation groups, publishing press releases, and tweeting or retweeting.
Start by reading blogs, especially those in your area of specialty. You can add RSS feeds for the blogs that interest you to a news reader like Google Reader and skim through the headlines for intriguing stories. Reading what other people are learning and thinking about mediation, peace-building, and topics relevant to your industry provides inspiration for your own posts.
In addition, you become more in tune with your community and what’s considered acceptable both in content and tone.
Blogging runs on the power of reciprocity — one of the most important tools of influence available to you as a mediator. When you read something that piques your interest and spurs you to extend the conversation or challenge a claim, post about it.
Include a brief excerpt from the source, cite it, and link to it. Soon, people with a natural affinity for what you’re talking about will be citing you and excerpting your material.

Careers Glossary
academic curriculum vitae resume
A resume format that includes a comprehensive biographical statement of three to ten pages. This resume format emphasizes professional qualifications and activities.

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accomplishment resume
A variation of the hybrid resume that includes qualifications and accomplishments.

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Americans with Disabilities Act; ADA
A document signed into law that makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against (or refuse to hire) a person simply because that person has one or more disabilities.

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applicant tracking system
A software application that helps a company recruit employees more efficiently. Includes features to post job openings online, screen resumes, acknowledge the receipt of resumes, and generate interview requests.

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behavior-based interview
A type of job interview in which candidates are asked what kinds of behaviors they have used in the past to handle certain situations and solve problems.

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blog
A Web-based journal that is written and updated by one or more blog writers, or bloggers. Today's more sophisticated versions read like media stories and columns.

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branding statement
A marketing tool for job seekers consisting of a brief statement that communicates who you are in the workplace; typically used in resumes and job interviews. Also sometimes called a branding brief.

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broadcast letters
Self-marketing letters that a job seeker sends to a large but carefully targeted list of potential employers. These letters are designed to uncover an opportunity in the hidden (unadvertised) job market.

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career management documents
A family of job letters that are self-marketing tools for people who want to be hired for the best jobs. Includes job ad reply letters, broadcast and prospecting letters, resume letters, follow-up letters, and e-mail cover notes.

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competency-based approach
A resume style that focuses on the skills and talents needed to be able to perform a particular task to a certain standard. Connects your behaviors with your accomplishments.

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core resume
A starting resume that you use as a base or template to spin off targeted versions of your resume (for specific positions) when you must move quickly.

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cover letter
A self-marketing document designed to sell yourself and get an interview for a specific job; typically accompanies a resume.

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credit histories; consumer reports
Reports that contain your payment history to creditors. These reports may also include names of previous employers, residential stability data, divorce information, and estimated prior earnings.

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directive interview
A type of job interview in which the interviewer maintains complete control and walks you through the discussion to uncover what he or she wants to know.

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EEOC
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC is a U.S. federal agency that investigates discrimination complaints.

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e-mail cover note
An e-mail message that introduces a resume that you distribute online. Typically, a shortened and more informal version of a cover letter.

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e-resumes
Electronic resumes. Resumes that you distribute online.

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font
A complete character set comprised of a single size and typeface, such as 12-point Helvetica.

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font size
The height of the characters in a font set, measured in points, such as 10-point or 14-point. One point is equal to 1/72 of an inch.

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foundation skills
A skills language used in cover letters to communicate your expertise in fundamental job skills — includes basic skills, people skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities.

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functional resume
A resume format that focuses on portable skills or functional areas and ignores chronological order. This resume format works well for career changers, new graduates, ex-military personnel, work-history gaps, or special-issue problems.

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hybrid resume
A resume format that is a combination of the reverse chronological resume format and the functional resume format.

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instant messaging; IM
A real-time form of communication between two or more people online, who type messages back and forth in a window. Job seekers can attach resumes to messages.

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integrity test
A test administered by a potential employer during the interviewing process that rates honesty, responsibility, and reliability for the job.

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intellectual property
Work samples that you submit to a potential employer during the job interview process, such as portfolios, project materials, and proposals.

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international curriculum vitae resume
An excruciatingly detailed resume format used to apply for international jobs. This resume style is typically six to eight pages long and often uses the reverse chronological format.

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job ad reply letter
A letter that is written in reaction to a published job opening in print or online.

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job board
A Web site that posts general or specialized job listings, such as CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com.

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keyword resume
A resume format that places a profile of keywords at the top of a document. This resume format is not in common use today because current resume search databases can pick up keywords anywhere in a resume, not just at the beginning of a document.

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keywords
Internet search words (generally nouns and short phrases) that identify your qualifications. Employers use keywords to search and retrieve e-resumes in databases for available job positions.

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linear resume
A resume format that flows one line at a time and relates achievements, winning moves, and star points in short, quick spurts; designed to attract the eyes of busy readers.

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marketing pitch
A personal commercial that you create to sell yourself during a job search. A marketing pitch should be about one to two minutes long.

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nondirective interview
A type of job interview where the interviewer's questions tend to be broad and general so that you can elaborate and tell stories about yourself and your qualifications.

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OFCCP
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The OFCCP is an agency that tracks the diversity hiring record of those applying for positions with federal contractors.

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online executive bio
A short profile (about 200 words or less) that is placed on social networking sites and job boards to advance employment or business objectives. Includes keywords and a link to a full resume.

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online profile
A lengthy multi-link document that appears on Internet networking and career sites such as LinkedIn.com and VisualCV.com.

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online referral service
An e-mail job distribution method paid for by employers. This service helps you identify which of your contacts may know people at companies where you would like to work.

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online screening program
A form of pre-employment screening that verifies that you are a good fit for the position and that you haven’t lied about your background. May include online tests, assessment instruments, and questionnaires.

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patterned interview
A type of job interview (also called a structured interview) in which the interviewer works from a written list of questions asked of all candidates and writes down your responses.

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personality test
A test administered by a potential employer during the interviewing process that measures choice, preference, values, behavior, decisions, attitudes, and job-related interests.

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podcast
A digital audio or video file that is available for downloading from a Web site. Usually available in a series that is often packaged like a daily newscast or commentary.

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podcasting
The process of creating and distributing audio and video feeds over the Internet. To make a podcast, you need a computer, microphone, Internet access, and recording software.

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portfolio
A collection of work samples often delivered as part of the job interview process for those in fields such as design, graphics, photography, architecture, advertising, public relations, marketing, education, and contracting.

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professional resume
A resume format that emphasizes professional qualifications and activities and is typically three to five pages long. This format is essentially a shortened version of the academic curriculum vitae resume format.

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prospecting letters
Self-marketing letters that a job seeker sends to a relatively small and select number of potential employers. These letters are designed to uncover an opportunity in the hidden (unadvertised) job market.

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recruiter; headhunter
An employers’ personal shopper, tasked with going into the marketplace and bringing back the best qualified candidates for the thriftiest prices.

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resume blasting services
A service that advertises their willingness to save you time and trouble by blasting your resume to thousands of recruiters and hiring managers all over the Internet — for a fee. These services are generally not recommended due to privacy and identity theft concerns.

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resume letter
A self-marketing document that combines a cover letter with a resume (the resume is not a separate document). This type of letter is typically two pages long, but can be one page.

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reverse chronological resume
A resume format that includes employment history from the most recent jobs working backwards, showing dates for employers and educational institutions. This resume format works well for those with a steady career progression.

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screener
An employee (typically an administrative assistant or HR specialist) who monitors phone calls for a company when you call their main telephone line.

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screening interview
A first-cut job interview that is used to weed out all applicants except those who are best qualified for the position.

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selection interview
A job interview in which you meet with a supervisor, department head, or another person who has the authority to hire you.

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SEO
An acronym for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a method of using technical and strategic maneuvers to increase the traffic driven by search engines to a Web site.

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serial interview
A type of job interview in which you are typically passed from the initial screener to a line manager to a top manager — and perhaps a half-dozen people in between.

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social networking services
Web-based services — including discussion groups, message boards, e-mail, and blogs — that give users a way to find and interact with people who have similar interests. Some of this interactivity focuses on job search and recruiting.

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spiders
Automated programs (software) used by specialized search engines to scrape (crawl) the Web to find and haul in content, such as job postings. Also called robots or just 'bots.

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stress interview
A type of job interview in which the interviewer intentionally uses various intimidation tactics to attempt to put pressure on you.

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targeted resume
A resume that is customized for a specific employment goal or position in a job search.

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typeface
A specific family of fonts in a similar design style (including multiple sizes of that font), such as Arial or Times New Roman.

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vertical job search engines
Online search engines that search only for job listings, across multiple job sites at once. Examples include SimplyHired.com and Jobster.com. Also called verticals or aggregators.

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video resume
A canned video interview in which a candidate speaks about his or her qualifications, goals, and strengths; sometimes called a video podcast.

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watermark
A faint image ingrained in quality-stock paper. Resumes are commonly printed on paper stock that includes a watermark.

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Web 2.0
The second generation of Web design that uses sites in which people communicate and share information. Web 2.0 tools include blogs, instant messaging, podcasts, RSS feeds, and social networking services.

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Web resume
An electronic resume that you post on a personal Web site; also sometimes called an e-portfolio or HTML resume.