Now it’s time for the good stuff, right? You’ve gotten an excellent foundation for why you need personal branding, how to position yourself and stay competitive and now it’s time to do something about it.
One of the best ways is to create your own branding page – a website that showcases who you are, what you’re about, and ultimately how you can help others with your products, services, and smile.
What this site is essentially is a website that will show your digital elevator pitch. It needs to be fairly concise, direct, and to the point, as if you were pitching your idea (or yourself) to the digital world (and your customers, specifically).
But, the nice thing is that you have more options than just words – you can have digital media, images, and links to other supporting properties! It’s much more interactive than a “normal” elevator pitch!
For starters, I’ve already provided a lot of supporting material (including four downloadable templates!) for this post here, which you should definitely read:
- 3 Reasons Why You Need a Personal Branding, Landing Page
- 3 Free Personal Landing, Branding Templates for Download
You can use these as examples of what I’m talking about. Here are some additional thoughts around what this digital elevator pitch site should have, generally speaking:
- Simple – It should be simple, not overly complex, and direct to the point. To make it cluttered with too many images, links, URLs, social sharing buttons, etc. Please. Keep it simple people! Who, what, where, and how to contact you. Period.
- Easy URL – The URL or Domain Name should be your name, or a super easy derivative. Nothing too fancy or creative here, sorry. Make it memorable if you can.
- Are You a Person or Used Cars Salesperson? – It shouldn’t sound like a sales pitch. It shouldn’t be seen as an advertisement either.
- Contextual – It should be contextual and relevant to your positioning and your target market.
- One or Many? – There are some of you (and even me at one point) who will want more than one page that you can share with different target markets to further provide context. Imagine how powerful that might be! You get more online presence and and can provide a more direct experience for a particular customer base.
- Don’t Think Too Hard – Most of us will kill ourselves over this process as we figure out the “perfect” copy to go on the site with the right picture, etc. The best thing to do is time yourself and give yourself a limited amount of thinking time and then execute.
- Get Valuable Feedback – Ask your friends, community and others for feedback on it. Ask them what they think and to be honest – it can be painful but well worth it.
- Do It Soon – There’s no time to waste. Literally. Get this done and make it a priority.
- Update Regularly – As you change your personal landing page will change. You’ll need to keep it updated and precise – if anything changes it should be the first thing to update, especially if your job changes, etc. Keep it close and keep it guarded.
- Optimize - Make sure you optimize your site with keywords and various SEO strategies. Check out this series for more information.
- Be Creative, Unique – Anything that you can do unique and/or creative will ultimately help you stand out. For example, I create custom brand artwork and caricatures for myself that give me a more memorable feel.
That should get you started.
Not Sure Where to Start? Try This…
If you’re completely new to the game then here are a few simple steps to get started on a new personal branding page and digital elevator pitch:
- Sign Up for Hosting – Honestly if you’re just getting started just head over to Dreamhost and sign up for a hosting account. Simple interface and 1-click installations. I also have a promo code, ‘TentBlogger‘ for an extra domain for life right here!
- Download Templates – Download one of the four templates that I have as examples here and here.
- Upload One of Them – Upload one of them to your new hosting account via FTP.
- Edit It – Edit it for content either locally or through a code editor. These are the ones that I use to do this regularly.
- Share It – Get feedback and share it. Enjoy.
That’s about it! Nothing too complex, to be honest.
Need A Little Bit of Help?
Yes, even though it’s not too difficult a process it can be a bit daunting for some of us that are less technically savvy or inclined. I can help you get one of the four templates up (or one of your own) with a little customization for a price. Email me for more details.
I do this on a very limited engagement so only serious inquiries please!
Let’s See Them!
If you’ve got one then please feel free to share it in the comments! Would love to see what people have come up with!
[This is part of the Personal Branding Series.]
Great info, John. I have bookmarked this for me to look into further for myself.
sure thing brad!
You suggested potentially having multiple sites to show to multiple target markets. How would you do this? Would you register separate domains? Have sub-domains of your main personal branding domain?
separate domains, with different keywords perhaps added. sub-domains work too.
Thanks for the great info. I’ll be crafting mine over the next couple of weeks!
tell me when you go live!
I used to have a fance schmancy website that I took loving care of. When Google created the author markup I changed gears. I realized that getting a Google profile was more streamlined than trying to keep a portfolio site. It does most of the hard work of the steps you have outlined above. With the added benefit that if Google ever shows my avatar in text it will take people straight to it. It is a win-win for me. I just +1 the stuff I want to include in my profile. I may have a branded website again, but when I have more to add.
If anyone wants to see what I have done go to http://susansilver.info
susan,
i really LOVE this idea… wow, that’s not bad at all…!
Yep, an elevator pitch is necessary today. I recently wrote an article at my blog about why churches today need an elevator pitch…or at least a purpose statement which defines why they even exist!
I mean, if we can’t articulate why we exist, why should we think anyone else will be able to figure out why we exist or what value we offer?
charles,
definitely a great point. some people know what their purpose statement is but are not explicit enough for other people to know!
True, true.
Great post John! I find myself constantly stuck at step #6. I’m in a few niche’s and they don’t relate at all to each other, so I over-think way to much which actually just contributes to the hindrance of success. Thanks again bro!
sure thing! focus focus focus!
Such great pointers. I try and make sure my site it east on the eyes.
“easy” right?
I’ve been thinking about adding landing pages. Maybe my blog homepage is trying to do too much.
perhaps. a lot of people clutter it up badly.