How to get your online presence aka personal web page
Having an online presence and making your personal brand searchable in the online world is increasingly more essential than ever. It’s being called a digital business card, personal brand site, online presence, personal landing page, interactive contact card, or whatever. And when you don’t have the time & energy to maintain the content flow required of a website and blog, a static web page makes a better impression than a 4-page brochure website methinks.
The current trend to have a one-page website that gives a snapshot of who you are and how to connect with you, without being just another generic profile in the midst of a social network forest. I’ve said it this way: if people can’t find you on Google, do you exist? Well, of course you exist, but you’re missing a lot of (digital) street cred. (or, how about your company? your organization?)
As web apps become easier and easier to use by non-techies, a good number of web apps are coming online that create well-designed personal web pages that look great. So easy a caveman could do it. I’ve tried out about half of the ones I’ve found (mostly free or freemium) so far:
- about.me cf. about.me/djchuang
- magntize.com cf. djchuang.magntize.com
- card.ly cf. card.ly/djchuang
- flavors.me cf. flavors.me/djchuang
- workface.com (formerly businesscard2.com) cf. workface.com/e/djchuang
- central.ly cf. central.ly/djchuang
- follr.com
- mynameise.com is more iPhone integrated cf. eee.am/djchuang
- myonepage.com cf. myonepage.com/djchuang
- dooid.com
- visualcv.com
- missionify.com – for a landing page to raise donations for a mission trip or ministry [ht: mediasalt]
- [defunct] www.unhub.com chi.mp retaggr.com
ht: 6 Online Business Card Tools To Spread Your Personal Brand @ thenextweb.com + Five Best Personal Landing Pages @ lifehacker.com.au
Or, you could setup a self-hosted WordPress and use a theme designed specifically for a digital business card. There’s a free WordPress theme called Digital Business Card by @human3rror – see it in action at www.cynthiaware.me (cf. blog post by Cynthia Ware on how easy it is) or another personal branding web site – kennyjahng.com – uses Ipseity theme, also by @human3rror
Any others out there? Please add a comment.
Do you have a personal web page? Add your link in a comment >>
i think office live (microsoft’s) might still be free? it was when i did it, but that was a few years ago… pretty easy and simple (tintd.com)
Card.ly and Businesscard2 are actually merging, but I’m not sure which domain will be the permanent one – perhaps both.