Jan
28
Online Representation of the Offline You
This is in response to a question from a fellow student after I gave a lecture on blogging. I thought it was a good question so I decided to answer it on here.
Question: What kind of blog is this, where your name is the site?
Answer: blakeimeson.com contrary to first look is not just me on some ego trip rambling (most of the time ahha) It is an online representation of me and my skills. I generally blog about ideas related to:
Entrepreneurship and businessSEO and Social MediaBlogging and internet technologyPersonal events and things happening in my lifeMy goal is to provide value to people and not just “add to the noise”.
There are two main groups of people I have in mind reading the site.
1. Prospective client or employer. I would expect them to come to the site from a link I have given them, or by Googling my name. The goal is for them to get a more intimate glimpse of how I think, what I know and where I’ve been. A job interview can only tell you so much about me. Several years of posts can, however, give a different and more in depth view of who I am/where I have been. In some sense it is an interactive portfolio, or perhaps, an online resume.
2. Friends and colleagues. People I am friends with from various stages of my life. If they are interested in this type of content I would love for them to follow me and keep up personally and offer feedback professionally. Also, colleagues in the same industry, people I have worked with, and of course the search engine traffic looking for a specific idea. For example, I get a pretty good amount of traffic from the presentation I did on LinkedIn a while back at the PodCamp3 conference.
I have friends and colleagues who blog and I really enjoy seeing the kinds of interesting things they are doing in life and their unique perspectives on the world. A few off the top of my head… profitablesignals.com chrisandrew.tv gonzo-seo.com timhindes.com
I may narrow the focus at some point as it is pretty broad. But it represents me right now, my focus is still spread around. I am still trying to figure out what I want to be doing exactly. The blog reflects me, where I am at professionally and my stage in life. (broke college student at the moment lol)
I would strongly recommend most everyone who is or wants to make a living to buy their name domain. Whether you’re a musician, graphic designer, businessman public speaker, or student working your way up.
Reasons you should get yourname.com
- 1. Reputation management – rank well for your name.
- 2. Learn the skill of blogging
- 3. Add your unique voice and view
- 4. Build some content so people can “get you.”
Further Reading:
So true. These days, employers are looking for every bit of info they can get on you, and often times the stuff outside of the interview is more important. Blogs, evidence of past projects, it’s a huge win, if when they search your name, they find something as professional as this site.
Hi Blake:
Thank you for linking to my blog from your further reading section. You make great point in this post. I think hosting a blog under yourname.com is a great way to build your personal brand. Furthermore, if you need to give an idea of what your blog is about to those who don’t know you, you can always use a descriptive tagline.
@Mario – hey no problem, it was a good post. I re-read it and realized there was a more technical tip you had, which in retrospect seems like a good idea.
It was to install your blog in a sub-directory like: blakeimeson.com/blog instead of just blakeimeson.oom I think that is good advice in many cases depending on how the site is to be used. You can always redirect .com/ to .com/blog