Personal Resume/Portfolio Website

18 Aug 2011 | No Comments | posted by Coldfire Promotions | in Website Design

You may be settled in to your career and have no intentions in going anywhere in the next decade or so. Or, you may be like a quarter of the population and have recently been laid off from your job or let go altogether. If either one of these is the case (which is in fact all of you), you need to think about building your professional presence online.

One such tool for networking online is LinkedIn. It is an excellent tool but how far will it really take you? One way to get ahead of the game is to create your own personal branding site. Not sure exactly what I mean by this? Check out the personal portfolio site we built for Coldfire Promotions owner Jason Stomps. There is no better way to build your brand online and achieve a higher professional appearance than to own your own domain.

Since everyone loves lists, here are 6 solid reasons why you need a personal resume-portfolio site:

1. You Own It. What’s better than owning your own .com? Fortunately, Jason Stomps is a rather rare name so the domain name hadn’t been gobbled up yet. However, you may not be so lucky. The good news is that there are plenty of other domain extensions to choose from. If your name is taken as a .com, you may also want to look into .net, .info, and .me as popular alternatives. Your best bet is not to wait! Get it quick before someone else does and it is lost forever.

2. Control. Are you afraid to “put yourself out there” on the internet? Time to break the habit. Chances are you have a Facebook account that you use on a daily, if not hourly basis. If this is the case then you are already “out there” and aren’t ever coming back. Open the door to limitless possibilities and take control of what is posted on the internet about you!

3. Online Presence. As I stated previously, you probably already have a presence online. Your personal information may be out there because of Facebook or other social networking sites, but what about your professional appearance? Have you ever submitted your resume to Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com? Do you have a LinkedIn profile? If so, there is absolutely no reason not to seal it with your very own domain. Get a step ahead of the curve before it is too late!

4. Analytics. Once you have your site built, you can track your visitors with analytical tools like Google Analytics. You will be able to see how many people visit you, when they visit, for how long they visit, where they are visiting from, and so much more. This is something Coldfire Promotions recommends for any and every website. In fact, we install it on every web site we build. What good is a sales tool without the marketing?

5. 24/7 Marketing. While you may not be able to scour internet job boards day and night for open positions, your online resume can! Once you have your personal resume site up and running, it practically does all the marketing for you! One suggestion that I might make is to include your new domain URL on the hard copy of your resume (and don’t forget to point it out). This way, whenever you apply for a new position, your future employer can keep going back to your amazing site time and time again.

6. Complements and Connections. Speaking of having the URL on your printed resume, it really doesn’t stop there. Not only can you host your own portfolio online (including images, video, sound bites, etc.), but you can connect 2 and 2 together through a ton of other mediums. For example, put links to your social media sites there (LinkedIn is a good one, but I wouldn’t recommend posting personal ones like Facebook). Also, get some personal business cards that you can hand out while networking that have your contact information and personal resume site URL on it. The possibilities are potentially unlimited!

One last suggestion that I think sometimes needs to be forwarded is to hire a professional! Some folks have the skills to build and maintain a web site but let’s face it, not everyone does. The last thing you want to do is to create a junky resume site. Would you hand over your printed resume with a coffee cup stain on it? Start building your brand online today and hire Coldfire Promotions. We’ll even go as far as to register your domain name for you.