Strut Your Stuff – How to Build Your Personal Brand On One Gorgeous Page

You weren’t an accident. You weren’t mass produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted and lovingly positioned on Earth by the Master Craftsman. – Max Lucado, The Christmas Candle

Along the curious road of a job search, job seekers inevitably encounter the challenge of personal branding which includes describing what it is they do; what makes them successful in their work. With 15+ years in executive search and more recently 5+ years intensively working as an executive/career coach – I have a perspective to offer about how effectively to share your career wins. So, let’s dive in.

Beyond LinkedIn

Part of the fun of being a career strategist includes experiencing the ah-ha moments my clients have. I recently worked with a talented guy who is skilled in both engineering and financial acuity. Exploring personal branding options, I encouraged him to research online branding resources used by job seekers who are ahead of the crowd and who want to really stand out. Here’s his one-page online profile.

Remember the main reason for developing a professional online brand is ‘to be found’ by potential employers, recruiters and other professionals in your field. As you are deep in your job search and career expansion you want those who are seeking your skills to find you and reach out. Attention to your online personal branding is critical. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that LinkedIn is a must-use professional resource; however, there are other resources as well many of which complement LinkedIn and allow you to show up more and strut your stuff more.

Set yourself apart in one page

The good news is there are easy-to-use one-page websites that allow you to really shine and share more of your personality and passion for what you do. Below are some options that are either free or low-cost. Some allow you to incorporate your LinkedIn profile and all to customize your profile.

Strikingly.com

Strikingly has both free and premium options and will incorporate your LinkedIn profile. So, if you have spent a lot of time polishing your LinkedIn profile, importing it into this tool is a way to raise the bar. You can also link back to your LinkedIn profile by adding your Strikingly URL to a media link. A premium account will allow you to customize your domain name and to access analytics about traffic to your site. Here’s my profile and here’s my company’s profile.

About.Me

The free version of About.Me has fewer graphic choices than other options, but you are still able to customize your bio considerably. If you have a great photo—one where you are celebrating life—About.Me can be a great platform. The Pro (pay) options allow for greater choices, including domain name customization. Here’s mine.

Branded.Me

Another platform that can draw upon your LinkedIn profile. The free version includes a Branded.me domain, free basic themes to choose from, a blog option, five follow requests per day (pay version have more), community support and is completely free. Again, with the PRO subscription version there are options for much more customization, including your own domain name and increased connectivity.  It is easy to use and to set up. Here’s mine.

These tools allow you to show more personality than the simple LinkedIn profile and when you customize you may share more about yourself.  My client, the one mentioned in the first paragraph, opted to use Wix.com to set up his one-page site and reported that to be an easy to use the platform as well. Besides Wix, Shopify, Weebly and Squarespace are other sites that are considered among the best website builders out there.

Whatever one you choose, know that you don’t have to be a professional programmer to set up a nice to view one-page site that helps you differentiate yourself from the rest of the crowd.  Now, go for it.

Need a little assistance creating your personal brand online? Connect with Lynden Kidd, browse our directory of career coaches or request a personalized coach recommendation!