A Personal Branded Website

I have decided to create a personal website. It has been an interesting process. As I go through the design stages, it begs a number of questions:

1. Why do I want one? Is a personal brand the right way to go or should I be creating a corporate site for Cale Financial?
2. What is the call to action? What am I looking for? Clients for my advisory practice? Corporate director opportunities? Exposure for my writing? Speaking opportunities?
3. Should it be in first person ("I do this; I do that") or third person ("Jeff Dennis does this; Jeff Dennis does that")?
4. What domain name should I use (unfortunately the jeffdennis.com and jeffdennis.ca domain names are taken)?
5. Then there are the design issues of colour, font, layout, etc.
6. Finally, I have to learn about search engine optimization strategies so that someone will come to my site.

Why a Personal Brand?

I've decided to go with the personal website because I am building a personal brand. People know me as Jeff Dennis, serial entrepreneur and trusted advisor to the CEOs of fast growth companies. My company, Cale Financial Corporation, has been in existence for over 10 years and has no brand recognition. I have merely used it as a vehicle for my capital raising activities since it is registered with the Ontario Securities Commission as a limited market dealer and as such is entitled to do "private placement" transactions with accredited investors. I am known as having expertise in the entrepreneurial field - strategy, finance, etc. If they search for me on Google, they will likely look for Jeff Dennis, not Cale Financial. A personal website will reinforce this.

What Am I Looking For?

My first draft of the copy for the website was all over the map. It was neither here, nor there. A little bit of this and a little bit of that - advising, capital, writing, speaking. Confusion.

It was a great process to map out the site as a flow chart and then write the copy for each page of the site. As I refined my writing, I kept asking myself what I was looking for? What is the call to action? I decided that my bottom line is my bottom line - I want new advisory clients. Everything else simply provides credibility as to why someone would want to hire me.

First Person?

The jury is still out on this question. Some would argue that first person is better because its less formal and creates a more approachable tone. On the other hand, you can come across as egotistical as you blow your own horn. My instinct is to go with a third person voice. It comes across as a testimonial so it is less self serving sounding. But, I may still change my mind.

Domain Name

The jury is still out on this one as well. I was disappointed that jeffdennis.com and jeffdennis.ca were taken by a jeweller and a real estate agent, respectively. Stay tuned as I figure this one out.

Design

I am using Teresa Gamble to design my site. She designed my wife's site - www.talktherapy.ca - which has been very successful. Lori gets the vast majority of her clients from Google searches that land on her site.

SEO

SEO or search engine optimization is something that I am just learning about. Teresa has clearly done a great job with Lori's website. I am doing some research and will rely on Teresa's expertise. From what I have read, the bottom line seems to be coming up with key words and having your site linked to other sites.

As soon as my website is up and running I will update my blog with more of the process and my learning. Stay tuned.

The Forest Hill Barber Shop Golf Tournament

On Spadina Road in the Forest Hill Village there is a small barber shop that has been there forever. Certainly longer than my 50 years. The barbers are Nick, the patriarch, who has been there as long as I can remember; Mario and Terry, Nick's sons-in-law; and Nicola.

The Forest Hill barbers have a thriving business that's a throw back to the good old days of barber poles, straight razor shaves and no appointments. Because of their location in the Forest Hill Village, their clientele are the whos who of Canadian business, law and medicine. On any given day you can see captains of industry waiting in line for the next available barber. There's a family feeling as Nick and the boys seem to know a little bit about every customer and their families. In addition, many a deal has been done while waiting for your turn. I myself can think of at least 2 opportunities that came to me while waiting to get my buzz cut.

What most impresses me about the Forest Hill barbers is that 13 years ago they started a charity golf tournament to raise money for Sick Kids Hospital. I just attended the 13th version a couple of weeks ago which raised over $100,000. Over the years, they have raised well over $600,000.

Nick, Mario, Terry and Nicola enlist the support of their Forest Hill clientele, the local Forest Hill Village business community and their Woodbridge friends and family. It is an amazing event. It not only has the usual trappings of the typical charity golf tournament, but they also have homemade favourites set up at various holes such as Italian wine and cheese and expresso and Italian pastries.

The barbers are on their feet cutting hair from 9 to 6 five days a week. They then put this incredible event together in their spare time. The Forest Hill Village barbers are amazing entrepreneurs in every sense of the word.