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.