http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! I guess I'm late to this, but it sounds like a great idea. I'm not sure if it is an option that has been considered, but many students coming out of college right now will inevitable change jobs more frequently than even their parents did. You could market this service to business related schools and departments, and also work with small businesses to develop an intern service. Also, you could provide affiliate links to business card printers so that recent graduates that are serious about their careers could have a way to market there online presence while out and about. This could kill a couple of birds with one stone: it would be a value added service that wouldn't increase your overhead, and done through an affiliate marketing program, it could be an additional source of income. Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:31:25 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice3609 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice3609 i think this is a very good idea and you have received some good feedback already! have you considered talking to career counselors at universities? If you can have them sign up for your service on behalf of the students at that university (you may have to start with a small school!), you are directly paid by the department (or college or university). the students pay for it through their tuition, "activity fees" or another fee (which universities are really good at coming up with :) ) I would target the professions where competition is tough and the payscales are high - like Business or Law or maybe even engineering. Many engineers have worked on a lot of projects as part of academics or co-curricular activities that they would love to brag about - and your site will help them do that. "A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank" - I dont think this is really important for a graduating student...but it might be helpful for professionals or small businesses Sun, 04 May 2008 23:46:56 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1788 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1788 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:52:21 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6886 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6886 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:55:30 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6869 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6869 I really like the idea of providing assistance to students entering the workforce. I mentor and interact with a lot of these newbies (and my husband hires many young adults just out of college). I also think it's important to help educate these new young professionals on what should be basic work "do's and dont's," which often seems to be inherently missing in young job candidates. For example, don't go to an interview dressed up like you're going to a club (e.g., wearing tight, low-cut clothing), don't tell a potential employer you're available to start working at 4 pm when you're applying for a salaried, full-time job that starts at 8 am, do expect that a salaried job may sometimes mean having to work longer than 8 hours a day, and do go into an interview having researched the company and position you're interviewing for so you can develop thoughtful responses beyond, "I just think the job sounds interesting." As a professional working in the advertising/marketing world for over 9 yrs, I know how powerful a strong brand presence is. Though a brand can easily fall flat if it lacks substance or if its brand promises aren't met. It's important to properly set-up expectations on both sides of the fence (candidate and employer), so-to-speak. Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:25:43 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1727 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1727 How about offering this service to small businesses (in addition to teachers, and artists and all the others listed above) who would like to have a self service web presence too. The sky is the limit...all you need are attractive templates. You can categorize your template selections and service anyone/everyone who has a need. Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:41:45 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1695 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1695 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:11:06 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6797 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6797 Check out our site! http://www.brand-yourself.com Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:13:15 -0500 challenge http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#challenge1533 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#challenge1533 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:32:03 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6786 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6786 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:55:14 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6783 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6783 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:29:48 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6782 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6782 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:16:33 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6770 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6770 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:52:00 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6759 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6759 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:02:35 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6741 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6741 I work closely with our career office so I know that this is a service that they would greatly appreciate! I don’t have any advice exactly -- rather some questions that you may want to consider (if you haven’t already) 1. How will you make money? Subscription? One-off fee? As we all know students are typically price conscious 2. Most students will need a lot of help building appropriate content (just ask any career counselor who has looked at a resume lately!). Can you provide that expertise and related to the above point can you make enough money to cover this cost? Are you going to monitor content? If not, how are you going to ensure a quality service? 3. Can you provide any value-added services such as potential employer introductions? 4. As any business knows, you can’t just build a site and get customers. I see that you will be providing ‘step-by-step actions to strengthen your brand on the web’ but will students be able to effectively execute this? Many businesses can’t! And if not, how will this impact the perceived value of your service? 5. What barriers do you have to stopping anyone from replicating your business -- particularly a tech-savvy student do-it-yourself type using wordpress for example? 6. Will you have enough variation of templates so it doesn’t look canned? I think you have a great value proposition – good luck!! Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:02:10 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1228 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1228 One thing you may want to look into (if you don't want to charge money for it) - would to implement ads into all sites created from your site - in this way each site could potentially pay itself off (and the domain cost) over time. To figure out how long before you'd break even, I don't know, but it's just a thought, -Max Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:21:14 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1226 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1226 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:02:24 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6308 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6308 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:11:56 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6276 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6276 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:11:55 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6275 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6275 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:30:30 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6274 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6274 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:50:12 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6273 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6273 In response to theshadow27 - We appreciate your feedback. However, consider this: Brand-Yourself.com will have a domain name availability checker built into the checkout process, so users will be able to find the domain name they want before buying. It will provide alternative suggestions such as YourNameOnline.com or Your[ ]Name.com (including your middle initial) if "YourName.com" is already taken. There are also other domains besides .com. Specifically, .name is growing in popularity and was specifically created for personal websites. For example, if petekistler.com is taken, it's likely that petekistler.name is not. Also, there are other domains like .net to choose from. We highly stress the importance of an independent domain name separate from Brand-yourself.com in order for users to establish a stronger brand and greatly increase their online credibility. Although the free publicity from petekistler.brand-yourself.com would be nice, petekistler.com is the only true professional route to take. Finally, I'm not quite sure where you got your domain name rates from, but in the U.S., domains cost $9 a year. And if you buy domains wholesale (in bulk), they get even cheaper. Thanks again for the feedback, and thank you to everyone else who has posted. We can't wait to get our business launched, but we need your support - so vote for Brand-Yourself.com! Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:29:09 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1190 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1190 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:23:02 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6254 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6254 It is going to be hard to guarantee everyone their own domain name (BillyFred.com, or what have you). You might want to get some simple, meaningful domain like beyourself.com, or beyou.com and give out BillyFred.beyou.com (as an example). Normal domains cost $20 or so per year to register, which might be a deterrent for students or grads. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:56:53 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1189 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1189 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:32:23 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6252 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6252 I love this idea! It can apply to any type of job. The ability to add links to editorial recognition and achievements would be great or allowing attachments to provide examples of ones work. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:46:15 -0500 advice http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1157 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#advice1157 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:37:30 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6194 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6194 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:12:59 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6188 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6188 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:34:56 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6164 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6164 Our mission is to allow students to create an online web presence that shows them in the best possible light, articulates their unique value to employers and builds a personal brand on the web. We wanted a system that provides: - Your own URL, such as [YourName].com - Easy “What You See is What You Get” editing of website content - A large selection of highly professional website themes - Multimedia uploads and integration (text, images, audio and video) - A Brand Management Dashboard that allows you to track your position on search engines and provides tools to improve your Google rank. Since this system didn't exist, we built it. And now we're in love with it! Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:41:37 -0500 comment http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6138 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#comment6138 What other features would be useful in managing your own personal website? Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:22:48 -0500 challenge http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#challenge1277 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#challenge1277 We are initially targeting college seniors in "creative" majors that would bring more than a resume to an interview. Who else would benefit from our service? Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:22:48 -0500 challenge http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#challenge1276 http://ideablob.com/ideas/rss/1923-Brand-Yourself-com-Professiona#challenge1276