I know there are quite a few people reading this blog who, like me, have several different virtual points of presence. The challenge I’m having is that no single one of them really feels like “me” — all just “a part of me”.
This site (TheVirtualHandshake.com) and my consulting site (LinkToYourWorld.com) are both shared with other people and subject to the constraints of supporting the brands and purposes of those sites. LinkedIntelligence.com is focused solely on LinkedIn. At Entrepreneurs.About.com, I’m subject to their editorial policies — it’s not really just “my” site. While all of these may have a bio and links to the other sites, each of them is slanted towards the purpose of that site.
Then of course there’s Twitter conversations, articles I write for various other sites (e.g., our column at FastCompany.com), my networks at Ryze, the Sales & Marketing channel at Work.com, interviews, media coverage, yada, yada, yada.
I could perhaps use my LinkedIn or Facebook profile as “home base”, but again, so much of the space is eaten up with stuff that ‘s not “me”. Also, they don’t really let you bring in all your various other content and media very well.
I’ve also thought about using something like WetPaint, HubPages, Squidoo, etc., but I’m not sure I want it to be on a third-party site — again, much of what’s on the page is about them, not me. Plus, you’re subject to the whims and vagaries of whatever they decide to do with the service.
I could set up yet another blog, but that’s really not what I’m looking for — I want something for the first-time visitor (or long-time-no-see friend) to be able to visit and navigate in a useful way.
So I’m in the process of building a personal web hub that incorporates all the many things I do. One site I can link to in my signatures. One site I can put on my business card. One site that doesn’t just link to all the other sites, but actually incorporates dynamic content from them all in one place.
I’d like to know if anyone else has done something like this. If so, please provide the link and any other comments you feel might be helpful. If you’ve done this with one of those hosted sites, I’d love to see that too.
I’ll also be happy to share the site once its done for those who might be interested in doing something similar.
