Since starting my website(s), I've gotten a lot of spam in the automatic comment box that I've got on my "contact" page. That's ok. At least I know it's working! And that I've got something about me that is triggering somebody's algorithm!
The most ambitious one, I have received twice. It informs me that I have a "cool website" that the user found "while surfing the net". I "showed up at the top of the search results" and it "looks like what [I'm] doing is pretty cool".
It then goes on to question whether my site is generating leads for my business, and then tries to sell me super gross info-capturing widgets so I can get users' info and "talk to that lead while they're literally looking over your site". In other words, I can send robot texts to them in order to capitalize on building a fake relationship, I could lose out! Time is money!
Aside from the obvious points here -- I'm not selling anything on my website, nobody surfs the net, and what even were the search terms that put me at the top of the results? -- I'm grossly offended by the idea of immediately having to capture leads and ram my "product" down anyone's throat.
This is fun because the module in my UX course right now is all about personal branding and aligning your online presence/portfolio to reflect your authentic self -- and also to attract and target the kind of work you want to be doing and the kind of employers you want to hire you. I literally have a worksheet in front of me on the table asking about passions and values and strengths, and perceptions and personal brand statements.
When I started this website, I actually bought two domains. This one, with my name in the URL, I decided would be for my "professional" self, for which I pay handsomely for a WYSIWYG layout editor and ridiculously easy and customizable site, ready for my resume and portfolio. The other one is for my "weird" and artistic stuff, the blog entries that are less poignant and more rambling. I bought a cheap Bluehost package, and I'm crying and banging my head against the wall over Wordpress, but I'm also writing about things I remember from my youth, and the weird inner corners of what I think about in quiet moments. It's not marketable, it's fairly pointless, but it's all me.
Now, though, I'm having a slight identity crisis. If my goal is to be authentic, then isn't it better to present me in all my truth? But some of that stuff might make people not want to hire me.I still struggle with what to put online, and what to keep offline, in terms of how I represent myself.
I was born in 1986. I made it to 13, 14 before we really had "online" as a daily part of life, and even then, you remember what it was like in 1999. It was largely text. All those BBS, writing threads, fan pages, IRC channels. We could write really authentically and freely. We had room for imagination and innovation.
Currently, I offer you nothing other than the chance to consume my writing (such as it is), see where I went to school, and peep my ever-evolving attempt to describe myself succinctly. My UX instructor is shaking his head in vast disappointment, folks.
How do you describe yourself online? Are you trying to form cohesion across all your platforms? Do you have a message? A brand? Does it feel real? Does it feel like work?
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