You may have just read in the news that About Me. The website recently grabbed headlines as owners raised $11million dollars to build out their services and features. So what is About me all about? About.me gives users the ability to set-up a simple profile and tell the world what you do and how to get in touch with you. You can post a picture, write about yourself and your expertise, list your website and blogs, and let people know how to find you on social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. There is a small social component of connecting with others. Right now the basic service is free with upgrades to open different features available with more being developed.
Should you join About.me? In an age with so many professionals attempting to brand themselves as an expert, it is critical to be everywhere in a unique way. This includes a website, blog, a strategic social media campaign and your bio on credible sources for other people to find. So yes, you should absolutely put up a simple bio, include a great picture, and links to where people can find you. If you have adopted my motto of “be everywhere in a unique way” then you know the importance of having a presence on a new site.
In the previous paragraph I touched on the point of having credible links coming into your website and this statement is worthy of further explanation. Google search will give your site credibility if you have inbound links to your site from credible sources. You can obtain these links by guest blogging, establishing bios, and having others in your field reference your work and link to an article of blog post of yours. You can check the moxy of a site using Open Site Explorer, a product run by our friends at Moz. Right now the About.me site has great stats and so it gets my recommendation without hesitation.
Important point: Your bio must be unique for the About.me site. Google does not like duplicate content. So please do not cut and paste your bio from your website or LinkedIn profile.
You can see my About Me profile by clicking here.
In today’s digital world there are an abundance of ways to market yourself and your small business on the internet. Having a website, blog and a strong presence on social media sites LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus are where we usually start as small business owners. After planning these six pieces (and starting to build them) I am often asked about Foursquare, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Yahoo, Bing…the list goes on and on. I’ll be adding About.me to my list of recommendations for clients to set-up and update when they can.
