What the closure of a site like VisualCV.com teaches us is that you MUST be at the helm of your digital brand’s development, navigation, and web hosting!
Have you heard? VisualCV.com will cease operations on 12/30/2011! This serves to reinforce what I have been advocating–you need to own your domain ASAP.com!
Everyone, especially careerist with defined personal brands and business owners should own their domain name and web hosting account. Even if you have no idea what to do with your domain name yet or where to host it—register it right away. Save it. You can work the development and hosting details out later.
All those job seekers who invested time in developing their self-marketing dossiers/resumes and uploaded to VisualCV.com will need to find a new home for their portfolios, pictures, references, CVs, and testimonials. Worse yet, the links they shared with possible employers and clients will soon be dead links! The connections they made via that site will need to be notified of their new home. Had they their own domain and web space– this would not be an issue.
Web Space & Domain Ownership Is A Wise Investment
Not convinced yet that you should jump into domain ownership? Here are some reasons why you should.
1. Control your online identity. When someone Googles your name, what will they see? If you have your own domain name you are in the virtual driver’s seat! You control what others see, how they see it, how much they see and what they see first.
Although social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn serve to brand you online, owning your own domain will give you more control over the ‘look and feel’ of your brand, enhanced SEO techniques, and you can integrate all your online profiles into your website. This one central location will equip you and your contacts to more easily track your virtual footprint. Plus, “too big to fail” cannot be guaranteed by any social networking site. No matter what they say!
2. Your domain is owned by you and nobody else but you! This means no one else can take it down but you! Here is how this would work as long as there is a World Wide Web: 1. you purchase your domain through a domain registration site; 2. you find a hosting service; 3. you put up your site with any HTML editor (or by hiring a professional to help you). As long as you renew your domain and hosting account, you’re fine. If you change web hosting companies–no problem! You can take the domain with you along with all your files and interface designs!
3. It is affordable. It is very cheap to purchase your own domain. Click on over to Godaddy.com and see how cheap it is. Like I said, capture yours, save it. Worry about it later. (I do not recommend hosting through Godaddy.com; only the domain purchase.)
As mentioned above, developing your own website and then linking to all your online network sites, portfolios, resumes, etc. will enable you to have one central location that you own and steer. This is what I recommend my clients partner with me in creating: one holistic, knitted, secured, and streamlined online identity plus self-hosting!
Have you purchased your domain yet? Why or why not? Were you on VisualCV.com and if so what are your reactive plans now? Sound off below…
Rosa Elizabeth Vargas
Master Resume Writer
www.careersteering.com