Do you need an online makeover? Here’s what happened when I did mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTGhPlb-x_4&feature=youtu.be
Here’s the before and after video of my web site overhaul, courtesy of Katie Linder
Most of us could stand to update our online professional presence. But what would it take to get you to actually do it? And once you’ve decided to, how do you get it done?
I just finished a total overhaul of mine, starting with my main professional web site, followed by my other profiles (Facebook, LinkedIn, Academia.edu), new business cards and an online press kit. Now that it’s all done, I thought I’d share why and how I got it done, and what I learned.
Some background: I’m a college professor with a fairly conventional portfolio of teaching, research, and program administration. But I also have a robust side practice in writing, speaking, and workshop-leading for academic audiences, all under the general description of faculty professional development.
This is an area with a surprising amount of demand — for speakers, facilitators, online teachers and others who can help expand instructors’ skills in designing courses, teaching, and using technology. It’s a great area to work in, with receptive, knowledgeable audiences, and institutions grateful for the help in addressing a real gap in the teacher training most faculty get — i.e., little to none — before they start setting up their own courses. There’s also a bit of a mad scramble to get ahead of trends like online learning and first-year student success programs, which opens up more opportunities for people who can speak to these kinds of timely issues.
With a book on e-learning, experience in course redesign and first year student success, and other work in teaching and learning, I am able to do that, and I enjoy getting in the middle of all the good work going on in these areas.
It’s a great time to be in the field, but I have still felt lost from time to time — which is not surprising, considering that I never intentionally set out to do this kind of work. What sort of information should I put out there to prospective clients? Are there ways to streamline planning, so I spend less time on logistics and more on content? Only people who do similar work can say for sure, but I didn’t know any. Or so I thought.
One day I got an email from someone I’d heard of for her own stellar faculty professional development work, Katie Linder, telling me she was setting up a Mastermind group, and would I like to join? I had to look up what a Mastermind group was exactly, but I liked the sound of it right off the bat and so I sent back an enthusiastic yes.
Our group has now been convening for almost a year. There are about 6 of us, including one person I actually had met before when we were both giving conference talks, and some others I’ve gotten to know through the group.
So how does it work? It’s a conference call, technically, but it’s not like any conference call most of us have in our normal working lives. Our leader — Katie — sets up a one-hour phone meeting once a month. On a typical call, we start out with updates, kudos, places we have been and projects we are working on. Then we tackle an issue, question, problem or any other topic that the group gravitates toward. We have a Google doc where we can post ideas for these, plus background and contact info.
Discussions focus on everything from nuts-and-bolts logistics of working with clients, to work-life balance, to balancing multiple projects within our work portfolios. Sometimes they go deeper into difficult territory, like managing conflict and making hard choices about the projects we want to keep and the ones we should let go.
It was in the Mastermind discussions that I first brought up how I wanted to reach new audiences and clients, but felt overwhelmed. I’d had a professional web site for years, but it was created as part of a working partnership that had come to an end, and for different purposes and goals than I have now. I liked my speaking and workshop practice, but wanted to make client communications more efficient. And as Katie pointed out when she perused my different sites and profiles — you couldn’t find how to get in touch with me! Clearly, I had work to do.
Katie and I set a time to talk one-on-one about what I wanted to do and how she might be able to help. She was expanding the part of her practice having to do with faculty online presence (she’s currently working on a book on the topic), and so I opted to work with her on revamping the site.
We discussed how the site should look and what I wanted it to accomplish (showcasing my blog, drawing in prospective clients, automating as much of the planning and publicity as possible). She tackled the reorganization and design work, but in the meantime, there was something else that I had to get done: new professional photos.
Katie has a good podcast episode on getting headshots done, which I used as a starting point, but it was still surprising how involved this part was. I live in a fairly small and remote community, where most of the professional photography studios focus on wedding and family portraits; there are just not the options that you’d have in a bigger place. I finally found someone with good equipment, a solid portfolio and ideas of how to create the kind of shots I wanted, and after lots of back and forth by email (and a makeover orchestrated by my sixteen-year-old daughter, but that is another story) we had the shoot scheduled. All told, it took over a month from finding a photographer to choosing the final shots I wanted, but I now have a set that are updated, professional and ready to go on any profile or publicity that I want — including the updated business cards I had made on this site.
From there, it was mostly a matter of going over Katie’s designs, giving feedback, and then redirecting my old site to the new one. When we were done, I rolled it out on my other social and professional media, along with a new blog post on a topic with a little broader appeal than what I normally write about.
It was a fair amount of work, and surprisingly involved when it came to things like the photography and the handoff from the old site to the new one. But I now have a site that reflects who I am now as a faculty development professional and writer, separate from my university faculty identity, that looks great and works smoothly. I can focus on producing blog content while Katie’s company tends to site maintenance, which is a welcome relief.
As for whether the site does draw in new readers and new clients, time will tell. But, within a few days of the rollout, I got a new booking, which is encouraging. I’ve also seen more social media response to my blog, lots more, than what I’d been used to.
It’s traditional to end a post like this with advice for people who want to attempt something similar, to which I would simply say: Do it.
And after that: Get help.
Ideally, help from someone who has worked specifically with academic professionals. To be effective, they will need to understand exactly what you’re trying to accomplish with your online presence, which is likely very different than what someone in corporate consulting, say, or lifestyle blogging would be trying to accomplish. It is a good feeling to feel well represented online, and once you have it done, there’s not much work involved in keeping it going.
If your work extends beyond your own university’s walls — and if you are an academic today, it almost certainly does — your online presence matters. Doubly so if you’re looking for opportunities for your own practice, or for a new position. I’m glad I finally took care of mine.
