As an academic you want to build a website that reflects your brand and academic profile. In today’s world, it is as important as ever to have a streamlined web presence in order to maximize your potential both inside and outside of academe. One critical factor in building your academic profile is to include the essentials on your personal academic website.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUILDING YOUR ACADEMIC BRAND?
Use this 9-item checklist to ensure that your website portrays your personal academic brand in the best possible light.
(This checklist works best in conjunction with the Power Your Research branding program)
- Do you have professionally taken photographs of you on your website?
You want to use the highest quality photos of yourself. This demonstrates that you take yourself seriously. Don’t use low-quality photographs taken with your smartphone. FOR INSPIRATION CHECK OUT THIS EXAMPLE OF A PERSONAL ACADEMIC WEBSITE - Do you have a professionally designed and engaging website layout?
A professionally designed and engaging website layout helps to capture what your academic brand (See Power Your Research branding module in the e-course) is all about. It’s also a way of treating yourself like a true brand. It shows that you are taking yourself seriously. If you need help designing an aesthetically pleasing layout Fiverr is a good place to start. You want your website to be sticky – that is people stay a while and it is interactive. - Is Your Niche/ Differentiation Clear?
Your website should set you apart in some way from other academics in your field of study/ interest. What makes your brand “pop”? What do you do or present that others like you don’t? What value do you add to your niche area of study? Most academics have a headline at the top of their site that says something like “Scholar-Educator-Researcher” or some variation of that. If you want media coverage and more visibility, your heading should differentiate you. This is where branding comes in. Check out the Power Your Research branding module in the e-course for examples. WANT TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR ACADEMIC WORK STAND OUT? - Do you have social proof on your website?
Social proof can be testimonials from people you’ve worked with, past clients, students or anything related to your academic brand. I have a website and media kit that has excerpts from participants in my workshops as well as media outlet links to articles I’ve been featured in. Use your best examples of social proof – the ones with the most impact and public recognition. WANT TO LEARN HOW TO CREATE SOCIAL PROOF TO BUILD YOUR VISIBILITY AS AN ACADEMIC? - Do you have a contact page/ form?
Make it easy for media, organizations, collaborators, etc to get in touch with you. Have a contact form on your site in which the form goes right to your email address. On your contact page, you may want to give visitors different options for why they’re contacting you. For example, general requests, working together, speaking requests, media interviews, etc.
- Do you have a compelling “About” page?
Your “About” page is both where you tell your story and reiterate your differentiation as well as your area(s) of expertise. It’s a place for you to talk about why you do what you do. Why you’re so passionate about your research and why your research matters. Use your “About” page to explain how you arrived where you currently are and what your mission is.
Want the rest of this list? Get an in-depth website overview and a website audit for academics with Power Your Research HERE.
A big part of building a brand as an academic is properly starting an LLC. You can do this in minutes HERE. Northwest is who I trust for all my business formation needs.
Want better quality video and audio? I use the following mic and webcam for all my live videos:
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