WotW: Show the World Your Fancy New Digital Business Card

In the olden days (about a decade or so ago), people used to share their contact information using these annoying little pieces of paper called business cards. OK, they’re still around, though you’d never guess it from the unused stack of them on my desk at work. Today, though, everything is digital. There are apps that allow you to quickly share your information with people you meet.

But wouldn’t it be nice if you had one place online that was your digital business card? Enter About.me.

This free service allows you to create a personalized page all about you. It’s the digital equivalent of a business card, and then some, because not only can people see your picture and read your bio, they can also visit any of your social media profiles or blogs and easily follow you with the click of a link.

Setting up an About.me page takes about a half an hour. You start with uploading a background image, or you can use one of their built-in options. The best backgrounds are pictures of you that are off centered, leaving plenty of room on one side of the screen for your bio to live.

Next, you write your bio. You can add basic formatting and links inside your bio. You can also add details about where you work, your education, where you live and any other tags that you want to apply to yourself to help people find you.

From there, you can fine tune the look and feel of your page, modifying colors, fonts and positioning. Finally, you can connect your social media accounts and blog, making it super easy for people to follow you.

Your About.me page is given a unique URL (example: about.me/your-name-here), which is great for making a short, easy-to-remember URL you can share with people.

A great use for About.me is to include a link to it your page in the signature of your emails. You could also throw it on a traditional business card.

Besides just giving you a free page, About.me also has a robust community. You can explore other users’ profiles and compliment them or add them to a collection. No, this isn’t a binders full of women kind of thing, it’s just an easy way for you to group together people you know. About.me will start the process for you by searching for your Facebook and/or Twitter friends who are already on About.me.

I’ve used many different resume and personal profile sites before, but there’s something about the simplicity of About.me that I love. People can quickly get a feel for you and then engage with you on all your favorite social media channels, if they so desire.

This is perfect for business professionals, bloggers, or anyone who wants to expand their digital footprint. And in the age where anybody can post anything about you, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re in the driver’s seat about what’s being said about you.

Give it a try and check out my profile. I found About.me to be enjoyable and fun to customize and I’m pleased with the results.