There was a time when if you wanted to be found, you paid to be in the Yellow Pages. You bought your half-page ad, they printed your name and number, and when somebody needed what you sold, they flipped to your category and called whoever looked most trustworthy. That was it. That was the game.
The Yellow Pages gave way to Google. Google is giving way to AI-powered search. And right now, at this exact moment, your ideal client is typing something into a search bar — describing a problem, looking for a solution, trying to find the right person.
The question is whether they find you — or they find your competitor.
Your website is how you answer that question. And unlike the old Yellow Pages, this one works for you twenty-four hours a day, belongs entirely to you, and follows you wherever your career takes you. Here is how to build it right.
Step One: Own Your Address
Before you build a single page, you need to make the most important decision in your entire online presence: your domain name.
Go to GoDaddy or any domain registrar and buy your address. This is not optional. This is not something you do when you get around to it. This is the foundation everything else sits on.
Your own first and last name is often the best choice — if it is available, grab it. If you have built a niche identity around what you do, something that reflects that specialty can work too. Either way, keep it short. Keep it simple. Make it something people can remember and spell the first time they hear it out loud. If you have to explain the spelling in a conversation, the name is too long.
Avoid words like “super,” “fantastic,” or “ultra.” They are hard to brand and easy to forget. And avoid anything tied to a company you work for — because here is the thing most salespeople never think about until it is too late: if you leave that company tomorrow, your website stays with you. Your domain stays with you. Your clients can still find you. That kind of ownership is exactly what you are building toward.
“Keep it short. Keep it simple. Make it something people can remember the first time they hear it.” — B
Step Two: Get a Professional Headshot — No Excuses
This is non-negotiable. A phone photo against a white wall does not cut it. A cropped group photo from a wedding does not cut it. A selfie in the car does not cut it.
Go to a photography studio and invest in a professional headshot. You will spend somewhere around $150 to $200, and that photo will live on your website, your LinkedIn, your Facebook, every piece of marketing material you put out. It is one of the best investments you will ever make in your career — and unlike almost every other investment, it only has to be made once.
When you go for the shoot, work with your photographer on wardrobe. Do not wear a white shirt against a white background — it washes everything out. A light pastel or neutral tone against a complementary background works much better. Let the photographer guide you. That is what you are paying them for.
If a professional shoot is not in the cards right now, here is a solid shortcut: take the best photo you can on your phone, then drop it into Claude or ChatGPT with a prompt asking it to make the image look professional — waist up, natural lighting, business casual. AI can clean up a decent photo and make it look polished fast. Just be careful. Do not let it erase every wrinkle and take ten years off your face. A few lines say experienced. You want to look natural and professional — not like a stock photo.
“Don’t be afraid of a little gray hair or a few wrinkles. Sometimes those things tell your client: this person has been around the block. They know what they’re doing.” — B
Step Three: Write a Bio That Makes Strangers Want to Work With You
Your bio lives on the front page of your website and it has one job: make someone who has never met you decide they want to work with you. It needs to be personal enough to make them like you, professional enough to make them trust you, and specific enough to make them think — this is exactly the person I need.
Keep it to one page. Structure it in three parts.
Part One: Who You Are
This is your origin story. Where you have been and what you have done. Do not be afraid of your past. Spent fifteen years in a service industry before moving into sales? That is proof you know how to work with people. Raised a family before coming back to the workforce? That is discipline and commitment. The experience you bring to the table — whatever it looks like — is part of what makes you trustworthy.
What you want people to see is a human being, not a walking sales pitch. They need to like you. They need to relate to you. The first paragraph is where that happens.
Part Two: What You Do — And How It Helps
This is where most people go wrong. They describe what they sell in terms of features and products. Do not do that.
Do not say “I sell homeowners insurance.” Say: “I help high-end homeowners with properties valued over one million dollars make sure everything they have worked for is properly protected at a price that makes sense for their budget.” That is not a product description. That is a pain solution. And a pain solution makes people lean in.
Never mention price in your bio. Never mention commission. Talk about how you help, in what way you help, and give an example of the result. That is the whole formula.
Part Three: How to Reach You
Keep this simple — but do it smartly. Use a professional email address connected to your own domain, not a corporate email and not a personal Gmail. If corporate shuts your email down when you leave, every client trying to reach you hits a dead end. Your domain email stays yours forever.
Same principle applies to your phone number. Do not give out your personal cell. Get a VoIP number that forwards to your phone — services like Google Voice, eVoice, or Nextiva start around thirty dollars a month. Every call rings your phone, but your personal number never shows up on the client’s caller ID. You own the number. If corporate disappears, the number stays with you.
“Own your phone number the same way you own your domain name. If it belongs to corporate, it leaves with corporate.” — B
Step Four: Understand Why the Words on Your Website Actually Matter
Here is something most salespeople do not know: search engine spiders — the little programs that crawl the internet and decide what shows up on Google — read the text on your pages looking for keywords and phrases. When your ideal client types a search describing their pain, your site needs to speak that language.
This is the beginning of SEO — search engine optimization. And it starts with one simple question: what does my ideal client type into Google when they are looking for what I sell?
Not what you call it. What they call it. There is a difference. You might call it a BOP policy. Your client calls it business insurance. You might call it a HEPA filtration system. Your client calls it an allergy air filter. Write in their language, not yours.
Then layer in the local angle. People search with location. “Million dollar home insurance Grosse Pointe” lands differently than “homeowners insurance Michigan.” The more specific you are — the more your words match the exact phrase your ideal client is typing at eleven o’clock at night when they are worried about something — the better your site shows up. That is not a technicality. That is the whole game.
“It’s all about the words your client is looking for — the things they type into Google when they have a problem and need a solution.” — B
Step Five: Add a Blog — Because That’s What Google Is Looking For
Your one-page website is only half of what makes this work. The other half is a blog connected to that front page.
Here is why: Google loves words. TikTok videos and Instagram reels are great for reach, but they do not carry the same word weight in search results. Blogs do. Organized, purposeful, keyword-rich content that speaks directly to your ideal client’s pain — that is what puts you on the first page when someone goes looking.
And before you say you are not a writer — you do not have to be. You just have to talk. Use an app like Otter.ai to transcribe yourself explaining something to a client. Download that transcript and drop it into AI to turn it into a polished blog article. You are talking right now. You explain things to clients every day. That talking becomes content. That content becomes searchable. That search becomes a call.
WordPress is the easiest and most flexible platform to build on. Once it is set up, you can embed video, add audio, and drop in blog posts without needing a web developer every time. Build it correctly and it runs on its own.
The Bottom Line: Build Something Nobody Can Take From You
Your company’s website belongs to your company. Their social media page belongs to the platform. Their email system belongs to IT. The day you leave — or the day they let you go — all of it goes with them.
Your website is different. Your domain name is different. Your bio, your headshot, your blog content — all of it belongs to you, travels with you, and keeps working for you no matter where your career goes.
That is not a nice-to-have. That is the foundation of a real business. Build it correctly — around your name, your expertise, and your ideal client’s pain — and no job change, no product discontinuation, and no market shift can take it away from you.
“Your clients are searching for you right now. Someone is typing your ideal client’s exact pain point into Google at this very moment. The question is whether they find you — or they find your competitor.” — B
Build the foundation. Build it with their words. And let Google do the rest.
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This post is adapted from Salesperson’s Platbook by B, available now. If this resonated with you, reach out to DBG to learn how we help salespeople build a personal platform that works for them — in any market, at any stage of their career.
