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My $7 I-forgot-my-business-cards insurance policy

UPDATE: Plenty of folks asked, so I’ve created a zip archive of the index.php and css stylesheet for the ImetMatt.com site. Believe me when I tell you that they are as simple as can be. You can download the files here. If you create your own site, let me know….I might add a gallery of sites here if more than two crop up. Thanks, Matt.

Last month, at a Cleveland Indians baseball game, I met an incredibly interesting person that has quickly turned into a key contact for me and the firm. Even though we talked for only a few minutes, we made one of those “this is someone I have to follow-up with” connections.

I had a problem, though. I didn’t have my business cards. I was with the family (as I usually am when attending Indians games) and, in the hubub of getting two young boys ready for a ballgame, forgot my handy-dandy Levenger Pocket Briefcase that carries a spare 5 to 10 cards, and that I always usually take with me.

She was talking with someone else in line, so I had a few minutes to think on my feet. I came up with a solution that, honestly, I thought was goofy at the time, but that I’ve grown to appreciate. I thought “I need a memorable, personal (i.e., not the firm) domain precisely for this situation…one that functions solely to convey my contact info to folks I meet.”

I checked a few domains and settled on IMetMatt.com. I told my new friend about my gaff on the business cards, and then mentioned the domain (not mentioning the fact that I wouldn’t purchase it until later that evening). “Remember – I Met Matt – Go there tonight and jot down my info.”

Later that evening, I cobbled together an index.php file that does just one thing – presents an image of my business card (with a link to the firm site).

It worked. She called. Several times, in fact.

And now, for about $7 a year, I’ll always be prepared for those situations when I find myself unprepared.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 4:12 pm and is filed under firm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Discussion

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Comments

  • Scheherazade
    # posted on 09.24.08 at 4:49 pm

    I love this.

  • Nipper
    # posted on 09.24.08 at 5:43 pm

    Genius!

  • Tim
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 10:32 am

    This is a great idea – I’ve wrestled with having to help people spell my domain – this is so much simpler.

  • Ingrid
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 10:42 am

    This is brilliant! :)

  • Matt buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 10:48 am

    Thanks guys. It’s really a simple idea but is effective. I’ve even started using it for situations when I didn’t actually forget my cards. People remember it and seem to follow-up with it.

    If anyone implements there own version of it, please post a link to your site in a comment. Feel free to use the index and css files from IMetMatt.com if you want. Ping me if you want me to email them to you.

  • Trish Lambert
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 10:53 am

    This is one of those so-simple ideas that is sooo brilliant! I’m without cards more often than I like to admit, and giving people my URL (even the one that’s my name) takes them to way more info than they need up front. I’m going to JUMP on this Matt!

  • adelle
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:02 am

    This is a brilliant idea! Im going to buy imetadelle.com now :) thanks!

  • Bertil Hatt
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:02 am

    Does it scale?

  • Bill Biwer
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:12 am

    This is awesome idea. Completely worth the domain reg. cost.

  • 1q1b
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:19 am

    why didn’t i think of that?? thanks for sharing!

  • James
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:26 am

    Just bought imetjames.com !!! This is just great! :)

  • Aaron Irizarry
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:35 am

    Great idea I am sold!!!

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:39 am

    Trish – That’s the beauty of the idea. I have a few sites, but they’re all designed to convey a lot of information (the firm site, my personal blog, etc.). Being without cards forced me to think it through in my head – “go to this site, click on ‘contact me’, etc….” – and decided there had to be a better way.

    I think it works for two reasons:

    1. The memorable domain. I don’t have to spell my name or rely on them to remember it; and
    2. The site does one thing – presents my business card. Nothing else.

    I hope it works for you, too.

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:42 am

    Bertil -

    Does it scale? I thought about it, but I think it works best with simple domains (no subdomains, directories, etc.). And I’m not really interested in owning and managing a handfull of IMetX domains.

    Do you see scalability somewhere?

  • ptamaro
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:42 am

    Have you tried MeeID (http://www.meeid.com), it’s free.

    For example…
    * http://www.meeid.com/ptamaro

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:46 am

    ptamaro – I have not tried meeid. I see two problems with it, though:

    1. I have to explain the meeid url to the person (”mee, with an extra ‘e’); and
    2. I have to explain my meeid handle to them (e.g., “ptarmo, as in paul tarmo..all one word, with a slash after meeid.com”).

  • James
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 11:49 am

    Even though I’ve taken your advice and registered the domain for my name I cannot imagine myself putting it to good use… At first glance it seems quite pretentious to me… What do you think?

    I’ll probably get used to it, I’m just saying that was my first thought upon visiting this post. :)

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 12:00 pm

    James -

    I didn’t think about the potential for it being viewed as pretentious. Really didn’t cross my mind. I was just looking for an effective tool for a specific purpose…and this worked.

    I hope it works for you, too, but if you think the potential for it being viewed as pretentious is too great, just park the domain…or sell it to another James (which, by the way, is what the ‘j’ stands for in my full name. ;-) ).

    Have fun.

  • Tom Haney
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 1:13 pm

    I’m also going to put a link to a vcard file. Many cell phones will take a vcard file from the mobile browser into the contact list. Easier than beaming it :)

  • Kevin Mason
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 1:16 pm

    Fantastic idea Matt! I’d love the css and index.php codes if you don’t mind?!

    So….you didn’t tell us, did the Tribe actually win that night?

  • Chris M.
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 1:20 pm

    Fantastic idea in my opinion. I grabbed IMetChris.com. I have a big problem with remembering my business cards and it’s easier to remember than my websites original URL.

    I’m interested in how it might seem pretentious?

  • Wade Munday
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 1:58 pm

    Great idea Matt.

    I recently saw a similar idea for an “online business card” and went out and created an online biz card at http://www.wademunday.info

    I went one step further and added links to a couple of social networking sites (e.g. twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc.) that I frequent.

    Tried to register IMetWade.com, but someone had already taken the domain.

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 2:15 pm

    Tom -

    The vCard is the obvious addition that I overlooked. Thanks for the tip. I added a stripe below the card on my site that presents a link for downloading my card.

    If you’re going to do this yourself, you might need to update the MIME types on your server to provide an Address Book importable vCard. This discussion at the Apple support forums can help. If you’re on a CPanel server, it’s an easy thing to do.

  • Filip
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 3:12 pm

    Good idea…

    My only question is.. where do you get a domain for $7!?

    I usually pay $9.99/yr at GoDadds.
    :)

  • Janet Fouts
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 3:19 pm

    Fantastic idea. I used to think it was pretentious to use my name for my domain, but after years of having to spell the company name, explain that it’s TATU not Tatoo, etc, this is easier.

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 3:43 pm

    Plenty of folks have asked, so I created a zip archive of the index.php and css stylesheet for the ImetMatt site. Believe me when I tell you that they are as simple as can be.

    If you want to create your own, download the files here and upload them to your server. There is no readme as I’m assuming anyone wanting to do this will know what to do. I’ll try to create a simple instruction file soon.

    If you create your own site, let me know….I might add a gallery/listing of sites here if more than two crop up. Email me at matt@bipo.us. Enjoy.

  • Stu | Self Conlusion
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 4:28 pm

    Great Idea :)

  • Renee
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 5:17 pm

    This probably will not work for me, but only because no one ever knows how to spell my name correctly! It’s R-E-N-E-E with four e’s and no a’s please! Haha. I also always have a pen and paper, so I can always write down my web address and they can contact me there. This is a creative and mind provoking idea however.

  • Renee
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 5:17 pm

    ^ — SEE i EVEN spell my name wrong! It has three e’s! *blush* Ha ha. Oh the irony!

  • jen
    # posted on 09.25.08 at 6:40 pm

    Great idea! I registered imetjen.com

  • Gary Branger
    # posted on 09.26.08 at 12:54 pm

    Thanks Matt. You are brilliant!

  • Gary Branger
    # posted on 09.26.08 at 2:08 pm

    Quick follow for those who don’t have a hosting service. I’m using blogger. Not as “high tech” as Matt’s, but does the job and is fast to get it out there.

    Thanks again Matt.

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 09.26.08 at 3:36 pm

    Gary –

    Thanks for the note. I like the Blogger approach…nice tweak!

  • Todd Albertson
    # posted on 10.07.08 at 11:38 am

    Great idea. Very creative. Very well done!

  • Mike
    # posted on 10.07.08 at 4:25 pm

    Okay, dumb question….I’m used to working with index.html files. I see your file is a php file. How do you edit a php file? When you upload it to the root, is it the same as an index.html file? Thanks for the help — I only know the v-e-r-y basics.

    Great idea!

  • Tania
    # posted on 10.07.08 at 4:44 pm

    This is the BUSINESS! Thanks so much for this!

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 10.07.08 at 10:21 pm

    Mike –

    There are no dumb questions! PHP provides language that is executed before the html code is sent to the browser. You can edit a php file in any standard text editor, just like html files.

    I have a habit of writing everything to include php…even when it’s not there. The index.php file included in the download falls into this category – even though it has a .php extension, there is no php in it. You could rename it to index.html and it would work fine.

    So, you can either:
    1. Edit the original file (the index.php file) in your favorite text editor, and then upload it to your web server; or
    2. Rename the original file to index.html, edit it in your favorite text editor, and then upload it to your web server.

    Either way, the required editing is simple.

    I hope this helps. If you need any more help or info, please feel free to ping me privately.

  • Matt Buchanan
    # posted on 10.07.08 at 10:24 pm

    Todd -

    Thanks for the kind comment – I’m glad you like it. I also like what you did on your site, with the ‘lifestream‘ page. I might incorporate something like this into IMetMatt.com v. 2.0. ;-)

    Thanks again.

  • Griffin Caprio
    # posted on 10.19.08 at 10:15 pm

    So I’ve taken matts original design and made a bunch of changes:

    1 ) Everything is text for better SEO
    2 ) Added hcard microformats
    3 ) Corrected HTML so that it’s valid
    4 ) Added iphone redirect to iphone optimized version.

    Check out my site at http://www.imetgriffin.com. There is a link at the bottom of the page to download the new files.

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