My thought here is that I’m going to be myself. For the people who see that and like the ‘me’ I’m injecting into the site will be more likely to contact me about work. Is it possible I can lose some people who might have called, but don’t see the site the way I’m intending? Sure, but overall the net gain should outweigh the net loss.

You’re site will never be everything to all people so don’t try to make it that way. In my case I determined that people were hiring in me in part, because they liked me as a person. So I tried to get more of me across in the site.

If I did that poorly, it won’t work. If I did it well, it should work and the end result should be a positive gain.

Like you mentioned, so many factors go into the sites personality. Color scheme, sentence structure, and layout.

How can a person be sure the viewing public perceives their site the way they intended?

I agree with Tanner. I do think a site’s personality and the feeling you get from it are tied together, but it is the emotion it makes you feel that’s what makes the site engaging.

I guess the site that fails is the one that emphasizes style over substance. Make that’s akin to having a fake personality.

When it comes to brand I think a lot of small business owners think it’s something beyond them. They see it as a big budget kind of thing. But I’ve always felt the consistency part was the more important component. If your actions can be consistent with the image you want to convey you will build a brand. It may not reach far at first, but it will still be strong with the community that knows you.

I think Tanner raises a good point, and travels in the same direction that I was when I wrote my post – breath some life into your site, give it some emotion, make it engaging, and keep it from being a cookie cutter imitation of many thousands of other sites. I think you’ve done a great job of that with your redesign.

I like the questions and points about brand that you raise in your post. I think those are important for site owners and business owners to keep in mind.

I do agree though, that in the end it’s how the site makes you feel.

Is the website friendly, helpful, or welcoming? Does it make you feel like you are smart for reading it or like a genius for sticking around? Or does the website make you feel dumb or like you’re wasting your time?

Personality is great, but it’s how the personality makes you feel that really makes a difference.