Chapter 2: From Static Resume to Strategic Asset
Most people's first website is a digital resume.
They buy a domain. They pick a template. They fill in the boxes: About, Resume, Portfolio, Contact. They publish it. They tell themselves, "Great, now I have a web presence."
Then they wonder why nothing happens.
No traffic. No opportunities. No inbound inquiries. Just a static page sitting on the internet, waiting for someone to stumble across it.
I built that exact website in 2003. Then again in 2007. And 2010. And 2015.
Each time, I told myself this version would be different. This time, I'd keep it updated. This time, I'd drive traffic to it. This time, it would actually do something for my career.
It never did.
Because I was treating a strategic problem like a publishing problem.
I thought the hard part was building the site. It's not. The hard part is making the site discoverable, authoritative, and useful in a world where millions of other professionals have the exact same idea.
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The Static Resume Problem
Here's what most people miss about personal websites:
Having a website doesn't mean you have a web presence.
Your website is just a file sitting on a server somewhere. It doesn't do anything by itself. It doesn't attract visitors. It doesn't build your reputation. It doesn't open doors.
It's a tool. And like any tool, it's only useful if you know how to use it.
Most people treat their personal website like a business card. Something to hand out when asked. "Oh, you want to know more about me? Here's my site."
But that's passive. You're waiting for people to ask. You're hoping they remember to visit. You're relying on chance.
That worked in 2005. It doesn't work in 2026.
Now, you're competing with:
AI-generated answers that pull information from structured sources
Knowledge Panels that answer questions before anyone clicks
Social media profiles that show up higher in search than your website
Other professionals with better SEO, better content, and better systems
If your website is just a static resume, you're already losing.
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What "Discoverable" Actually Means
Let me tell you what changed my thinking.
In 2020, I was running three organizations simultaneously. Firmspace (commercial real estate). Testicular Cancer Foundation (nonprofit). Gryt Health (health tech). I was writing books. I was consulting. I was doing work that should have made me easy to find.
But when people Googled "Kenny Kane," they still found the comedian first.
I had a website. It was professional. It had my resume, my portfolio, my contact information. Everything a "good" personal website is supposed to have.
And it was completely ineffective at making me discoverable.
Here's what I mean by "discoverable":
Discoverable means:
When someone searches for your name, they find accurate information about you
When someone searches for what you do, you show up as a relevant result
When AI systems answer questions about your field, you get cited
When opportunities arise, people can verify your credibility quickly
Discoverable doesn't mean:
You have a website (everyone has a website)
You're on social media (everyone is on social media)
You show up on Google (so does everyone else with your name)
The difference is strategic infrastructure, not digital presence.
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My Website Evolution (Or: How I Learned the Hard Way)
Let me walk you through my actual journey so you can skip the parts that didn't work.
2015: The Basic Template Era
I launched kenny-kane.com in the mid-2010s with one goal: control more digital real estate so Google would show me higher in search results.
The thinking was simple. If I had more pages about Kenny Kane that I controlled, Google would rank those pages higher than the comedian's site or random LinkedIn profiles.
So I built a website. It was a direct rip-off of successful people's sites. A photo. A greeting. A quick about section. A resume.
It looked professional. It looked like I knew what I was doing.
It did absolutely nothing for my career.
2013-2015: The Blogging Discovery
Around 2013, I started getting interested in blogging. Not because I wanted to be a "content creator" or build an audience. I just wanted to document what I was learning.
I was working as COO at Stupid Cancer, building ecommerce systems, implementing CRMs, testing software that was supposed to make nonprofit operations easier. And I'd write about it.
"Here's how we set up Zendesk for customer support."
"Here's why we migrated from Volusion to BigCommerce."
"Here's what worked and what didn't."
Something unexpected happened.
The software companies noticed.
BigCommerce reached out and offered me a paid hybrid marketing/blogging role. A brand ambassadorship where I'd write about ecommerce strategy and get paid for it.
Then Practical Ecommerce (an industry publication) invited me to write a regular column.
Then Forbes Member Council reached out, which gave me the ability to publish on Forbes.com and got me verified on X (then Twitter) back when that actually meant something.
None of this came from my resume website. It came from blogging about what I was actually doing.
The Job Offer That Changed Everything
In 2016, I got a job offer from the Testicular Cancer Foundation to become their CEO.
The offer included relocation to Austin, Texas. A complete career shift. A chance to lead a national organization.
I'd known the founder for about five years. We'd become friends through the cancer advocacy world, and when the opportunity came, the relationship was already there.
But here's what I didn't know until I showed up for the job: my blog posts had been printed out and shared among the team in the office. The writing I'd been doing publicly about nonprofit operations, ecommerce systems, and organizational strategy --- people on the team had been reading it. It was already part of how they understood what I could bring to the role.
The relationship got me in the door. The writing proved I knew what I was doing.
That's when I understood: Your website isn't supposed to be a digital resume. It's supposed to be proof that you know what you're doing.
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The "More Is More" Trap
Before I understood structured data and systems thinking, I believed in volume.
More blog posts. More social media profiles. More websites. More content. More presence.
The logic seemed sound: if I create enough content, someone will find me and offer me exciting opportunities.
And that actually worked. To a point.
The Forbes column happened because of volume. The BigCommerce partnership happened because of consistency. The TCF job happened because I'd built a body of work that proved my expertise.
But volume has diminishing returns.
You can only write so many blog posts. You can only post on so many platforms. You can only maintain so many websites before it becomes a full-time job.
And even if you do all of that, you're still fighting the disambiguation problem. When someone Googles "Kenny Kane," they still get a blended result of everyone with that name.
Volume doesn't solve that. Structure does.
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What I Actually Use My Website For Now
My current approach is completely different from 2015.
Then: Static resume website hoping someone would find it
Now: Dynamic hub that makes me discoverable by machines and humans
Here's what my website actually does now:
1. It's a growing index of everything in my head
I'm a big fan of learning in public. I do something, then I use AI to help me write about it in my voice. I keep it authentic. I don't use AI to sound smarter than I am or write about things I don't understand.
Every blog post is documentation of real work. Real problems. Real solutions.
Over time, this creates a searchable archive of my thinking. When someone asks, "Has Kenny written about nonprofit AI adoption?" they can search my blog and find the answer.
2. It houses the structured data that makes me discoverable
My website isn't just HTML and CSS anymore. It's wrapped in schema markup that tells Google exactly who I am, what I do, and how I'm connected to other authoritative entities.
This is invisible to human visitors. But it's critical for search engines and AI systems.
3. It's the hub, not the destination
I don't expect people to visit kenny-kane.com and read through my entire archive.
Instead, my website is the authoritative source that other platforms reference:
Google pulls from it for Knowledge Panel information
AI systems cite it when answering questions about me
Social media profiles link to it for verification
Wikidata references it as a citation source
The website is infrastructure, not marketing.
4. It requires minimal maintenance
I've rebuilt my website probably 10 times over the years. WordPress, Squarespace, back to WordPress, back to Squarespace.
I used to chase PageSpeed scores and Lighthouse metrics. I'd obsess over load times and technical SEO details that barely moved the needle.
Now I use Squarespace because it lets me move fast. The design is solid. The blog is easy to update. The structure is clean.
I'm done chasing vanity metrics. I care about:
Can I publish quickly?
Is the structured data correct?
Does it make me discoverable?
Everything else is noise.
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The System vs. The Site
Here's the shift worth understanding:
A static resume website is a publishing project. You build it once. You update it occasionally. You hope people find it.
A strategic digital presence is a system. It's blog + schema markup + Wikidata + social profiles + citations + ongoing updates.
The system compounds over time. Each blog post adds to your searchable archive. Each citation strengthens your authority. Each piece of structured data makes you easier for machines to understand.
The static site just sits there.
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What This Means for You
You don't need to become a full-time content creator.
You don't need to post on LinkedIn every day.
You don't need to build a massive following or chase influencer status.
But you do need to shift your thinking from "I need a website" to "I need a system that makes me discoverable."
That system includes:
A website that houses structured data (not just a digital resume)
Content that proves you know what you're doing (not volume for volume's sake)
Schema markup that tells machines who you are (not just humans)
Citations and connections to authoritative sources (not isolated presence)
The rest of this book will show you how to build that system.
Not by creating more work for yourself. Not by becoming someone you're not.
By understanding how discovery actually works in 2026 and using that knowledge strategically.
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The Reality Check
I still don't have the perfect website.
I've switched platforms multiple times. I've chased metrics that didn't matter. I've rebuilt things that were working fine.
But here's what I do have:
A system that makes me discoverable.
When someone Googles "Kenny Kane CEO," they find me.
When someone searches for "nonprofit AI adoption," my blog posts show up.
When ChatGPT or Claude answers questions about testicular cancer advocacy or commercial real estate operations, I get cited.
When opportunities arise, people can verify my credibility in seconds.
That's not because I have the perfect website. It's because I stopped treating my website as a publishing project and started treating it as strategic infrastructure.
Your website isn't your resume. It's the foundation of your digital ecosystem.
And in the next chapter, we'll start building that foundation the right way.
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