It’s practically a given that a business has a website. With nearly 175 websites created every minute, you can find your favorite restaurant's dinner menu or shop your friend's clothing line with just a few clicks on your laptop or taps on your smartphone. But what about websites for individuals? Are there any instances where a person not connected to a larger company or a business may want to establish a home for their professional achievements or hobbies online?
If you’re asking yourself, Should I have a personal website?, this guide is for you. Read on to discover how having a website can benefit you, your new solopreneur venture, or your career.
These nine reasons can help you make up your mind:
Resumes can be a little limiting, especially if you have a lot to show a potential employer or a recruiter. If your story goes beyond a single piece of paper, a website is the ideal place to expound upon your skillset, experience, and education and showcase examples of past work. Potential employers and clients can also get a better sense of who you are and what you’re about by engaging with a beautiful personal website.
As you navigate how to build your website, you’ll learn a great deal about how to use different digital tools, how to write about yourself, and how to create a tasteful design. And at the end of it, you have a pretty product that in itself is a representation of your new skills!
There’s no doubt that employers tend to look at applicants’ social media profiles during the interview process. When searching your name, instead of having your private social media accounts be the first thing they see, let it be a personal website!
Hundreds of other people may be applying for the same opportunities that you’re trying to land. Having a website that goes more in-depth into your background shows that you put care and effort into your professional endeavors beyond simply putting together a resume. That extra initiative may be just the ticket to moving your name to the top of the list.
Especially when you have a common name, employers and potential clients may not know if they’re looking at the right “you” when looking up information about you online. Truth is, there’s likely to be a few people with your name, and you don’t want to create any confusion when you’re hoping to reach the right audience. When you have your own website with your information, bio, and photo, this potential employer will know for certain that they have found the right person.
Maybe your designs won second place at your university’s fashion show, or your article made it into the newspaper. Those are achievements you may want a potential employer or client to see. You can easily feature your best moments on a personal website, collecting them in one place so they can be quickly evaluated. To boot, showcasing your past work in a simple manner can help you look more polished than the competition that may be vying for the same spot, position, or connection.
A solid resume and experience can get you far when it comes to finding the perfect job, but a website has the potential to reach more people beyond the individuals reviewing your application. If a recruiter or a human resources professional is searching for a specialty or certain criteria, they may stumble upon your website – something they couldn’t do if you just applied to a certain job through a portal.
It's crucial to remember that personal websites aren't always compatible with Applicant Tracking Systems used by many large organizations. So, always maintain a standard resume alongside your personal website, and for ATS-friendly formats, consider exploring Wozber's extensive collection of resume examples.
You don’t have many opportunities to highlight your personality on a job application, but you certainly can on a website. From your layout to your photo, to the way you talk about yourself, folks can get a good idea of who you are without even meeting you! Implementing certain design elements and shapes on your website can indicate authority, trust, attraction, or other aspects of your personal or professional life you want others to learn about you.
If you put a bit of work into your site, it could become a source of passive income for you, especially if you like to blog about a certain subject. Through affiliate links, sponsored posts, pay-per-click advertising, banner advertising, and other methods, there’s a chance for you to earn some cash. If you’re lucky enough to build a strong following, there may be some spare change in your future.
For all the reasons it’s a good idea to build your own personal website, it’s totally reasonable if you have some hesitation about taking the plunge. Here are some of the most common reasons why you wouldn’t want to build and maintain a personal website.
Depending on your end goal, creating a website may cost you a few more dollars than you expected to spend. Most personal websites can be built on a platform that gives you everything you need, including an easy drag-and-drop builder, your domain name, your hosting space, and important security measures. However, that won’t always be the right fit for everyone. If you think that a simple website builder is right for you, check out Namecheap’s Site Maker, which offers templates for making your own website, however you want it. As an added bonus, you can test Site Maker for two weeks before you fully commit.
This is understandable! You may be concerned about putting too much information about yourself onto a website. But one of the best things about having a website all your own is that you’re in total control of what you share. If you don’t feel comfortable uploading a photo, adding certain details, or putting your precise contact information, you simply don’t have to do it.
Planning a website, especially if you’re a first-timer, may seem like a totally unfamiliar task. Luckily, there are plenty of videos and websites that can guide you through creating your own. If you’re not interested in learning to code, a drag-and-drop builder produces the same beautiful results with ease and requires zero web development training.
It’s a reasonable assumption to believe that you don’t have enough hours in a day to devote to a website, especially if you’ve never launched one before. Thankfully, with the right website builder, you can be up and running in quite literally minutes. Easy and intuitive drag-and-drop builders make the creation process a cinch.
The same goes for making updates. To keep your content fresh and appealing, regular edits are a must, but you may be concerned about the investment it takes to do so. Thankfully, edits can be as quick as creation, with intuitive site builders making changes to the text, images, and layout a breeze to master.
With many other platforms you can use to market yourself to employers or meet others who have the same interests, you may feel like adding a personal website would be redundant. While these platforms are certainly great places to search for careers, they’re limited in what you can do with them. You’re stuck with the tools they give you, and you don’t have as much room for personalization as you might with your own website.
Whether you’re in a creative profession and need a portfolio, you want to summarize your accomplishments on a website that’s not a social media network, or you’re looking for a new opportunity in your career, having a website can welcome many opportunities that you may not have discovered otherwise. Here are some ways that you can advance your career with a personal website:
While there may not be a requirement to have a personal website, there are certain professional fields where having an updated, attractive, and informative site is expected if you want to get ahead. Here are some examples:
Creating a personal website may not have been something you thought you needed before. However, a website dedicated to your professional endeavors, hobbies, or portfolio gives you the opportunity to reach out and connect with other people in ways that wouldn’t be possible without one. Thankfully, a drag-and-drop website builder like Namecheap’s Site Maker makes personal website creation simple and affordable for anyone and everyone.
To create a personal brand website, start by defining your niche and writing a brand story to share on your About page. Add other website pages to support your brand goals, like a portfolio page to showcase your past work. A personal brand logo should be featured in your website header to create a distinct look and build brand awareness.
Use a minimalist design with captivating imagery to make your personal portfolio website more engaging. In addition, organize the information on your website clearly by creating separate pages for the information you wish to share.
The pages for your personal website should be created based on the goals for your site. For example, a career-focused personal website can include the following pages:
Namecheap’s Site Maker is one of the best options for a DIY website builder. It guides you through the process of designing your site and includes everything you need to get up and running right away, including a domain name and hosting. Plus, there are lower rates available for users creating personal websites rather than business websites, so you can spend less on your custom site.
A logo can help make your personal website more memorable and unique. Namecheap’s Logo Maker is a great option for making a custom website logo. After you enter some basic information and design preferences, this AI logo maker instantly generates dozens of high-quality logo ideas. It’s completely free to use and integrates seamlessly with Site Maker.
From starting up to creating your site, here’s everything you need to make big splash online.
guideRead now
18 minsguideRead now11 minsguideRead now12 minsguideRead now10 minsguideRead now9 minsguideRead now10 minsguideRead now8 minsguideRead now9 minsguideRead now11 minsguideRead now8 minsguideRead now6 minsguideRead now9 mins
Need help? We're always here for you.