Should I have a personal website? How to make it worthwhile

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.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

9 reasons why you should have a personal website

These nine reasons can help you make up your mind:

1. Create something more engaging than a resume

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. 

2. Improve your skills 

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!

3.Manage your reputation online

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! 

4. Stand out from the competition

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.

5. Help ensure that the searcher found the right you

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.

6. Showcase your past work

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.

Photo by Designecologist from Pexels

7. Increase your chances of finding employment

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.

8. Show off your creative side

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. 

9. Earn some extra cash

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.

5 reasons why individuals don't need their own websites

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.

1. It’s an unnecessary expense 

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.

2. You may feel like it's too personal to share

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.

3. It seems too difficult to do

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. 

4. It’s time-consuming

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. 

5. There are other platforms that’ll showcase your work

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. 

How can having a website advance your career?

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: 

• Showcase your talents to recruiters. If you’re thinking about creating a website to list your professional achievements, great! But there can be way more to it than just posting a resume online. Think of your personal website as a more detailed and personalized version of that single-page resume you’d send to a recruiter. A website allows you to expound on your experience with examples, testimonials, images, a personal logo that represents you, and more information that a traditional resume simply cannot fit. For example, if you work in a creative industry, you’ll share your writing, designs, artwork, and more on your personal website. 

• Connect with other professionals who can help advance your career.  No matter what industry you’re in, a website not only gives you more publicity, it also can connect you to folks who have the same interests and career goals as you. Even if you’re not currently looking for a position or a new gig, you never know who may view your page and want to connect with you. 

• Your information is accessible. Prospective employers, fellow hobbyists, or potential clients can learn about you any time, day or night, when you have a website. You don’t even need to be available at that moment to pitch yourself — they can learn about you and what you do without picking up the phone. And if they do want to get in touch, a simple contact form means they can reach out and request more information at any time.

• Build your profile for search engine optimization (SEO). Every article, video, or picture you create can help boost the chances that someone searching the web for your services may come across your website. The more content you add to your website, the more likely a visitor is to stick around, which helps your SEO, too. This can ultimately make you easier to find online, increasing the possibility of meeting new people and getting in front of decision-makers in a natural way that works for you when you’re not actively “on the clock.” 

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Are there any jobs that require you to have 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:

• Photographers and videographers. Having a personal website is a must if you want to succeed in photography or videography. That’s because examples in this visual medium go a long way to win you more business. You can leverage a personal website to show off your favorite photos and clips, share more about the “how” and “why” behind a shoot, and offer packages to potential clients.
  
• Fashion designers. Just like many other industries, the fashion industry tends to look online for up-and-coming designers to work with their brands or design collaborations with them. By creating a website, you can prove your passion for fashion by showcasing your designs through digital photo galleries and videos and provide details about why someone should work with you.
  
• Fitness trainers. Living a healthy lifestyle won’t go out of style, but some folks may need a bit of help making positive changes. You can market yourself as a personal trainer online to reach those folks. Add your credentials and any training or experience you have, share testimonials from previous clients, give examples of plans you’ve made, and finish it off with pictures of results. Whether this is your full-time career or simply a side gig, a website goes a long way to legitimize that what you do is above board.
  
• Pastry and specialty chefs. You may not have a brick-and-mortar bakery or offer full-scale catering services, but if you like to bake or decorate cakes for friends and family, a website can help you keep your past projects in one place. Even if you just like to bake as a hobby, a personal website with your information may bring in other enthusiasts who want to share their creations and tips with you.
  
• Educators. Whether you’re a professor, teacher, or tutor on the side, a website can help you find new clients, market your skill set to potential employers, and help you better connect with your students by showing parts of your personality. Use this space to detail your academic achievements, including your degree, references, and areas of interest, along with personal information about yourself.

Create a personal website to get a leg up

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.