Brand Yourself: 4 Easy Tips for Building a Personal Website

We all know where everything and everybody else can be found nowadays: online.

Whether it is a well-known celebrity, a local politician, a blogger/influencer, or a budding entrepreneur, at one point or another, we have probably stumbled upon various kinds of web pages and wondered how these people were able to build their own websites.

Fortunately, expert coding skills and advanced digital know-how are not a requirement for anyone to learn how to build a website from scratch. In fact, we are all just as capable as the others in building our own personal websites, if we know where to start.

Here are some easy tips to do just that:

Narrow down the niche

Before anything else, we need to determine the main reason for putting up the website. Remember that in creating a personal website, there should be a specific end goal in mind. Otherwise, we may be aiming our efforts in several directions and accomplishing very little in return.

Many online users, for example, want to create a website so that they can put up a blog as an avenue to express themselves or bring awareness to their cause. Others aim to jumpstart an online selling business and therefore need a place to attract and accommodate their online customers. Some students and job seekers, on the other hand, find that an online portfolio displayed on a personal website can help them in terms of forging their chosen career path.

Whatever the main reason, the website’s goals will have to be eventually aligned with our chosen niche. The more narrowed down and specific it is, the more we can tailor-fit the website’s structure and strategize its content to address our goals and needs.

Choose the perfect spot

Creating a personal website is like establishing residence online. Here, we can house whatever content we want for all the online community to see and visit. 

For those of us who want a simple and easy-to-setup platform (think a personal blog or an online portfolio) WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and many other popular content management systems exist for our self-hosting needs. On the other hand, entrepreneurs who would like to start venturing their businesses online can benefit from a wide range of e-commerce specialist platforms such as Shopify, Volusion and the like. Depending on the niche and goal, the platform exists to help users find the right tools to build and manage a website.

After choosing the appropriate platform that will complement the website’s niche, the domain name and hosting decisions are next. There are many do’s and don’ts when it comes to choosing the right domain name, most of which revolve around recall and credibility, to make the website’s URL stand out. When it comes to domain hosting, paid domains are often chosen because they are more professional-sounding and they give the website owner more control. If budget is an issue, however, there are also free domains that exist to help beginners in jumpstarting their personal website plan.

Create strategic content

Online users usually visit websites to satisfy their need for specific content. If the website we build comes with a good online content strategy, it stands a fair chance of remaining active and achieving its purpose. These days, website content is not limited to written articles. Technology has made it possible for content to be presented in various forms (such as podcasts, videos, infographics, high-resolution photos), thus appealing to every kind of online visitor the website may encounter.

Aside from variety, a unique voice and content format can go a long way, when it comes to making a personal website standout. We all have our share of favorite bloggers and website owners, and for sure they have their signature moves. Some prefer long-form content, while others like to keep it short and sweet. No matter what the approach, the content we generate on our website must be created with our target users in mind.

Add a personal touch

After deciding on a goal, securing the website’s location, and creating the site’s content, it’s time to give the website a personal feel. Apart from interesting articles and posts, it is equally important to choose a structure and design that will reflect the overall message and appeal that the website is meant to project. Site visitors get their first impression on a website’s design, hence, a standout visual (such as a personal logo or a unique brand color) is helpful for better website recall.

Creating a website these days is essential, but it is no longer just a job for the pros. With a little bit of research and careful planning, anyone can create a personal website and get it up and running in no time. Having a specific niche in mind is crucial to get the ball rolling in the right direction. An appropriate website platform and the right domain name secures the website’s location, while content and design will bring in online traffic.

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