If you are a professional and want to look more legit, network, and become an authoritative person in your industry, a website can not do all of those things for you but it can be the place where those things happen. A personal website will not automatically make all of your dreams come true, you still have to work hard for that, but it can help you in the process. In this article, I will go over some of the ways creating and maintaining a personal website can help you as a persona and a professional. 

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If and when you get to the stage where your site is built and looking great, you might want to look into ways of monetizing your website and treat it as a business once you have built a good online presence for yourself. When you are ready, you can check out this article where I cover some of the benefits of creating a website for your business to get some helpful ideas on how to treat your website as a business. 

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This article is all about personal websites. An easy example of a personal website is the site you are currently on. If you are reading this, you are officially on my personal website, welcome! I created this website to help me in my graphic design career. I think I redesign this site six different times. Up until recently, my main focus for this website has always been to make this site look as cool as possible, and nothing else. I would go through cycles of wanting a graphic design job, so I built a website to show your portfolio. Then I want a better graphic design job, so I build a better website. Then I would want to work in a bigger city, so I built a better website, and so on.  

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Well, I really like my website and my current job so I am not going to be redesigning it anytime soon. Hosting is expensive and I would like to get more use out of it rather than just sitting there with no visitors until the next time I want a new job. So I am going to try to implement some of these tips for my website. 

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Personal Branding

Everyone has a personal brand, some are just stronger than others. A personal brand is how people think of you from a sum total of things from your characteristics, expertise, and personality. A personal brand is how you present yourself to the world and a website allows you to show your personal brand in a way that reinforces your personality.

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Check out this Website for Natsai Audrey Chieza, personal brand. 

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Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder and CEO of Faber Futures, is a visionary designer and thought leader with a background in Architectural Design and Material Futures. She uses her website to inform people what she has going on, like her ted talks and the company she has. 

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Portfolio Showcase

For years, this has been the only purpose for my personal website, to show off my past projects. You can use your website to display projects and relevant information so that future clients know some of the project's pain points and how you overcame them. This is helpful if you are looking to get more clients for side work or land a job. 

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Buzzworthy Studio

This is a great example of a portfolio that has plenty of information about the project and amazing images that shows how cool the project is. 

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Professional networking

Create more opportunities for connecting with people. I believe networking works best in person so you can leave a real impression. For me, It is hard to get attention and make friends with someone without meeting them in person. So I would suggest going out into the real world and networking the old way, and sending everyone to your personal website so they can learn more about you and what you are up to. There will be some visitors that come to your site organically, So make sure your site is set up in a way that makes it really easy for people to contact you.  

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Clear and visible contact information

Make sure your contact information, such as email address or a contact form, is on your website. This information is typically in the footer of your website. This lets the visitors know that they can reach out to you for networking opportunities if they wanted to.

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Social media integration

Include links to your professional social media profiles, such as LinkedIn or Twitter, on your website. This can also be placed at the bottom of your site in the footer. 

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Thought leadership

Thought leadership is one thing I am actively trying to build on my site. This is done by sharing opinions through blogs and articles like this one. Thought leadership helps you establish yourself as a thought leader in your field, attracting an audience that is into the same things as you can open doors for speaking engagements, media opportunities, or consulting inquiries. I have no desire to do any speaking engagements anytime soon, so I am writing articles on topics in my field to get better at sharing my thoughts. The end goal is to be more comfortable sharing my thoughts in person in random conversations. 

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Deloitte

Deloitte is a great place to find insight on a lot of topics. 

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Online presence control

According to Monster.com “ 77% of employers Googling and otherwise researching applicants”. This article explains how your online presence can hurt you in the process of landing a job. I think by creating a website you can be proactive and have your site show the things you want to show and say the things you want to say. Social media platforms are probably the most popular way to have an online presence but if you want to take it a step further and really stand out, create a personal website.

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The Personal blog

A Blog is a place to share your thoughts, experiences, or personal stories. If you are going to do this, you should have a dedicated section on your website for this. This blog section will allow you to display all of your articles in one area so people can easily select what content they would like to read next. A blog allows you to express yourself creatively, and once you become good at writing content, you could potentially rank your content on the first page of Google connecting you with hundreds or thousands of like-minded individuals.

Here is an example of a personal blog From Bianca Dottin. 

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Skill development

If you are the type of person that loves to continue to learn new skills, building and maintaining a personal website can be a great way to learn new skills. Some technical skills include web design, content creation, SEO, and analytics. These skills are normally held by Graphic designers, writers, and marketing professionals but they are skills that anyone can master. 

I want to introduce you to Paige Brutton. 

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She moved to Germany and needed a skill so she learned web design using a no-code web builder and now has a successful online business.  

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Personal projects and hobbies

You can use your personal website as a platform to showcase and document your personal projects, hobbies, or passion pursuits. It is common that you show these things so that they look polished, kind of like a highlight reel. You may want to mix it up and try some behind the scenes and mistakes, kind of like a blooper reel. This will make you seem more like a person, less perfect but more human. This can be done with content like photography, writing, artwork, or any other creative endeavor. A website allows you to share and receive feedback from others who share similar interests.

Check out Officially Yasmin to see how Yasmin documents her hobbies, travel, style, and food. 

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I hope you have found some reasons why it might be a good idea to start a personal website. I am going to try to improve my site keeping some of these things in mind. I already mentioned that I am practicing improving my thought leadership skills, two other things I am looking to improve are how I showcase my portfolio and skill development. 

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The Example from Buzzworthy Studios I referenced is a cool example of a dynamic portfolio. Each project page in their portfolio has a unique design that matches the aesthetic of the project. I currently use a template for all of my portfolio projects, which means all of my portfolio pages look more or less the same, and that can be a little boring to look at. After looking at Buzzworthy’s site, I might create unique pages for my projects to make my projects more exciting to look at. 

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I listed three potential skills that you would gain from learning how to create and maintain a personal website including Web design, content creation, SEO, and Analytics. I think I am pretty good on the Web design aspect but I am learning more about how content creation can help with SEO and how to track my progress with Google Analytics. 

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