Need to set up an online presence for yourself, for your business or anything else, but have no idea where you should begin?
According to BBC creating a website isn’t as difficult as you might imagine. You could soon have it up and running – and the process doesn’t have to include learning mind-boggling computer code.
It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a career change (where recruiters are sure to Google you) or if you just need a place to share your personal story—how you appear on the web shapes what people think of you.
Benefits of building and maintaining your personal website:
✔It’s good for you (you can build your audience and own your brand identity)
✔ It can boost your career and improve your representation
✔ You own all the content on a personal website
There are many ways to build your website - coding it yourself if you know how to, making it ready from other sources, paying for someone else to create it, or,…do it by yourself without prior knowledge in coding.
Encourage yourself to create one and find ways below to do it 😊
Buying a domain name
The first thing to do, choose a domain.
The domain name is the URL or Web address of your site. Even if your website page is not yet created, you can choose the domain name.
Here some tips for the domain name:
People type the domain name in a browser to access the website, so keep it simple and easy to remember.
The most common domain name is the name of the author - but it doesn't always have to be like that.
You can choose any word or phrase that you think is suitable as a domain name for your web page.
Except for .com, some other domain extensions are .net, .co, org.
According to GoDaddy, a good tip is if you redirect the domain name to a social media platform such as LinkedIn. If you don't know exactly how to create a good LinkedIn profile, find some tips here.
Also, you can buy domain names from many providers (GoDaddy.com is one of the most well-known), typically for £10–20/year.
Let's start brainstorming:
✅ The message
First of all, you have complete control over the content of your website, and you can put just about anything and everything on it.
Start thinking about the main message and purpose of your site.
Answer these questions:
😊Who are you?
💁♀️ Who are you trying to attract?
👨💻What do you want your website to say to the world?
These three questions will help you think through and define what your site is all about.
What’s the impression I want someone to have of me during his or her first 30 seconds on my site...?
The most important step is to choose what are you going to transmit to the readers.
In this way, you make the reader come back to your website for the same reason - which is the clarity on the information that you transmit.
Learn about personal branding here
A clear message determines the difference between a boring text and site, from an attractive and well-organized site.
✅ The structure
Take a paper and pen and start creating what you want to show to others until you have perfected it.
A quick and easy way to organize your content is to write each item on a sticky note or note card. Make note of the content you already have and the content you need to create.
Knowing what I want to have on my homepage, I can now go through and delete the sections I don’t need.
Writer's Digest explains the essential elements which are needed in a site:
A Biography
Done right, a good 'About' page can open doors for you.
Pick the main characteristics about yourself and highlight them on a bio. A quick way is this exercise that can help you write your bio. Look back at your notes as you fill in the blanks. Let's see this example:
I’m a ______.
I help ______ {make/build} ______.
When I’m not ______, you can find me ______.
Want to work together? I’d love to hear from you.
For more details about creating a bio and to create an awesome one, read this article on the BANEC® System
Think about how to integrate your text with photos, short videos, and animation.
Contact me
You should encourage readers to contact you.
Think about how people can reach you through email, phone number, address, and by adding social media icons.
Also, this is a great way to use social media in an interactive way — post on social media to drive traffic to your website, and have social media links or feeds on your website to drive traffic there to add followers.
Blog / My Art
Adding a blog section for your writing, information, books, projects, products.
A straight forward menu helps visitors easily navigate between pages. They can find what they need quickly without thinking, where the contacts are hidden?
Don’t try to be smart with the names of menu items or pages. Type things clearly.
Web design studies have shown that visitors’ eyes tend to glaze over if there are more than 5–7 menu items, so be disciplined about how many you decide to include.
Once you have this all sorted out, go and create it at ⬇
Platforms like Squarespace make it easy to go from zero-to-website in almost no time at all (and with no coding ability!), so pick the tool you’ll be using, sign up for an account, and get started building your website.
Start making it stunning with some:
🔅Templates
🔅Fonts
🔅Design schemes
🔅Header image
🔅Heading styles
Now its time to enjoy mixing different colors, fonts, templates.
Turn your site into a visual masterpiece!
Play around with colors, choose the best images that describe you and your character.
The logo (the most important aspect), must be all the work that you have done concluded in a small design that represents the content of the website.
If you feel that you are struggling to decide, go to other websites and see how they match the logo with their website.
For example, the High Profile Club has an interesting logo design.
Once these steps are done your website is ready to become alive with posts, products, books.
A few last tips to keep doing great on your website:
😃Adding links of your website into social media
😄Use social media influence to share the website
😊Use a professional email (this appears more serious and persuasive) to contact people and clients
😁Keep updating it, refreshing and making changes!
Would you like to learn how to create content to share on your social media as well as with journalists so you become more visible, more credible, and more influential?
Sign up for 30 days for free!
About the author
Ardita is from Albania and joined the High-Profile Club as a Marketing Assistant. She is passionate about Mathematics and knowledgeable on a variety of computer programming languages. Continuing a BA in Accounting and Finance at South Bank University, Ardita has keen interests to deepen her knowledge in accounting, financial markets, and business. She is highly motivated to learn new things and develop opportunities.
Find Ardita on LinkedIn.
Comments