Whether you are a blogger, entrepreneur, freelancer, aspiring entertainer, or business owner, building a top-notch personal website can help you attract and impress an audience of potential customers. Here’s 3 Birds Marketing, LLC's guide on how to do it right.
Determine the site’s purpose. The purpose of your personal website should control everything from the content to the design. If you’re trying to attract male clients to your fitness website, for example, you probably wouldn’t include a pink and purple flower polka-dotted background. Is it an informational site geared toward friends and family? Are you trying to attract customers? Do you need a job? Who is your audience? These are all questions you must answer before proceeding.
Brainstorm. Anyone who’s thought of great ideas at 3:00 A.M. only to have forgotten them by 8:00 A.M. understands the importance of writing everything down. Although you want to express originality and creativity, it’s a good idea to do a little research and see what other people who are trying to reach similar audiences have done.
Choose a website host. The host is the company that stores the files that make up your site. Things to consider when choosing a host are cost, technological knowledge required, ease of use, and quality of services. Part of choosing a host is getting a domain name, or website address. Keep the domain name simple. You can buy a domain name from the hosting service or from the domain register. The latter is usually less expensive. The former is more convenient.
Choose a template. Hosting sites usually have hundreds of templates to choose from. If the web host doesn’t have a template you like, find another host. As with other aspects of your personal website, make sure the template "matches" and reinforces the site’s purpose and content.
Create a logo. Even if the website is just for friends and families, a logo adds an official touch and provides a unifying visual aspect. Besides, Uncle Fred in Albuquerque will be really impressed with a killer logo.
Choose content. Now is your chance to get out your message, so you’ll want to think carefully about what content you include (unless, of course, you are looking to create an informal personal blog). Always remember that what you put on your site can be viewed by anyone with Internet access. Make sure your content matches your purpose.
Paginate. Nobody likes to scroll five miles to see what’s on your site, so you will want to use page breaks. Most web-hosting sites make pagination simple. You’ll probably have links to different pages on your site, especially older material.
Optimize. You’ll only need to optimize your site if you’re trying to attract strangers. Search engine optimization involves using keywords and content to attract Internet users to your site. This is important if you’re trying to attract business, and there are numerous resources online about how to successfully optimize your site.