How To Create A Personal Website In 8 Easy Steps – Forbes Advisor INDIA

The days are gone when you only had resumes or CVs to represent your education, skills, and expertise to the world. Today, with the ever-increasing internet connectivity, the number of internet users is increasing, resulting in better opportunities to showcase to the world your interests and talents. 

Social media is a good choice, indeed. But that’s not an overall good option. Especially, if we consider a professional outlook. 

So, if you are applying for a job, or thinking of documenting your travel and fitness journey.  Then think about developing a personal website or an online portfolio. This will provide you with a much-needed online boost. In just seconds, anybody can find you on a search engine by typing your name. 

Also, personal websites are an excellent way to show the world who you are, what you can do, and even why you do it. So here, we’re providing you with a guide on how to create a personal website.

Step-By-Step Process To Create A Personal Website

Set A Clear Goal

Before starting anything, set a clear goal such as, why are you creating a personal website? What do you wish to achieve from it? Note down every point or purpose carefully before initiating the process. 

Now for you, there can be any reason or purpose for creating a personal website. Below are some common reasons:

• Generating traffic – You would want to raise awareness of your personal brand.
• Showcasing your best work – You would like to showcase to the world your best work. 
• Inviting people – You would like to invite people to get in touch with you, so that they can learn more about the services you offer.

After being clear about it. Try thinking more deeply about the following factors:

• Target audience – Who will be your target audience? How will you attract them?
• Your impression – Consider how you are making your impression by setting your tone of voice. Meaning, how do you want others to perceive you or what’s your brand’s identity? 
• Your different talent – What sets you apart? What skills do you have that others don’t? Do some research on what distinctively you can offer to your audience. 

To ensure your direction before moving, be clear about your goals or purpose before starting.

Purchase A Domain Name

After setting clear goals, purchase a suitable domain name. The domain name is the part of the URL that appears before the “.com” or “.org.”  That domain name should be similar to your name so that visitors can easily find it on search engines. This is because the intention is that just by typing your name on the search engines, your website and social media links should appear.

Factors to consider while choosing your domain name:

• Short and simple – A short and simple domain name will be easy to remember for your visitors. 
• Use easy spellings – The spelling should be as simple as possible. This makes it easily pronounceable also.
• Choose relevant keywords – If the choice of keywords is relevant to your website content and business, then it will be good for a search engine point of view.
• Avoid any number or special characters – To avoid any confusion, don’t use any number or special character.
• Be sure about the extension – Considering the intent of your website, be sure to use the appropriate website extensions such as .com,.org,.net, etc.
• Research thoroughly the trademark and copyright issues – Make sure that your chosen domain name doesn’t violate the trademark and copyright issues. 

Now there are multiple domain registrars such as Namecheap, GoDaddy, and Google Domains. With the chosen domain registrar, you can check the availability of a domain name. Go through the offered price or plans. Purchase it and you’re done. 

Choose an appropriate website builder or tool

After purchasing the domain name, to create and manage all the website content, the next step is to choose the best website builder or tool. There, you can create a website from scratch (using code) or use the drag-and-drop feature. With this drag-and-drop feature, you can easily add features to the website and can make it more interactive.

Nowadays there are many good options available online. Below are some of the popular website builders:

• Weebly – Weebly is the top choice for many due to its ease of use, flexibility, and low cost. Its plan starts from INR 833.31 ($10) per month (billed annually). In this service, you will find plenty of good themes and features including unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, email marketing tools, social media marketing tools, and mobile-responsive sites. 
• GoDaddy – No coding skills? Don’t worry because GoDaddy lets you create a website with few questions and answers. Its plan starts from INR 249 ($3.00) to INR 999 ($12.02) per month (billed annually). In this service, you can choose from 175 free templates, and then customize them according to your requirements. Beginner-friendly editing interface, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificate, and good customer support are some of its key offerings.
• Wix – Wix is another very popular website builder with affordable plans. Its plan starts from INR 199 ($2.39) per month. In this service, you get ease of use, free and paid plans, built-in search engine optimization (SEO), Inventory management, social media integration, SSL certificate, and much more.

So these were some of the best website-building services. Make sure to go through their features and pricing offerings carefully before purchasing. 

Choose a template of your preference

After being sure about the domain name and website builder, choose the template of your preference. All the website builders offer multiple templates, go through them. In the website builder of your choice, evaluate the offered templates accordingly with your preference and make a choice. 

Here are Some key things to remember when selecting a template:

• Compatibility with different devices – It should be easy to use regardless of the device. Be it a PC, laptop, smartphone, or even tablet. Make sure the chosen template is compatible with all types of devices.
• Fast speed – It should be fast enough to access. While some templates look beautiful and interactive, they often come with heavy code. Make sure that the chosen template is fast to load for the reader. 
• Easy to navigate – The chosen template should be easy to navigate through. It should have a clear structured design. Make sure to choose the one with the right balance of style and practicality.

So pick a template that speaks to the reader based on your unique content needs.

Add content to your website

Now it’s time to add content to your website. Add pages, written content, images, or videos as much as required.  

Below are some tips that you can consider while adding content:

• Add static content – First, add all the static content on the website such as, the homepage, about us page, contact me page, and so on. Make sure you get these pages running before anything else.
• Present your best work – Personal websites are an excellent way to present your best work. It will act as an online portfolio. Make sure that you showcase your best work or projects online. 
• Add testimonials – To increase your credibility, make sure you add testimonials of your clients. If you are offering any service, it is crucial.  
• Focus on visuals – To engage the visitors, make sure you add creative visuals to your website. 

Add tools or apps

Now it’s time to add tools or apps to your website. By adding these, you add more functionality to your website. These apps serve a wide range of functions including analytics, SEO, social media, e-commerce, security, performance, and design. So, installing such useful apps is beneficial, especially when you handpick them for their particular purpose. 

Here are some website-building services that have good app collections:

• Wix – The Wix has a dedicated Wix App Market, where you can find tons of useful apps according to your needs. Some of the popular apps are Vacation Mode and TWIPLA (Visitor Analytics).
• GoDaddy – GoDaddy also has a great collection of apps for its users. There, you can find easy contact forms, easy pop-ups, and quick Facebook chat. These are some of the great apps.

Also, very importantly. You should add only those apps that you need. Otherwise, the website code will become heavy, and it will load slowly. The more unnecessary apps, the slower is the website.

Promote your website

The last but most important step is to promote your website. This is as important as creating it. Share it with your friends, family, and colleagues as much as possible. This will give it an initial boost from the social media point of view. Also, try putting it in your traditional CV or resume if possible. 

Another important step is to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search engine marketing), Email marketing, influencer marketing, and guest blogging. This way, it will be an overall promotion of your personal website.