Benefits of Having A Personal Website
A few years ago, the internet was a luxury only a few could afford. Now it is accessible to anyone around the globe. The first website was created about 30 years ago, in 1991. There are numerous reasons for creating a website. Every day, thousands of new websites are created online. It could be for professional purposes, such as creating a new blog, setting up a new online store, making the presence of a new start-up known. But what about creating your own personal website. There are numerous benefits to owning a website. In fact, individuals in certain fields of life cannot do without it. These include bloggers, professionals in digital, entertainment, and creative fields. Most individuals feel that having an active online presence ends in been on most social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, snap chat, etc. But a lot of people still search for information on Google and other search engines. So why not create your own website and let your work be seen by thousands that surf the internet every day. Oftentimes, the lack of zeal to own a personal website is not always associated with a lack of experience. Another fallacy is the fact that people often associate website creation with website development. The two are far apart, with WordPress or Joomla you can easily own space on the internet. While website development has a lot to do with coding. The cost associated with creating a personal website is also very affordable.
Benefits of owning a personal website
Gives you control over your brand
Your personal website is the best way to showcase your authority and credibility. It gives you the ability to shape the narrative the way you want. Your personal website is a genuine representation of who you are. With a unique name, it is imperative that you own the domain. You are able to showcase who you are from the professional bio & personal picture to the personal blog posts. It gives you the right to customize the texts, colors, imagery, and layout of your website to suit your personality and skills. This helps you to create a more accurate visual representation of your brand than what you will be able to do with a non-customizable social media platform. Every single detail speaks volumes of who you are personally and professionally.
It is more dynamic than a resume
Just like a resume, a personal website contains all the details about you on both personal and professional levels. You can include your educational background, work experiences, skills, and awards. Unlike a resume, a personal website can include a visual form of the work you claim to be doing. Instead of just penning down your skills on paper, you can actually upload them on your website. Examples of your written articles for writers, your personal videos for skit makers, your songs for musicians, beats for DJs, etc. People can easily relate to your work personally, rather than a written document that claims you are capable of doing the work.
Improves your chances of finding employment and scholarships
No matter your field of study or work industry, there are millions of professionals looking to get employed in that same industry. The ability to successfully secure a good job depends on your ability to stand out from your competitors. So many prospective candidates believe that uploading their resumes on LinkedIn or other job websites is good enough. But there are loopholes and cracks that can inhibit an employer from finding you. To show the height of importance of a personal website, when creating a LinkedIn or indeed profile, you are often required to type in the link to your website. The reason being that your website is a unique domain, no other person on earth can have the same domain. But social media names can be shared by thousands of people, which will give an employer a hard time finding you online. So employers prefer to search for candidates’ website pages rather than surfing through different social media profiles. Also, this can be useful when applying to schools for admission. Many schools will always ask for a link to your personal website. Even though this is not compulsory, it adds to what a candidate will be evaluated with. Just this act can make you stand out amongst your peers. It shows the level of your creativity.
It is a digital platform
A personal website not only helps you to showcase your work but is also a means to provide proof of your abilities. It is very essential for individuals in the creative field, such as writers, musicians, dancers, producers, graphic designers, content writers, etc. This can act as a means to verify a candidate’s claim during an interview or recruitment process. With the help of professional resume writers, anybody can easily present a magnificent resume, containing all sorts of experience and skills that cannot be defended. But when a candidate can present evidence to this claim, it is more solid than the words of mouth. For instance, if a candidate claims to have created an animation video for a top company, sending the link of the video to the employer can go a long way to convince them that you actually did the work yourself.
You can publish easily
A lot of people have lots of amazing masterpiece work they intend to let the public know about, but lack of a platform has been a stumbling block. Why wait and beg to be published while you can create your own platform and publish your work. With the right optimization tool, you can get thousands of audiences to view your work without paying a penny to anyone. This is also a good way to get stage freight out of the way. When you upload the first content, you will definitely have that feeling that it is not good enough. But when you get two or more positive reviews in the comment box, you will become more confident and do more. On the other hand, if the review is bad, the viewers will even give you insights on how to improve your work.
It is a good way to earn
This is probably the highest reason people set up personal websites. As people surf the internet to get answers to different questions, your post might come up in one or more searches. The more people use your website the higher the traffic created. Website owners are paid a certain amount of money for each click on their advertised web link. Imagine if you are paid one dollar per click, then multiply it to a thousand clicks, that will be 1000 extra dollars in your account. Other ways to monetize your site are through, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and ads. Affiliate marketing is links that lead to other sites that sell different products. If anyone buys after clicking on the link, then you are paid a certain commission.
Helps you to learn how to code
Although there are several graphical tools to make a website, you can also edit the HTML (hypertext mark up language) code or the CSS (cascading style sheet) code to suit your taste. In the process of doing this, you will learn the basic principles of coding and can even pick up interest in learning the programming language in full.
It will push you to boost your online presence
Nothing motivates an individual like something he is doing for his personal gain. When an individual creates a website, he is always eager to check the number of people that have visited the website. This knowledge can push you to learn ways to boost your website. One strategy to achieve this is by using SEO ( search engine optimization). This tool helps you appear more in searches and therefore increases traffic. Understanding how SEO works will not only be beneficial to your site but can make you eligible to be a consultant for other sites.
If after reading this, you are probably thinking to yourself “ how do I create my own personal website”, do not bug yourself too much. Creating a personal website has never been easier with the help of content management systems. The most popular are word press and Joomla. This is because of the ease of operation. You can also contact professional website creators like Ucraft to facilitate the process and give your website a perfect look.