You may be wondering, why would I want to have OR even need a personal website?
There’s a bunch of beneficial reasons why you should…..
So let’s cut to the chase & dive right into it WHY having one can be a great asset for you (speaking from experience, it certainly has been for me).
In the online world that we live in today, one of 2 things will happen when anyone new in business meets you:
- If you’re a job seeker, every potential employer will most certainly research & vet you online to learn more about you. They’ll Google you, dig into past work history via databases, & even creep you across the web via your social media platforms sometimes. How do I know this? I talk to a lot of business owners who hire pretty consistently.
- If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, people who come across your work will do their due diligence & research you some online first as well before forming a complete opinion of you. Think about it……..if someone’s going to do business with or buy from you, they’ll want to know you’re legitimate.
If you think that other people don’t research you online in either case, you’re naive……
1. Stand Out with Your Own Website
No matter what you do as your occupation, having a personal or business website can be one of the best ways for you to stand out in a crowded world.
If you’re a photographer, a portfolio website could be the perfect way to showcase your work.
If you’re a business consultant, a website could be the perfect platform to display your work & to show off raving client testimonials.
If you’re looking for a new job, having a visually appealing website full of your past work experiences, projects, and so on can help tremendously in finding the job of your dreams.
Let’s use the last example above (new job) to plunge into a little deeper.
The majority of people go about looking for jobs in the wrong way.
Hear me out on this……….
Most individuals go about the process of finding a new job by doing the following: They use the “Pushing & Praying” method.
Ummm……Ryan…..what the heck is the Pushing & Praying method???
It’s the method of sending out (pushing) your resume via job boards, emails, & letters to as many employers as you possibly can.
The next step of this method includes crossing your fingers, envisioning a response, & hoping (praying) that you’ll get an interview/call back for the job you applied for.
Maybe this is what you currently do…..is it? I don’t know.
The problem I see with this process is that you blend in with everyone else.
From an employers perspective, it’s not that you’re not SPECIAL. The FACT is that applications all just start to fade together & look similar after the 47th one in the stack.
To validate my hypothesis on why most people are bad at job seeking, I posted fictional job offers on Craigslist & wrote about it here in my article College Degrees to Craigslist- My Job Post Experiment.
What does this have to do with me having a personal or business website?
By you having a professional website of any kind for yourself, you’re putting yourself on a pedestal above all your competitors who are also seeking to find a job, do great work, and get noticed by the masses.
People are going to research you on the world wide web no matter what. You mine as well portray yourself there in the best way you possibly can.
2. Gain Influence
Do you remember back in the 90’s when the internet was still a baby?
I do. I’m sure you remember it too.
It took forever to log on to AOL Instant Messenger (not to mention blocking the phone line), getting an email was actually exciting (crazy), & not everyone had daily access to the internet…..or the “information super highway” as they use to call it.
Yes…..that was actually a common nickname for the internet back in the day.
Every year since the web has been accessible to the mainstream, the number of internet users has grown exponentially year after year.
Internet users worldwide will hit 4 billion within the next few years.
The number of websites in the world hit 1 Billion in September 2014. With the expansion of accessible Wi-Fi to regions that have never had it before will sky rocket these numbers to an even further extent.
If you want to have influence, stop procrastinating & get online. Creating a website for yourself is the perfect platform.
Most people aren’t sure on what the purpose of their website will even be from Day 1.
That’s okay.
Half the battle is just getting started!!
If you’re NOT sure how but want to start a website or online business of your own, I’ll show you how to step-by-step for free in this easy 10 Video Mini Course: How To Start An Online Business.
3. Show Your Ingenuity
Ingenuity by definition is the quality of being clever, original, & inventive.
Building a website for yourself can portray you as being all three.
Not to mention the fact that you’ll learn a lot through the process of creating one.
***It’s important for me to note here that in order to create an amazing looking website these days, you do NOT need to possess any technical chops or skills to do so.
Websites like Wix, Weebly, & SquareSpace make it easy for even a 6th grader to drag & drop a beautiful website up.
WordPress is another great option is you’re okay with handling some of the technical components yourself.
I just mentioned a few, but there are plenty of others.
The simple fact of you having a website of your own will set yourself a part from others.
Remember though that everything you post on your website can be viewed by anyone in the world who pleases to see/read it.
Always carry yourself in a professional manner, show intellect, & be real in your personality.
4. Build Trust
Trust is one of the core attributes that one can hold.
The first time you meet someone, you’re surely not going to trust them with 100% certainty.
You just met them.
It takes time to earn trust from strangers. With that being said, it’s hard to earn other peoples respect that aren’t in your inner circle.
A strong website can give you leverage.
Let me give you an example………….
I’m often asked to write guest blog posts for various business sites, on topics ranging from entrepreneurship to marketing.
Why do they trust me to write quality content?
- my website is reputable
- I have dozens of other pieces on the web for them to reference
- the experience I hold in marketing & business will be valuable/entertaining for their audience
If I just emailed high traffic sites & said:
Hi,
I’d like to write for your site, but I don’t have any previous work or experience to show for it. I don’t even have a website, but you should trust me.
This would never work……….
I show them my websites, my credentials, & let my work speak for itself.
I’m not saying that you should create a website for the purpose of writing for other popular sites, I’m just using that as one example.
You should create a website to showcase what it is that you do. One that is unique to you.
By doing so, YOU will gain the trust of others.
With the internet being such a huge medium for communication today, you’ll be able to reach a much larger audience online as well.
The internet is not bias to geographic location………..the only prerequisite is that you produce quality work.
If you have a website already, keep building upon it to make it as best as can be.
If you don’t, NOW is the perfect time to get started. There is no right or wrong way to go about building your website.
All you need to do is this……make it your own, be persistent, & have fun.
The benefits will follow suit in due time.
Great post Ryan! There’s a lot of valuable tips in here for people looking to gain credibility, and establish a brand for themselves. I like your writing style too. I know you hail out of Tucson, but do you work with other individuals or organizations outside of Tucson, Arizona? I’m just curious. I also have a question for you; do you feel as though a sub-domain is as good as a personal website like zacchaeusnifong.wordpress.com? I’ve gone back and forth about this a lot and I struggle with a decision. I normally direct people to my About.me page, but it got bought by AOL and now they’re charging for premium profiles. Kind of a bummer. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the sub-domain thing though. Cheers brother! Great post!
Thanks Zacchaeus. Always enjoy conversing with you on anything related to the web 🙂 the new TLD extensions (.co, .io, .anything, etc) are making it so broad/saturated these days. As 2 billion new users come online over the next 5-10 years & gain wi-fi access, I think securing “yourname.com” will hold great validity into the future since acquiring those domains will become harder & harder (Ex: sorry to all the John Smith’s out there…..I’m sure JohnSmith.com has been taken for years). Even if you pivot industries or start different companies, your personal brand & website will still hold years of relevance nonetheless. Social media networks like About.Me and the next 7 like it will come & go, but your website will always be live & carry weight if you want it to. Seth Godin uses Typepad, Sam Altman uses blog., but I think http://www.yourname.com is the way to go!!