How to Create a Personal Website That Stands Out
How to Create a Personal Website That Stands Out
Having a personal website is becoming increasingly important. Whether you're an entrepreneur, freelancer, or just looking to establish your online presence, standout personal website designs can help you achieve your goals. In this article, we'll discuss the benefits of having personal pages, provide examples of successful personal websites, and outline the steps to creating one using the user-friendly Strikingly platform.
What is a Personal Website?
A personal website is a website that is focused on you and your interests, experiences, and goals. Some examples of personal websites include:
- A blog - Where you share your thoughts and experiences on topics you care about. It allows you to build your audience and voice.
- A portfolio - For photographers, designers, artists, etc. to showcase their work in a visual medium. It establishes you as an expert in your craft.
- A resume website - Highlights your career experiences, skills, and accomplishments. It serves as an online resume to help further your career opportunities.
- A lifestyle or travel blog - Shares details about how you live your daily life or your adventures while traveling. Connects you with like-minded individuals.
- A hobby or interest website - For people with niche hobbies, interests, or lifestyles to share resources and build a community.
Some benefits of personal pages include:
- Establishing you as an authority on topics you care about.
- Controlling your own online presence and narrative.
- Engaging with your audience and community on your own terms.
- Showcasing your unique personality, interests, skills, and experiences.
- Creating opportunities for online courses, book deals, sponsorships, and other revenue streams.
- Having a platform to express your creativity and share your voice.
Image taken from Strikingly
A personal website starts with selecting a domain name that represents you and your brand, choosing a visually engaging theme, and sharing high-quality content that provides value to your audience. Build it, and they will come!
Importance of Having Personal Websites
A personal website is an online portfolio showcasing your skills and accomplishments to potential employers or clients. It also allows you to control your online reputation and establish yourself as an expert in your field. With more and more people turning to the internet for information, having a personal website is essential for anyone looking to stand out in today's competitive job market.
Benefits of Having a Standout Personal Website
A standout personal website can help you differentiate yourself from others with similar qualifications or experience. It can also increase your visibility online and attract potential clients or collaborators. Additionally, it provides a platform to share your thoughts and ideas with others through blog posts or multimedia content.
In this article, we'll cover everything from planning your personal website's purpose and goals to developing compelling headlines and multimedia content. We'll also discuss SEO strategies for optimizing and promoting your site's content through social media and email marketing campaigns.
We'll be using the user-friendly Strikingly platform throughout this article as an example of how easy it is to create a standout personal website without any coding experience required.
Let’s start!
Planning your Personal Website
Having a personal website can be an excellent way to showcase your skills and expertise, share your experiences, and connect with others. However, before you start creating your website, planning it carefully to ensure it meets your needs and goals is essential. Here are some tips on how to plan your personal website:
1. Define your personal website purpose and goals
The first step in planning your personal website is to determine its purpose and goals. Do you want to use it as a portfolio to showcase your work? Or do you want to use it as a blog to share your thoughts and ideas? Whatever the purpose, ensure you have clear goals to create content that aligns with them.
2. Determine your target audience
Knowing your target audience will help you create content that resonates with them. Are you targeting potential employers or clients? Or are you targeting people who share similar interests or hobbies as you? Understanding who your audience is will help you tailor your content accordingly.
3. Outline your website structure
Once you have defined the purpose of your website and identified your target audience, the next step is to outline the structure of the site. This includes determining what pages or sections will be included on the site and how they will be organized.
4. Choose your personal website design
Finally, choosing a suitable design for your personal website is crucial as it sets the tone for the entire site. You can choose from various templates offered by platforms like Strikingly or hire a professional designer for a more customized look.
By following these tips, you'll be well on your way to creating an engaging and effective personal website that showcases your skills and expertise.
Image taken from Strikingly
Creating compelling headlines and taglines is crucial for drawing visitors to your personal website. Your headlines should be concise, descriptive, and attention-grabbing. Taglines should be short and memorable, conveying the essence of your website in just a few words. For example, “Showcasing my passion for photography” or “Sharing my journey as a freelance writer.”
1. Practice Clarity and Conciseness
When it comes to writing website copy, clarity, and conciseness are key. Avoid using jargon or overly technical language that may confuse your audience. Instead, use simple language that is easy to understand. Break up long paragraphs into shorter ones and use subheadings to make your content more scannable.
2. Incorporate Multimedia Content
Developing multimedia content such as photos and videos can add visual interest to your personal website. Use high-quality images that relate to the content on your website, and consider incorporating videos that showcase your skills or interests.
3. Add Call to Actions
Incorporating call-to-actions (CTAs) throughout your website can help guide visitors towards action, such as signing up for a newsletter or contacting you for freelance work. Make sure CTAs are clear and prominently displayed on your website.
SEO Strategies
When it comes to creating a personal website, optimizing it for search engines is crucial to ensure that it reaches your target audience. Here are some SEO strategies to consider:
1. Conduct keyword research
Before you start writing content for your personal website, it's important to conduct keyword research to identify the terms and phrases that your target audience is searching for. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to find relevant keywords and incorporate them into your website content.
For example, if you're a photographer creating a personal website, you might want to include keywords like photography portfolio, professional photographer, and photo gallery in your content.
2. Optimize website content for SEO
Once you've identified your target keywords, optimize your website content accordingly. This includes incorporating keywords into page titles, meta descriptions, headers, and body copy.
However, be careful not to overstuff keywords as this can negatively impact your website's search engine ranking. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content that provides value to your audience.
3. Utilize backlinking techniques
Backlinks are links from other websites that point back to your own website. They can help improve your search engine ranking by indicating that other websites view your content as valuable.
To build backlinks for your personal website, consider reaching out to relevant websites in your industry and asking if they would be willing to link back to your site in exchange for valuable content or services.
4. Ensure website speed and mobile-friendliness
Website speed and mobile-friendliness are two important factors impacting how well your site ranks on search engines. Use responsive design techniques to ensure your site loads quickly and is optimized for mobile devices.
You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to test the speed of your site and identify areas where improvements can be made.
Website Launch and Promotion
Image taken from Strikingly
Launching your personal website is an exciting step towards establishing your online presence. However, before going live, it's crucial to test the website's functionality thoroughly. Check for broken links, loading speed, and mobile responsiveness to ensure a seamless user experience.
Promote Your Website
Once you're confident everything works correctly, it's time to promote your website. Developing a social media plan is an effective way to reach a broader audience and drive traffic to your personal website. Share links to your site on various social media platforms and engage with followers by responding to comments and feedback.
Another promotional strategy is email marketing. Utilize email lists to send newsletters or updates about your personal website and its content. This approach helps keep visitors engaged with your site while also attracting new ones.
Lastly, measuring the success of your personal website is essential in determining what works and what doesn't. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Strikingly Insights to track website traffic, user behavior, and other metrics that matter most.
Maintaining a Standout Personal Website
As you launch your personal website, it is essential to keep it updated with fresh content to keep visitors engaged. Regularly updating your website content will improve your search engine rankings and increase visibility. Make sure that your content is relevant and informative to attract more visitors.
1. Keep your personal websites content up-to-date
Updating the content on your personal website is crucial for maintaining its relevance and keeping visitors interested. Ensure that you are publishing new articles, blog posts, or other types of multimedia regularly. This will help increase traffic to your site and improve the user experience.
2. Update your personal websites design periodically
Your personal website's design should reflect who you are and what you stand for, but it's important not to let it become outdated. Periodically updating the design of your site can help keep it fresh and modern while maintaining its original intent.
Consider experimenting with different layouts, color schemes, or fonts to find what works best for you. You can also take inspiration from personal website examples online and incorporate elements that resonate with you.
3. Monitor website analytics and adapt accordingly
Monitoring your personal website analytics is essential in understanding how visitors interact with your site. By analyzing the data collected through tools like Google Analytics, you can identify areas where improvements are necessary.
For instance, if a particular page on your site has a high bounce rate, consider reworking its layout or content to make it more engaging for visitors.
4. Engage with website visitors through comments and feedback
Engaging with visitors through comments sections or social media platforms can help build a community around your personal brand while encouraging them to return frequently.
Make an effort to respond promptly to any feedback or inquiries from visitors as this demonstrates that their opinions matter to you.
Kickstart Your Personal Website Journey with Strikingly
Image taken from Strikingly
Having a personal website is crucial in today's digital age. Following the steps outlined in this article, you can create a standout personal website showcasing your skills and accomplishments. Remember to define your website's purpose and goals, determine your target audience, and choose a design that reflects your personality.
Don't be afraid to showcase your talents and achievements on your personal website. By regularly updating your content and engaging with visitors through comments and feedback, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.
Strikingly is an excellent platform for those looking to easily create their own personal websites. With its intuitive interface and customizable templates, you can quickly create stunning websites that reflect your unique personalities.
Here are 5 quick steps to create a personal website with Strikingly:
1. Select a domain. Choose a domain name that represents you or your brand. Get a free custom domain with Strikingly or use one you already own.
2. Pick a theme. Choose from Strikingly's stylish collection of themes for blogs, portfolios, and more. A theme establishes the overall look and layout of your site.
3. Add your content. Start creating pages like Home, About, Blog, Portfolio, Contact, etc. You can add text, images, photos, videos, music, and whatever represents you.
4. Set up navigation. Arrange the pages and content in a way that flows well for visitors. Strikingly's drag-and-drop interface makes navigation setup a breeze.
5. Launch your website! Click the Launch button, and your personal website will go live immediately. Strikingly automatically optimizes it for mobile and SEO to help you rank higher in search engines like Google.
Having a well-designed personal website is essential for establishing yourself online in today's digital age. By using Strikingly as a user-friendly platform, anyone can create their own website with ease.
What are you waiting for? Start creating your own personal website today and take control of your online presence!
