Do you need a personal website if you're not a freelancer?
TL;DR
You don't need one, but a simple personal website is useful for more people than you'd think. It gives you one page that you control, where anyone who searches your name finds the version of you that you chose. For job seekers, people with a side project, and anyone whose work is easier to show than to describe, it's often worth the hour it takes.
You don't need one, but a simple personal website is useful for more people than you'd think. It gives you one page that you control, where anyone who searches your name finds the version of you that you chose. For job seekers, people with a side project, and anyone whose work is easier to show than to describe, it's often worth the hour it takes.
Who it helps most
People looking for a job. A recruiter who likes your resume will often search your name next. A page with your experience, a few examples of your work and a link to your CV makes a better impression than whatever else they happen to find.
People with a skill or a side project. If you bake cakes to order, teach guitar, take photos or fix bikes, a page with your work and a way to contact you turns word-of-mouth into bookings.
People who change jobs or fields. Social profiles are tied to one kind of work. Your own page can tell the whole story, in your own words.
People with a common name. If there are fifty people with your name, a site helps the right one get found.
Who can probably skip it
If you're happy in a job you don't plan to leave, don't sell anything and don't want to be found online, a personal website won't add much. That's fine.
Isn't a social profile enough?
Profiles on social and professional networks are useful, but they come with limits:
- the site decides the layout and what's shown first
- visitors may need an account to see everything
- the page sits next to ads and other people's profiles
Your own website shows only you, on a page anyone can open.
What it should include
Keep it simple. One page with:
- your name and one sentence about what you do
- a photo of you
- a few examples of your work, or a short list of experience
- a way to contact you
Our post on what to put on a personal website goes through this in more detail.
How much work is it?
Less than it used to be. Builders that work from a short chat can have a first version online in minutes. Vibitely's personal site builder does this, and one site on a yourname.vibitely.com address is free. Later, you can move to your own domain if you want.
The hard part isn't the technology. It's writing two honest sentences about yourself. Do that first, and the rest is easy.