Get a Personal Website. An Entrepreneur Basic
Owning a personal website is something that I think is very important as a young entrepreneur. Just $60 (or less) per year for hosting is a small price to pay for the many benefits personal websites offer young business people.
Some Personal Website Benefits
1. Identity control - By owning yourname.com, you’ll have control over what information about you is available to friends, family, colleagues, and potential partners in the search engines. John Chow and evidently many other Americans are going so far as to choose baby names based on domain names available. So I’d be sure to get your available .com while you still can to take control of your identity.
2. Professional Contacts - With your friends, Facebook is enough to stay in touch, but you may not want to refer professional contacts to your Facebook profile for a variety of reasons. Instead, using your personal homepage as a contact reference point is a good idea. While networking, include your homepage in your contact info along with your phone number and email. If your site is set up well, it will make a good impression.
3. Resume/Portfolio - If you want to put a resume online, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Keeping an up to date resume or portfolio of your current projects/businesses might impress a few people.
If you’re itching for a rough example, check out my site: Nick.
I Want a Website. So how do I set one up?
You will need hosting, a domain, and a design. Simple enough. Hosting and a domain can both be purchased from GoDaddy. I’ve had good experiences with them, and they’re cheap. A domain costs $9/year, and hosting will cost $4/month. Money can be saved if you purchase hosting and domains for a longer period of time up front, which I recommend doing anyways to avoid the hassle.
For a design a simple static site will suffice. If you have no html/css experience, setting up a Wordpess blog may be a better option since absolutely no experience is necessary. Godaddy has a one-click install option for a Wordpress blog as well, so they can guide you through the necessary steps to get online.
Setting up a personal website is a small investment into your future that is worth it. It may not land you your dream business partnership or job, but it will be sure not to lose it for you if done correctly.
And finally, I’d love to help out anyone interested in setting up their own site. If you need a simple design or have hosting and domain questions, I can give you a few pointers. To get in touch, just refer to my own personal site, Nick Ochsner dot com. See how handy it can be? But on my site, I have yet to create a real resume, so don’t think what I have will suffice. It’s just there for example.
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- Oh yeah, I joined Yopos
Probably the biggest headache I’ve had in my entire career has been finding good, consistent web hosts with great customer service…service that continues years, not months into the future.