Believe it or not, if you are able to read this you are savy enough to build a decent website. And with the whole world turning to the internet, there is no good reason for you not to have a personal website. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but it should be clean and neat enough that when someone googles your name your website comes up first. If you plan on being a professional in any field, or even if you’re just looking for a little extra motivation (like I am with my 6 pack experiment), a personal website is a great way to keep family and friends updated, as well as gain credibility in your respective fields.
With domain registration and web hosting so cheap, how can you afford not to be online, right? ZenCollegeLife.com domain costs me 7 dollars per year, and hosting for all of my sites is about 7 dollars per month. This may not be the biggest, best option, but it’s cheap and it works for now. I’m generating more than enough to cover my costs from this site alone, anyways, and it helps me to improve my writing and creativity.
So with that in mind, here are a couple of great reasons to have your own website.
- It is a 24 hr per day representation of you (like my IbrahimHusain.com)
- it’s global, “world wide web”
- it’s a great way to promote yourself, your organization, your business etc.
- it’s not just for nerds anymore (or at least that’s what I tell myself)
- you can build a community around your website (think ZenHabits.net with almost 80,000 subscribers)
- you can share your professional knowledge, and give back to the open source online community
- you can reach a specialized niche market world wide
- you can say whatever you want (including things like “Sex and the City is a terrible, ridiculous show/movie that turns women’s brains into useless goo.”)
- raise awareness, spread ideas, educate (Breast Cancer, World Hunger, etc…)
- you can start a movement (like Kiva with the 3rd world microloans)
- a website earns you credibility, makes you look bigger than in reality
- it’s a great way to increase productivity
- you can run online contests (many blogs do this to gain subscribers)
- improve communication (the way I do this is with my contact page, which forwards straight to my email, without giving the writer my email address.)
- it’s crazy fun
- awesome personalized email addresses (for instance superman@ibrahimhusain.com, which isn’t actually real, but i could make it, and then I’d be even more awesome!)
- a website is a great way to share your creativity with the world (i show off my graphic design HERE)
- start an online business (You may not think of a blog as a business, but I make enough money to cover all of my web ventures, and maybe even a coffee or two just from this humble blog)
- it gives you an edge over the competition (sure people can use linkedin, facebook, myspace, etc, but when you have a personalized website you are way better than they are. hehe)
- it’s free pr
- because people will look for you online
- a website can save you time (business FAQ pages save companies from receiving endless calls)
- it raises your awesome factor by at least 10 pts.
If you have any questions about building a website, hit me up on my .
If you’d like to share your website leave a comment here. As long as it isn’t inappropriate I’ll share it on the list below. I’ll start it off with a couple of my sites/projects.
Site Share (my sites and ZCL reader’s sites)
- ZenCollegeLife.com (obviously…)
- IbrahimHusain.com
- Unassociated-Press.com
- BrainVault.net ()
- YouthPros.com (a youth education project I’ll get around to sooner or later)
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Hi Ibrahim, good post, I totally agree! Especially if you’re creating something having a website is a great way of sharing your work with the rest of the world, and promoting yourself.
I wrote an article about this myself on my own website: http://streamlinedmind.com/2008/06/02/should-students-have-a-portfolio-website/
If you would be so kind to share my link that would be great!
Hugos last blog post at [site] was..Poken: The Future of Social Networking?
Ibrahim please tell us how much time do you spend everyday for updating and running this blog. My only fear about setting up a blog is the time that it needs everyday.
Yes indeed, being a geek one should defintiely have a personal website.
@Aromatherapy Oils, I spent a lot of time maintaining this site in the beginning, but once I learned my way around wordpress and developed a decent amount of writing skill it started to go more smoothly. Now all it takes is a few minutes to develop a writing idea and the time it takes to write it. I love doing it, so it is its own reward.
Way back a decade or so..
if u had an internet connection a personal e-mail id is a must.
today..(The Web 2.0 Era)
if u have access to the www, a blog or a website is mandatory.
if one is starting with, they definitely can start with a blog (they are free) but if u already have one and is running..
Its time to get a custom domain(free domain hosting does exist but always have a catch)
I finally broke down and purchased a domain name and hosting, but I’ve had problems with my site and haven’t had time to go through the customer service hoops to get them fixed. You do have to have a certain amount of time to commit to keeping your blog or website updated. Maybe over Christmas break …
CaySedais last blog post at [site] was..How can I change the world (or a tiny corner of it)?
just started my own site as well,,,the cool part about it is you can make money and have fun doing it too…blogging, website creation, it’s all part of staying involved with others around us.
I’ve been meaning to start a site for a few months now. I’m a composer and I agree: there’s no excuse not to self-advertise using the web.
I have some questions for you guys though:
1) What’s a good hosting service? I’ve looked at GoDaddy.
2) How do I go about designing the site? I used Dreamweaver a *little* back in high school….
3) Any other tips/tricks?
@Greg, hey buddy, thanks for stopping by.
1) I am currently using 1&1 for hosting. People don’t seem to like them much, but it’s cheap and I’ve never had any problems. I’ve heard GoDaddy is fine too.
2) I make blogs, so I use wordpress. Depending on what type of site you are planning to make, you might want to use a content management system like Joomla. Google Joomla for more info.
3) For most of us, building websites is all about trial an error. You’ll never be done, and there is always something new to learn.
Good luck buddy!
Back @ Ibrahim:
Thanks for the reply! By the way, I’m now a subscriber.
So I’ve spoken with some friends in CS and another composer with a well designed website (and great music: http://www.christopher-stark.com, check it out). Some suggest learning html…do you think this is too time consuming? Joomla seems interesting, this might be my answer…. Can I use Joomla to design the site, then host it with another service?
@Greg, learning a little html will definitely be useful. They way joomla works, you upload the joomla software to your web host, then build the site online using the joomla software. The joomla software is what runs your site, you just never see it (it’s in the background doing it’s thing). All you would see is the site you created using joomla.
Just like you don’t actually see the wordpress user interface here at ZCL. Only I see that when I log in as administrator. Otherwise all you can see is the blog.
I think joomla would be a good choice for what you want to do. Check this out.
http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla/getting-started.html
Great post here. I personally have made quite a bit of money through the internet so I know for a fact that making a website is well worth it.
UniversityDudes last blog post at [site] was..10 Money Saving Habits
Is that right? Maybe you should help me make some money off of this site. I’m broke!
I’d love to have my own site (or blog), but I have so many different interest that I have no clue what to focus on.