Entrepreneurs rarely miss a beat. They’re on top of it all. However, one thing they need, yet often forget, is a personal website.
A personal website is exactly that, a corner of the web devoted to you and your personal brand. Often identifiable by a firstnamelastname.com domain name, a personal website is where you can display who you are, what you do and why.
While it may seem borderline self-important to have a website dedicated to yourself, it is actually a powerful business tool. A personal website can boost your brand and open doors to a variety of opportunities.
If you don’t have a personal website, here’s why you should really consider one asap.
How many times have you Googled someone in an attempt to look them up and make contact? The first port of call to find someone you don’t know personally is a search engine.
As an entrepreneur, it’s entirely possible to meet someone in passing, or somebody will hear about you, and they will want to contact you about a business opportunity. Perhaps you met at a conference or heard of someone through a friend or colleague.
Where do they go? Google. And then they look for a Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter account, etc. However, what if they found a website dedicated to your personal brand? Here they could learn more about you, your past achievements and, more importantly, get vital, up-to-date contact details.
A personal website is a marketing channel and tool. It allows you to reach people, using content marketing and SEO, where it would otherwise be difficult.
Content creation and distribution is simple. First, digital content is created (e.g. articles, white papers, infographics, memes, videos, webinars, podcasts, etc.) Then, your personal website, where you also host a blog, can host your content. Meanwhile, you can distribute shareable content to targeted platforms where your audience hangs out.
For example, if you’re a Finch entrepreneur, you would create content discussing financial tech trends, industry best practices, and advice. Sharing your content on your personal website blog, social media and other relevant platforms can boost search engine traffic. As a result this can help you become an authority in your niche.
However, don’t forget to optimize your content. As you build authority, you’ll find more people know who you are. This will expand your sphere of influence and build your industry reputation.
Content creation is great for building authority but, as mentioned above, so are backlinks. By backlinks I mean links back to your website from your content distribution and other earned and/or paid media.
Imagine, for example, you provide a comment for a news article. If you have no website, this quote is just words on a page. With a backlink placed within the comment, readers can click through to your personal website and learn more about you.
This will get you noticed and build your reputation. The same can be said for being quoted in online magazines, blogs, industry websites and more.
A personal website is the perfect opportunity to “humble brag”.
Your online portfolio can showcase your brand story, achievements, industry contributions, press, articles in publications, and anything else that makes you noteworthy. When people — potential partners, customers and investors — visit your website, they’ll be able to learn about you and your work.
If you want to convince someone of your expertise, show … don’t tell. Send them to your personal website. Let them see for themselves how valuable you are.
There may be plenty of things that help you stand out from the crowd, but what really sets you apart is you: your personality, intellect, and knowledge.
A personal website is an unbeatable platform. You can display your personality to those you’ve never met, especially when combined with social media. Just as a column penned by a celebrity contributor helps you get a sense of who they are, a website helps others understand what you are about.
Think carefully about how you want your brand and personality to come across on your website. Make sure it does and that it is true to you.
This article has been edited.
Founder of Cyber Host Pro, Chris Danks is an expert in all things internet — from complicated server hosting to setting up a personal website. Connect with @cyberhostpro on Twitter.
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