Article by Jerry Low
Geek dad, SEO data junkie, investor, and founder of Web Hosting Secret Revealed. Jerry has been building Internet assets and making money online since 2004. He loves mindless doodling and trying new food.
Best Personal Websites I’ve Ever Seen (and How to Create Yours)
- Website Design
- May 15, 2018
New sites added to the collections, old images replaced with the better .gif images to showcase site designs, site descriptions removed (I’ll let the image do the talking), and new tutorial added to help users who want a personal website fro themselves.
Quick navi: See examples of personal websites / Learn how to create yours
They say that stranger’s soul is incomprehensible, but we can’t entirely agree with the statement.
Most often we just don’t want to notice the obvious, pretending that it’s too personal matter or something of the kind.
In fact, a human soul is not as dark as it seems. It is always ready and even willing to reveal its secrets to the confidant. As a rule, web community members having their own websites are open for communication, socialization and other things like that. Besides, personal websites serve as a kind of virtual CVs for their owners. Most often, if you are as sharp as a needle, seeing a person’s website, you’ll easily tell even more about site owner than he/she wanted to say.
Awesome Personal Websites I Like
Hand-picked and main design elements recorded for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy.
1- Nick Jones
2- Jim Ramsden
3- Vladimir Strajnic
4- Gary Le Masson
5- Juliana Rotich
6- Pascal van Gemert
7- Daryl Thornhill
8- Anthony Wiktor
9- Adam Hartwig
10- The Beast Is Back
11- Tony D’Orio
12- Sean Halpin
So how do you create your personal website?
Moving on, we will look at the essential steps of creating your very own personal websites.
There are basically 3 major steps to start any kind of websites –
- Get a domain name and web host.
- Build from scratch or using a site builder.
- Add in content.
1. Get a domain name and web host
On Internet, your domain is your identity. It’s how people find you and the name others pass along. So apparently, you need a good domain name – something unique, catchy, and meaningful.
Next, you will need a good web hosting provider.
When we talk about web host, we basically refer it to the company that lease out computer servers and networks to host your website. There are four types of web hosting services – shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting. While all these hosting will act as the storage center for your website; they differ in amount of storage capacity, control, speed, reliability, functions and features, as well as technical knowledge requirement.
If you are new, shared hosting should be the best type of web host to start with.
2. Build from scratch or using a site builder
Once you have the website domain and hosting ready, the next step is to make the website itself.
There are many considerations in web designs but as a beginner my advice is to take baby step.
WYSIWYG Editor
Try output something and get it onto the web. The fine-tuning and modification can come later after you have learned your skills. One easy way to design a website is to use a WYSIWYG web editor like Adobe Dreamweaver CC. Such editors work just like a normal word processor and allow you to design your site visually without handling too much technical details.
Website Builders
If HTML and CSS are not your thing, or you simply want a simple personal website for your interview, then perhaps a drag-and-drop website builder is the better choice.
Most web hosting companies provide a drag-and-drop site builder for free. If you don’t care much about the outlook or UX of the site, you can create a functioning personal website in half and hour using those free tools.
Alternatively, you can skip the web design process by using a paid all-in-one website builder like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace.
The best thing about these paid tools are made for non-techies. They are usually easy to use and come with hundreds of pre-designed templates. You can simply pick a pre-design theme and apply to your website in just a few clicks.
Examples: Personal websites built using Wix
I recommend Wix for its user-friendly dashboard and flexibility. The tool is suitable for both newbies and experienced webmasters who wish to further tweak their site designs. Here are some personal websites built and hosted at Wix.
3. Add in content
I can’t really teach you what kind of content to be added to your personal website but to help you on brainstorming – ask these questions to yourself –
- What is the purpose of your personal website? Define and build your personal brand.
- Who are your target audience? Students, potential clients, shoppers, etc. Get to know them.
- What are the must-have info on the site? Job samples, contact details, product specifications, etc.
- How do you present those info? Gallery styles, point forms, animations, etc. Or even better, tell a story.
Now Your Turn: Which Is Your Favorite?
Did you like my collection of personal websites? Which one seemed the most creative to you? What do you think is the most important in personal sites?
Please share this post and your opinion on Twitter (tag me at @WebHostingJerry). I hope this compilation will help you to create your own personal website according to all modern tendencies.
Article by Jerry Low
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