9 Strategies for Creating a Website to Showcase Your Personal Brand

I want to have a website to showcase my personal brand. Should I set up a free site on Tumblr or About.me, focus on my own site and hosting, or something else — and why?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Focus on Your Own Site

“You’re building your brand across the course of your entire career, and that can often last more than 50 years. Whatever the hottest service is now will no longer be hot in five years, let alone 50. Skip one lunch out, and buy a $10 domain name so you can control its content and shape it however you like.”

John Rood, Next Step Test Preparation

2. Control Your Own Brand

“Never give up control over your personal brand; it’s the only thing you get to keep in life. Using free sites to help promote your brand is fine, but it’s absolutely necessary to have control of your own website. Plus, when done professionally, it shows you are serious about your brand. Invest in your brand by investing in your own personal website.”

Mark Cenicola, BannerView.com

3. Use Your Own Site

“Accurate or not, dot-com sites always appear more professional than identical sites on Tumblr or other subdomain sites. Create your own dot-com, and you’ll appear as professional as can be.”

Brennan White, Watchtower

4. Try Medium

“If you’re a writer, Medium is an increasingly well-respected way to showcase your thinking and interests. It’s also easy to set up and even easier to make look good, which can be tough on Tumblr or about.me. Ultimately, it depends on the type of content you’re interested in producing.”

Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

5. Host Your Own Site

“If you don’t have a website, no one is going to find you. If your site is on Tumblr, WordPress, about.me or something similar, you don’t own the data. Do you want to own your own data? Yes, so get your own site, and host it. This should only cost you $100 per year.”
John Rampton, Adogy

6. Get Your Own Website

“Setting up a professional site these days takes less than an hour and less than $100. I helped a friend do so, and we spent $50. We even purchased a new WordPress theme and launched it in about 45 minutes. Here’s all you need — a domain name, hosting, WordPress, a theme and a little content to put on your site. You can always upgrade the various pieces later if you want to spend more.”

Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

7. Build a Sleek Site

“Without a doubt, set one up on about.me, Flavors.me, Squarespace or a similar site. Then, purchase your own personal dot-com domain name if available. These services make your website look extremely professional at a low cost and are easy to use. You will be able to link to all your social media profiles and incorporate a blog to help grow your personal brand even further.”

Jason Grill, JGrill Media | Sock 101

8. Start With LinkedIn

“It will be easier to rank a LinkedIn page on search engines than a self-hosted site, especially if your name is common. It may make sense down the road to set up a site and try to get it to rank, but it’s much more efficient to get a LinkedIn ranking first.”

Josh Weiss, Bluegala

9. Control Your Own Branding

“I believe the best solution for the long run is to focus on your website. I believe this is true for various marketing reasons, but most importantly, for empowering your brand.”

Hassan Bawab, Magic Logix

Picture of The Young Entrepreneur Council

The Young Entrepreneur Council

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members represent nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year and have created tens of thousands of jobs.

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

5 zodiac signs who have a tendency to clash with family

5 zodiac signs who have a tendency to clash with family

Baseline

Women who become more difficult and unpleasant as they age typically adopt these 7 habits (without truly realizing it)

Women who become more difficult and unpleasant as they age typically adopt these 7 habits (without truly realizing it)

Parent From Heart

If you want to stay socially active in your retirement years, say goodbye to these 7 behaviors

If you want to stay socially active in your retirement years, say goodbye to these 7 behaviors

Parent From Heart

7 signs of a person has never experienced true, deep love (according to psychology)

7 signs of a person has never experienced true, deep love (according to psychology)

The Blog Herald

If you want to get healthy but always end up procrastinating, say goodbye to these 7 behaviors

If you want to get healthy but always end up procrastinating, say goodbye to these 7 behaviors

Global English Editing

Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni pulls in a host of A-listers, from Taylor Swift to Ben Affleck

Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni pulls in a host of A-listers, from Taylor Swift to Ben Affleck

NewsReports

Subscribe to receive our latest articles!

Get updates on the latest posts and more from Personal Branding Blog straight to your inbox.