A customer of mine asked me to help him create a page about his persona, his interests, projects and achievements. A personal website is different from a company website, an informational website, or an online store. It represents you, which is why it needs to be good at telling people who you really are. It needs to tell your story, and one of the most effective ways of telling a story is to use lots of visuals! Just think about the success of comics! So ask yourself – what is my personal story and how can I tell it in a captivating, engaging way?
Nick Longo, a true Internet pioneer has a personal page that I like a lot! Observe how he uses lots of images, little text and a very clean layout.
You want your website to create an opportunity for other people to relate to you. You don’t need to please the whole world! Instead, you want to make sure that your personal website appeals to people that are on the same page as you are.
Budget: $0 – $4 per month
Why reinvent the wheel if there are already great options out there? About.Me does everything I mentioned above. It’s for free, give it a try! The Pro Version is only $48 per year and gives you a custom domain, no branding and some other extra-features. But even the free version is reasonably customizable and will likely do almost everything you need your personal page to do. The only disadvantage is that you will always be limited to the features that About.me designed for you. Extending the personal website to more complex features will likely be impossible.
Budget: $2.99 per month (custom domain name and website builder)
I personally sell a website-builder that could be a good solution to build your personal page. It comes with 5 custom email accounts and a highly flexible set of tools that lets you turn your personal page into a true website that contains almost anything you could think of. You can demo that website builder for free here. Just select one of the many templates and start building your site using pre-built modules. I currently have two customers that use this web-builder doing almost everything on their own. This is a perfect low-cost solution. Check out http://kaylaberg.com and http://vegan-couture.com.
Budget: $7.79 – $11.90 per month
If you already own an active Facebook Page, Twitter account and or Instagram account, then you may be done with your personal page in about 3 minutes. How is that possible? I sell a website-generator that builds your website using a set of pre-defined algorithms. By giving it existing social media accounts, it auto-generates a website that you can later customize to your heart’s content. Look here for more information. If you want to see an active example, check out http://exceedspa.com. This is not your best choice if you are a design/UX fanatic. You can influence colors and content, but you are limited in layout. Just as the first option, extending your personal website to more complex features will likely be impossible (although there are loads of pre-built features already integrated). You can try this solution for free for a whole month.
Budget: $8 – $16 per month
Another fantastic option for a personal page is https://www.strikingly.com. It’s similar than the option above, but it integrates with LinkedIn. If you have a well maintained LinkedIn profile then you could have your personal website ready in a heartbeat. I tried it myself, and this is what I saw after literally 1 minute. –> http://shankar-poncelet.strikingly.com. Their templates are contemporary and very well done. Extending this option to more complex features will likely be impossible (although there are loads of pre-built features already integrated).
Budget: $4,999 + (includes your own smartphone app)
This is a custom solution that I would build for you. You have complete control over every single detail. Your personal page is extensible since I would pick technologies that are in line with your plans for the future. You own 100% of your website, and you are not dependent on the survival of other companies. That’s right, nobody can guarantee that the above listed options are available ongoing. They are provided by businesses that can go bankrupt (although this is very unlikely since I picked well established solutions for you).
And YES, this rate does include your very own smartphone app for iOS and Android!
You can find out more about this package here.
Whatever solution seems to be the best fit for you, know that you can hire me as your consultant. I can help you set up your personal page and make sure that you get the most bang for your buck.