I used to shudder when I heard the word—WEBSITE. Ugh. I knew I needed one. I knew they were expensive. And I knew that there was no way in hell that I would be able to build a decent site myself. People pay thousands of dollars for those things, after all, right?
WRONG! I mean, yes, people used to pay oodles and oodles of money to have a decent website made, hosted, and managed, and at the time it was worth it. Having your own website meant that you were ahead of the curve. It showed that you were professional, you paid attention to your image, and frankly, that you had some disposable income which allowed you to afford said site—an indicator of success.
A good website with a strong domain name (like YOURNAME.com) still looks more professional than a social media page or blog. And it still shows that you care about your image. Web design has become so accessible and easy, though, that having a website no longer puts you ahead of the professional writing curve—now it simply means that you’ve caught up.
Having a good-looking website is essential for driving potential clients to your portfolio. Really, I would go so far as to say that a good website is even more important than a business card—at least your website can’t be thrown away. And if anything, that business card is going get a lead to your site to look over your portfolio long before they attempt to contact, or for that matter, hire you.
Now, with respect to design, don’t start sweating yet. A number of web hosting companies (like GoDaddy.com) have made it easy and now offer simple drag-and-drop website builders with a large selection of customizable templates. Don’t tell anyone, but this was how I made my site (www.CraigSBaker.com). Check it out and let me know what you think. Also, if you have any questions about how I went about making my site, please feel free to ask. I will respond directly to you myself within a couple of days.
There are a million marketing professionals and coaches out there telling you that you can build a home business nowadays without spending any money out of pocket. Where this may be true if you are a computer genius with loads and loads of excess memory from which you can host your own website, this is, in general, a misleading concept.
Everything costs money, and this is still true of websites. But fortunately, over the last several years the cost of having your own website, complete with email and a custom domain, has been shaved down to the bare minimum. Look around for deals online—I know GoDaddy is running a special right now that will get you a domain, a website builder and template, and an email address for an entire year for just $12. Mine even came with $100 of advertising credit. So, unless you are literally overdrawn in your bank account and late on your billing cycles, you really have no excuse not to get on that. Seriously. (If you really can’t afford $12, wix.com offers free websites, and you can upgrade your domain here at a later date).
A professional looking website can be the make-or-break difference to a client—even the best portfolio on earth is doing nothing for your career if nobody can find it. As such, this one simple addition to your marketing arsenal can take you from the level of ambitious amateur to up-and-coming professional instantly, and trust me on this—it will be the easiest and most worthwhile promotion you have ever given yourself.
Working on it... 