How to Create a Simple Personal Website for Free: The Definitive Guide
8/28/2022Whether you want to stay connected with your friends, colleagues or just sell things online, a personal website is the perfect answer for almost everyone. So, why not create one? However, creating a personal website isn’t as straightforward as it seems. That's why we've outlined the details of this complex topic in this guide. From choosing the right free tool to build your homepage without breaking your budget, we cover everything you need to know about how to create a personal website for free.
Step 1: Set a Clear Goal For Your Personal Website
Before you get started with the nitty-gritty of creating a website, you need to know why you’re creating one in the first place. Creating a website isn’t an easy task, so it’s important to be clear about your goal to make sure you don’t get stuck part-way through.
Here are a few reasons why people create websites:
To share knowledge with the world: If you have knowledge that you believe can help others, creating a website is the perfect way to share it with the world. You can teach anything from basic computer skills to pottery and even how to write better.
To build your personal brand: In this day and age, almost every job that pays a decent wage comes with a requirement to have an online presence. Therefore, if you want a job in almost any field, you need to have a blog where you share your expertise.
To stay connected with friends and family: Having a website allows you to stay connected with everyone from your childhood friends to your pen pals from other countries.
To keep in touch with your professional network: Having a website is a great way to keep in touch with members of your professional network.
To make money from your website: In some cases, a website can even be a money-making venture. You can create an online store to sell your handmade goods or even write articles for websites that pay you for your words.
Sara's portoflio created with Teeny
Prior to starting, you should lay out your website goals. Why are you creating one, and what do you want to achieve?
Step 2: Choose a Website Builder
Once you’ve decided that you want a website, the next step is to find the best website builder for your needs. Website builders are online tools that enable you to create websites quickly and easily without any prior experience or coding knowledge. There are several website builders that are free, but not all of them are created equal.
Here are a few things to watch out for when you’re choosing the best website builder.
Ease of use - The best website builder should be easy to use for anyone. That’s because you don’t want to spend hours just learning how to use it.
The number of themes - The best website builder will have dozens of templates to choose from. Additionally, they will have the possibility to add your own style and allow you to change colors and fonts.
The amount of functionalities it offers - The best website builder will offer you a ton of functionalities that allow you to build everything from a simple personal website to a complex one. From single page websites, to blogging capabilities. You don’t want to have your website and blog in different services.
Custom domain support - Make sure that you choose a website builder that allows you to define your custom domain. To start it’s ok to use a temporal url, but in the future you want to add your own professional domain.
Analytics - Today's tracking and analytics world got wild. Cookies, pop ups and ad blockers make it difficult to have a simple analytics tool that gives you the right amount of information without disturbing your site visitors.
Here are the three website builders that we’d recommend for starting a personal website:
Carrd
Carrd is a site builder that allows you to create your site by blocks. Carrd's main cons include its lack of built-in blogging functionality and difficulty of use.
About.me
About me is the oldest and traditional place for your personal website. Templates are a bit outdated and lack of multiple functionalities like blogging, content and basic customizations.
Teeny is one of the most powerful and easiest non-code site builders on the market today. The friendly and intuitive user interface lets you manage your content like you are writing a note, with just the right level of flexibility and control. Whatever you want to build a personal brand, a resume, or simply share your story, interests, and ideas, Teenly allows you to do it with a remarkable style.
Teeny.li editor in action
Now you’ve selected your website builder, it’s time for fun.
Step 3: Find a Template You Love
Once you’ve chosen a website builder, it’s time to find a template you love. Website builders will give you access to dozens of templates, so your task is to find the one that’s the closest to the design you have in mind.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re searching for the perfect design.
Style - The first thing you have to look for in a website template is its style. You can find templates that are made for businesses as well as those that are perfect for personal websites.
Information Architecture - Every website has a flow that visitors follow, and it’s called information architecture. That’s why it’s important to find the template that best suits the way you want to organize the information on your website.
Features - Every template is different, so make sure that you find a website builder that offers a template that has the features you want on your website.
Step 4: Create content for your website
Once you’ve found the perfect template and created a website, it’s time to create content for your website. The best way to get started is by writing content that is relevant to your chosen niche. You can also add images to your website to make it more visually appealing.
Here are a few things to remember as you create content for your website.
Create content that’s useful - The best way to create content for your website is to create content that people will actually read. That means that you need to create articles that are useful to readers.
Create content that’s easy to understand - The best content for your website is the kind that even the least tech-savvy person can easily understand. That way, you’ll have a wider audience and more people will benefit from your articles.
Create content that’s unique - One of the best ways to distinguish yourself from the thousands of other website owners is to create content that no one else has made before.
These are the 6 essential elements of a fully functional personal website:
A name and a domain: The name of your website should be easy to remember, and it should also reflect your brand, your goals, and your professional identity. Your domain name should be something you can own, and it can be useful to purchase your domain name even if you don’t have a website yet — it gets you one step closer to having a professional online presence.
An About section: An about section is the place where you introduce yourself and your expertise to your visitors. It’s the best place to link to your resume and other important professional documents, and it’s also the best place to share your personality, interests, long-term goals, your short-term goals, and your overall vision.
A Portfolio: Your portfolio is the place where you can show off your skills and achievements. It’s a place where you can link to work samples, presentations, and other resources that show your proficiency in your industry.
A Contact Me section: Do you want people to reach out? Share your social media links and if you are up for the challenge, your personal email.
A Blog: Your blog is an excellent way to engage with your followers and potential employers. A blog is a great place to start a conversation and to share your knowledge and interests. You can also use your blog to link to your other personal and professional pages.
Still not convincded, read our guide on Why do you need a personal website
Step 5: Optimize your website
Once you’re done creating content for your website, it’s time to optimize it. The best way to do that is by following some basic SEO strategies.
Here are a few things you can do to make sure your website is as visible as possible in search engines.
Create a sitemap - A sitemap is a map of your website. It tells search engines where each page is on your website and how it’s connected to other pages in your website.
Add alt tags to your images - An alt tag is a short description of an image, and it’s one of the most important SEO strategies. That’s because search engines can’t see images, but they can read alt tags.
Add keywords to your website content - Adding keywords to your website content is one of the best ways to get your website higher on the SERPs. That’s because it’s one of the first things search engines look at when deciding where to place your website.
How to Start a Personal Website: Summary
Creating a personal website isn’t as straightforward as it may seem. From choosing the right tool to designing your homepage without breaking your budget, we covered everything you need to know about how to create a personal website for free. Are you ready to start? Try Teeny today for free.