When you think of examples of people who should have a personal website, your first thought might not include yourself. You might think it’s something for celebrities, professional bloggers, or people who do business on the Internet in some way.

However, you’d be surprised as to who could benefit from having their own website. Even if you are a pencil-pushing cubicle worker, having your own presence and outlet on the Internet can help with your positioning in your industry and work prospects.

Sounds interesting?

Good, because in this article, we cover everything you need to know about building a personal website. This includes good reasons to build a web presence for yourself and what information you should have on it. In the main part, we cover examples of existing personal sites both for inspiration and to understand some best practices. Finally, we finish off with concrete steps for how you can start to create a personal website for yourself.

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In this article:

5 Reasons Why You Should Have a Personal Website

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Why exactly should you consider creating a personal website in the first place? Especially if you don’t have a job that typically calls for an online profile?

Consolidate Your Web Presence

In our day and age, most people already have a presence on the web, at least in some form.

Whether that’s an Instagram or Twitter account, a profile on TikTok, a Medium page, or any of the other many forms you can use to create and publish content.

Unfortunately, that also means your online identity is often kind of scattered. If someone likes what you do and wants to get in touch, how do they best accomplish that? Write you a DM on TikTok? Comment on your YouTube channel? And where do you want people to go to find out more about you?

A personal website eliminates all of these problems. It creates a central hub for your existence on the Internet, allows you to give people directions on how to contact you, and clarifies what you are about. Your own site is also somewhere you can link to from all of your different presences.

Give Yourself a Platform That You Own and Control

One of the central problems with using third-party platforms is that it puts the control over your publishing power in the hands of someone else. If that’s all your presence on the World Wide Web consists of, you are basically renting it from other people and are wholly dependent on their goodwill.

You can always be shut down for violating their guidelines (which, in some cases, apparently includes making fun of the new owner of a social network). That means, if your account on another platform is what you build your entire business, it could disappear completely, and you would have to start from scratch.

With a personal website, on the other hand, you own the content. You can decide what to do with it, where to host it and – unless you violate any laws – it can’t be shut down on a whim.

Does that mean you should consolidate everything into a website and give up on the rest? No, but complementing your existing web presence with a personal website is a perfect way to avoid the above scenario.

Establish Your Personal Brand

Having your own website can also help you establish a personal brand. What do you need that for if you are not an entrepreneur or media figure?

A personal brand can make you more recognizable. It allows you to establish your expertise, increase your visibility, and attract clients, employers, or work that you enjoy. For example, do you think sending a link to your well-thought-out blog along with your resume could give you an edge at a job interview? We think so, and apparently, 80% of businesses agree.

A personal brand also helps you control what people find when they look for you on the Internet. Because who can rank better for your own name than you (someone with the same name, yes, but do they have a personal website?)

In short, a personal brand is not just for marketers or entrepreneurs but is useful beyond that.

Hand on your heart, who would you rather do business with: Someone who advertises their services in their social media bio or on their own website?

A website feels more official, right? It’s like getting a business proposal from a Gmail address versus from a branded domain. One simply feels more trustworthy than the other.

It’s because anyone can get a Gmail address or open a social profile. It takes literally minutes while building a personal website to advertise your work and services takes a lot more effort. As a consequence, it feels a lot more legit, meaning visitors are more likely to hire you off of a website than another profile.

Finally, a personal website is also perfect for showcasing examples of your work. More on that soon.

Earn More Clients or Business

The final benefit of owning your own website is that it reverses the direction in which you interact with clients. On social media, by definition, you are trying to catch attention and need to put out content in order to be noticed.

With a personal website, on the other hand, you can have clients come to you. If you do at least a little bit of search engine optimization, a website allows you to generate inbound traffic from people actively looking for what you have to offer. Instead of shouting into the void, you can create an inviting place for your ideal customers who already want what you have to give.

Besides that, a personal website builds trust. It shows that you are serious and mean business, making it more likely that other people will give you theirs.

What Should You Include on a Personal Website?

So, let’s say you have decided to create a website for yourself but have no ideas what to populate it with. Here are some tried-and-tested ideas.

About Page With Your Bio

A personal website is, by definition, well, personal. So, someone who visits it most likely wants to learn more about you, and who are you to deprive them of that pleasure? That’s why including an About page makes a lot of sense.

For more details, we have an entire article about how to create a good About page. In addition, check our collection of About page examples.

Contact Page

After getting to know you, what’s the next logical step? Wanting to talk to you, of course! Possibly even to work with you.

For that reason, creating a contact page should be next on your to-do list. The central objective here is to provide interested parties with the best ways or places to reach and follow you.

What that is, is up to you. You can simply include a contact form so that they can write you directly or point them to any other method to best get in touch.

Blog

We already mentioned the power of blogging to show your expertise. A blog is also a fantastic medium to display more of your personality and demonstrate what you know, are good at, like, or can help others with.

In fact, a blog itself can be a business; there are enough full-time bloggers out there to prove that. While that doesn’t have to be your goal, blogging is still a great tool for building a personal brand and establishing yourself as a thought leader.

Portfolio

Another thing already mentioned as a sensible addition to a personal website is your portfolio. If you are any sort of creative worker, this is a no-brainer. As a photographer, graphic designer, or web developer, what better place to show your existing work and show off your skill set as a way to convince potential clients to work with you?

But even if you are not part of that group, building a personal portfolio is still useful. Even as a college student or job hunter, you can benefit from it. The fact that you went through the trouble of teaching yourself how to build a website is already a good way to stand out.

25 Personal Website Examples to Inspire Your Own Ideas

Hopefully, by now, we have convinced you of the benefits of having a personal website. To give you an even better understanding, below are examples of personal websites to show you what is possible and how other people approach the subject. By the way, all of the examples below have been built with WordPress; just saying.

Martha Stewart

We are starting off with America’s most popular homemaker. On Martha Stewart’s personal blog, you can learn more about the art of making your house beautiful and Martha’s life. The left side features a long list of categories so you can filter the articles by topic. However, somebody please make the theme mobile responsive!

In Photos dot Org

Next up is the personal website of Donncha O Caoimh. He is an Automattician and mostly uses his site to show off his photography of Ireland. He does so in the form of a blog based on the Twenty Twenty theme. It has a nice full-width design – perfect for showcasing images – and comes with an About section where you can learn more about the person behind the website.

Jospeha Haden Chomphosy

Here’s a face that should be very familiar to regular WordCamps visitors. Josepha Haden Chomphosy is the Executive Director of the WordPress project, and this is her website and blog. It has a large hero image on top and, for good measure, two fold-out menus. Here, you can learn more about her and her leadership philosophy, as well as her dog Pepper.

Wil Wheaton

Our next example is the personal website of author, actor, voice actor, and blogger Wil Wheaton. It looks purposely old school – Comic Sans and all. The main attraction here is his writing, which is very personal. Definitely worth a read.

Matt Mullenweg

Next up, we have the personal website of Matt Mullenweg. You might know him as the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com (among others). It’s a blog where he shares his thoughts on a number of different topics at irregular intervals.

The site has a very detailed About page, where you can learn more about Matt. In addition, there is a contact page with a very cool feature: it shows his current email queue, so you can get a feel for how long it will take him to get back to you.

Donna Cavalier

Here we have the personal website of Donna Cavalier. She is my editor here at WordPress.com, so I am contractually obligated to only speak highly of her. It is, therefore, my completely unbiased opinion that this is the best personal website in our whole list of examples!

Jokes aside, on Donna’s site, you can learn more about her personal life and read her articles about WordPress, life, and cooking. Note how the images on the homepage contain link jumps that take you straight to different sections of her About page.

(Did I do this right, Donna?)

Editors Note: Ha ha, perfect, Nick, just perfect.

Felicia Day

The site of professional actress Felicia Day comes with a sort of masonry layout. It also has all the pages you would expect: Her portfolio, social accounts (including her YouTube page and weekly Twitch live streams), About and contact sections, and the list of projects she’s involved with. Also, as a first on this list, it features a shop, even though it only links to her products on Amazon and iTunes. There is no native ecommerce functionality.

Aidan Moher

Aidan Moher is a writer and editor. His website is blog-focused to help you keep up to date on his latest projects and when his books come out. There is also a bibliography, press kit, and directions to where else you can find out more about him. Pay also attention to the sidebar with links for where you can support his work.

Nick Schäferhoff

Next up is my personal website (because my director was kind enough to include it in the brief). It’s where my author profiles on other websites link to, and currently, it’s mainly a blog. Besides an About page and portfolio, you can see it has a Hire me page in the main menu where potential clients can get in touch to use my services.

How do I know that it works? Well, you are only reading this very article because the kind people of WordPress.com got in touch with me through my contact page and asked me to contribute to this blog.

Aleyda Solis

Aleyda Solis is an SEO consultant, speaker, and author. Her personal website sports a custom theme as well as an SEO blog, a link collection to useful tools, a contact page, and a sign-up to her newsletter. She works a lot in Spanish, so her website is also offered bilingually. Finally, you can find an events calendar with upcoming speaking engagements as well as videos of talks she has given in the past.

Chris Lema

Chris Lema is another well-known name and face in the WordPress industry. He runs an extensive blog full of valuable tips for WordPress users, especially on the topics of ecommerce, membership plugins, and LMS. His site is very cleanly designed and has the necessary pages and features.

Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak, best known as the co-founder of Apple, also has his own personal website. On it, you can learn more about the person behind the first Mac computers, see his appearances in the media and as a speaker, articles he appears in, and photos. Notice the slider on the homepage and how it has been divided into sections to display different kinds of content.

Lily Ugbaja

Lily Ugbaja is a B2B SaaS freelance writer. Her homepage sports a classic combination of her services, clients and their testimonials, and a call to action. You can learn more about what she offers on the Services page, sign up to receive her newsletter, or contact her to work with her.

Marcus Miller

The website of Jazz musician Marcus Miller. Find out where he tours, what gear he uses, upcoming events, and how to get in touch. You might also simply admire the excellent photography and use of fonts on the site.

Cory Doctorow

The website of author, activist, and journalist Cory Doctorow. It allows you to learn more about the books he’s written, follow his blog and upcoming appearances, check out his podcast, and more. The wall of clickable book covers on the right is really cool. Don’t overlook the fold-out menu (top left); there’s a lot more to discover!

Lily Ray

This is the personal website of Lily Ray, who apparently wears a lot of different hats (SEO professional, DJ, drummer, and more). It comes with a great example of the use of a hero image on the front page. The subpages contain a lot of embedded media so you can get familiar with her work. There is also an events calendar for upcoming gigs.

James Clear

James Clear is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Atomic Habits” (which, btw, I can recommend). His website mainly consists of an About section, portfolio, blog, and newsletter signup. So, it basically ticks every single box of what we mentioned should be on a personal website and also features a very spacious and calming design.

The Everywhereist

Another author’s website, this one belonging to Geraldine DeRuiter. While the site started off as a travel blog, she now uses it to write about a wide range of topics in her unique voice. Notice the custom icons helping visitors to find their way around the site and the “best of” section for first-time readers.

Tim Ferriss

This is the blog of best-selling author and podcast host Tim Ferriss. If you are familiar with his work, you will know that it is one of his main tools for everything he does. Some of the posts on the blog actually became chapters of some of his very successful books. It is one of the best examples of someone building a profitable personal brand through their website.

Snoop Dogg

Get the latest news about the doggfather of rap on his personal website. What’s especially noteworthy here is the Spotify integration at the bottom of the screen that allows you to listen to his latest tracks. Aside from that, it features the latest news, noteworthy releases, and an events calendar with upcoming appearances, among other things.

ishootshows.com

Todd Owyoung is a music photographer. His website shows off his work. More importantly, though, he also shares tutorials and tips for people who want to get into photography themselves. It’s a very well-done site. One clever detail is that the contact menu item directly shows his phone number on hover. You can also access his articles via the animated mega menu.

Lionel Messi

The newly crowned football/soccer world champion Lionel Messi also has a personal website. Its coolest feature is that it counts down to the next matches he will appear in. There are also animated career stats, and you can catch the latest news, access the shop, look at photos, watch videos, and more.

Tony Hawk

The personal website of the G.O.A.T. of skateboarding and one of the best-looking examples on this list. The incredibly clean design allows you to learn more about the man, his life and work, the video game series named after him, and everything else. Pro tip: Go to the media page and watch him do the 900 in the hero video.

Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, best known as just Rihanna, is an award-winning record artist and entrepreneur. This is her personal website where you can learn about her, her career and music, see photos and videos, and learn more about her businesses and causes. Or you just swing by to admire the custom and image-based theme that powers the site.

Jay-Z

Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z, impresses with a completely customized website. The images on his homepage all link to blog posts, and you can filter them at the bottom or scroll left and right with the arrows. There is a lot to explore; the content goes back more than a decade.

How to Build Your Own Personal Website

In the final part of this post, let’s do a quick start guide on how you can build your own personal website.

Determine Which Pages You Need

The first thing is to think about what pages are necessary for your website. If you go over the examples above, you can easily see that most of the personal websites feature a few standard pages and elements – basically what we mentioned in the beginning.

So, what’s important for you? What should people find when they come to your site? What information is important to deliver?

Think about this for a while and make a list. If you have trouble answering these questions, we also have a detailed guide on website pages you can consult.

Take a Nice Photo of Yourself

What’s a personal website without a photo? Less personal, that’s for sure. So, before thinking about getting to the building, make sure that you have a nice image of yourself that you can post there.

Depending on what you will use the site for, you can hire a professional or simply ask someone to take a picture with your phone. Mobile phone cameras are now also good enough so that a selfie might suffice.

Write Content for Each Page

The pages are not going to do much good if they are empty. Therefore, the next step is to make sure you have content good to go for your site. You can easily do this with a simple Google Doc from where you can later copy the content into the WordPress editor.

Create Your WordPress.com Account and Secure Your Domain

Once you are done with the preparations, your new personal website needs a place to live and a way for people to find it. For that, sign up to WordPress.com and get a domain.

This will provide you with hosting for your site and allow would-be visitors to swing by. In addition, because WordPress.com is a managed WordPress hosting provider, your site is created automatically for you, so you can start working on it right away.

Create Each Page and Add Your Content

If you have made it this far, you already have a basic website that you can now populate. To create pages, go to Pages > Add New in your WP Admin.

This will open the WordPress page editor, where you can enter a name for the page and start filling it with content.

If you have used a Google Doc, as mentioned before, you can simply copy and paste. The only caveat: Make sure to upload the images you added to your content to your site. That way, they are served locally instead of from a Google document that you might delete later.

Luckily, the WordPress editor has an easy-peasy solution for that. After you have copied and pasted your content, click on an image and then on Upload external image in the options bar above it (the icon that looks like an upward arrow).

This will automatically add it to your media library and replace the editor version with the local one. You can then use it as usual, such as adding an ALT tag.

Of course, there is much more you can do to spruce up your site. Follow our more detailed website-building tutorial for additional tips.

Now You’re Ready to Create Your Own Personal Website

Creating a personal website is a great investment for your online identity. It works as a central web presence for you that you have direct control over and is a great tool to build a brand for yourself, showcase your work, and attract clients.

As we have seen in the personal website examples above, they come in all shapes and sizes. You can add as much or as little content as you want or need and design your site according to your taste and the industry you are in. It doesn’t have to be complex. If you don’t know where to start, use the examples above as springboards for your own ideas.

Finally, with WordPress.com, personal websites are quick and easy to create, so there is very little reason for you to keep going without one.

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