I officially announced the completion of my website two days ago and I’m still amazed at the response! When God is involved in something, He will always blow your mind away. That’s exactly what He did with this website and I’m grateful for the privilege to have a platform where I can reach out to the world.
With the best wishes from several people came questions about how I was able to create the content for my personal website, what influenced my decision to structure the content the way it is and where did I get my inpsiration from. I’ll answer all these questions in this post.
So, this is all you need to know about creating content for your personal wesbite!
Know Who You Are
Your personal website is an important pillar you need to build a strong personal brand online. It’s great to have a place where people can come and get information about you. You control the narrative and give out as much information as you want. It is therefore crucial for your personal website to reflect who you are; either in totality or a part of you. For example, some want to show only their professional or family life. Whatever you choose, be authentically you.
I don’t compartmentalize my life. My relationship with God influences all the other areas of my life; work, family, ministry and so on. It was therefore my goal to ensure that I created a website that portrays this. So my wesbite doesn’t fit into any particular box. I made it my own and it is a true reflection of everything that is important to me.
Takeaway – Let your personal website reflect who you truly are.
Know your ‘why’
Why are you creating this website? Do you want people to know you professionally so they can contact you for work or do you want to showcase all the things you have done so far? Perhaps you just want to have a website where you can inspire others with your life.
Knowing your why will also help you to create the perfect content for your website. If you want to use your website as a platform to gain more clients, you will have to showcase your expertise and the work you have done. The language you will use will also be different as you will need to include some call to actions and essential key words for your area of expertise
Takeaway – Be very clear about what you want to achieve with your website.
Do your research
This is another important element of creating your personal website. What’s out there? What are the webites that you like, both personal and corporate? What is it about these websites that you like? What don’t you like? What do you want to replicate on your website?
Doing your research allows you to form the foundation of what you want your website to look and sound like. It was very helpful for me when giving the web designer the creative direction. I think I sent him about three links and told him what I liked in each link and what I didn’t like. All of this (and Tobi’s amazing creativity) contributed to the awesome website you are visiting.
Takeaway – Find out what others have done and create a foundation for yours.
Make it interesting
Even if your personal website is meant to be professional only, it shouldn’t be too serious. You don’t have to put your profile exactly the way it is on LinkedIn, for example. You can tweak it to make it more interesting. People like to work with those they can connect with. Your personal wesbite is a great way to allow potential clients and followers to connect with you. So, infuse a bit of fun and humour in your content if possible.
I’m an advocate of storytelling. Every page of my website tells a story. I think people connect better with stories. They are more compelling. Therefore, it is better if you are able to tell a story with your brand so that people will always be excited to visit your website.
Takeaway – Tell a compelling story with your brand.
Embrace clarity
I believe in simplicity. Life is complicated enough. I don’t need anything else to make it more complicated. Let the content of your website be as simple as possible. If you have many sides to you for example (author, entrepreneur, activist) break your different sides into headings and create content that will showcase that particular side of you. Don’t try to lump it into one. It can be confusing.
The choice of words should also be as concise as possible. People should not be scratching their heads wondering what you are talking about when they visit your wesbite. They must be clear about who you are and what your brand represents.
Takeaway – Opt for simplicity and clarity over ‘big grammar’.
I know it won’t be fair for me to say creating content for a personal website is easy because this is something I have been doing for the last six years but it is not complicated either. Start by creating an outline of the different things you want to put on your website and begin to create the content one section at a time.
If it’s still challenging for you to do this, you can always engage the services of a professional writer.
