Could a personal website add up to $138,000 to your lifetime earnings?
By: Brooke Kent
Tags: Personal Branding, Career Change, Website Design, Career Development, Job Hunting

IN TODAY’S WORLD, DOES HAVING A PERSONAL WEBSITE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Yes! In today’s world, a personal website is your electronic billboard. And like a billboard, your personal website makes an impact.

Consider these four statistics:

73% of hiring managers rank a personal website as the most powerful piece of your portfolio. A personal website builds your social capital. Because of that, a personal website can increase your lifetime earnings by 7.7% — which for the average college-educated American, translates to an additional $138,000. Out of 15,000 people surveyed on LinkedIn, just 4% had a personal website. But out of the 4% of people who had a personal website — 86% said that their personal website had generated job offers, raises, or promotions.

If you’d like to create a personal website, what will make it successful? I discussed just that with Josh Neimark, creative director and lead Squarespace designer for Fix8 Media. Josh said that the keys to a powerful personal website are the 5 Ps:

purpose people packaging pitch, and portfolio.

STEP #1: CLARIFY YOUR PURPOSE AND YOUR PEOPLE.

Websites with a clear purpose and a defined audience perform twice as well, as those without.

So before you create your personal website, you should answer 2 questions:

Why are you creating a personal website? (purpose) Who is your audience? (people)

Perhaps you’re currently job-searching. Perhaps you’re happily employed, but you’d like to establish yourself as a thought expert in your field. Perhaps you’ve just entered this industry, and you’d like to grow the breadth & depth of your network. Perhaps you’re a creator. You’re an artist, an actor, a journalist, or a writer, and you’d like to showcase your portfolio. Or perhaps,you’re a consultant or an entrepreneur, and you’d like to spotlight your thoughts, your products, or your services.

Whatever the reason, begin with the end in mind. Why are you creating a personal website? And who is your audience?

STEP #2: PICK YOUR PACKAGING.

The packaging is how you present yourself — and your personal brand — to the world.

Visualize an iconic package, like the Coke can. First, think about the form. The red can with the white script is simple, eye-catching, and visually appealing. Second, think about the function. On the one hand, the Coke can is easy for its maker to create. But more importantly, the Coke can is easy for the end-user to operate.

Let’s translate the Coke-can analogy to your personal website.

Form: You have just 0.05 seconds to capture a user’s attention. If your website is complicated, boring, or ugly, your users will leave within that first 5 hundredths of a second. In consequence, your design must be simple, eye-catching, and visually appealing. (Look at singer/songwriter Katlyn Swanson’s homepage to see how powerful a single image can be.)

Second, function: On the back end, you won’t create & maintain your personal website, unless it’s easy for you to do. But more importantly, on the front end, your personal website must be easy for your end-users or viewers. For instance, 47% of people expect a website to load in 2 seconds or less, and 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. As a result, your personal website must load quickly; it must be easy to navigate; it must be mobile-friendly; and it must work across a variety of browsers & devices.

Whether you choose Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, Shopify, or a different platform, be sure that it combines both form and function. For example, Josh has built 1,000+ websites in Squarespace, because its clean, modern designs are easy to set-up, but even more importantly, they’re easy to use.

STEP #3: DELIVER YOUR PITCH.

Your pitch is the heart of your personal website.

Remember: eye-tracking studies show that people read just 20–28% of the text on any given website. Say someone reads just 20–28% of the text on your personal website. What is the key message that you want that person to take away?

Is it a 1-sentence summary of your career history? Is it 1 topic in which you’re an industry expert? Is it 1 stunning image from your portfolio?

Here’s an example from my website. If you read just the bold headline above-the-fold, the pitch is: “You don’t need a writer. You need a strategist.” Or, let’s consider the iMod website. Once again, the pitch is clear: “We don’t just build classrooms. We empower teachers and students with a brighter future.”

If you distilled your personal pitch into just 1–2 sentences, what would it be?

STEP #4: SHOWCASE YOUR PORTFOLIO.

In other words: Show, don’t tell.

93% of hiring managers will hire the candidate who has an electronic portfolio. Why is that? Because that candidate went above-and-beyond the 96% of applicants, who lack an electronic portfolio.

Your personal website is your chance to showcase your work — so think creatively about how you can show people what makes you special. For example, you might include:

A brief biography that summarizes your career history. (If you’re going this route, include a button so that people can download your resume as a PDF.) A short list of 3–5 of your key accomplishments. (For instance, see how Raymond Sjolseth used a timeline to highlight his important results.) Your coding projects. (For instance, perhaps you include a link to your GitHub code repository.) An image or video gallery. (For example, see how Kerry Schroeder used a grid to organize her portfolio.) A blog or a writing collection. (Wouldn’t you want to hire Graham Flashner to write your next celebrity profile?) Kind words about you. (For example, perhaps you include a testimonial carousel with praise from clients, coworkers, or supervisors.)

WHAT’S NEXT?

If you’d like to create a personal website — but you’re struggling with the words or the design — then contact us. For 20+ years, we’ve helped clients advance their careers through websites that have a clear purpose, a defined audience, an attractive and easy-to-use package, a compelling pitch, and a stunning portfolio. How can we help you?