How to Build a Personal Website From Scratch

Your own website can help you stand out online as a freelance photographer or copywriter seeking more work - but how do you go about creating it from scratch?

With Webflow's visual development platform, you can design and build production-ready websites without writing any code - discover how below:

Create a Project Folder

Before embarking on the creation of your website, it's essential that you have an idea of its purpose and goals. This will enable you to make smart decisions regarding what features to include, how best to prioritize them and estimate costs accurately.

Before diving into web development, it is wise to set up an organized folder structure for your project files. This will make navigating and finding HTML and CSS files that support your webpage much simpler. You can use either OS file system UI to organize this or you could utilize text editors that support JavaScript and CSS such as Sublime Text, Brackets or Atom.

Once you have created an orderly folder structure, it's time to start building subfolders. As you do this, consider how each subfolder could help support your overall goal - for instance if your website will serve as a portfolio then creating one subfolder per project would likely prove helpful.

Sharing a folder with users automatically grants them permissions over all its subfolders. To manage or change these permissions, select the folder and click Manage Permissions; this opens a form where you can select users for upload notifications as well as edit their permissions.

Create a Page

Personal websites are powerful tools for showcasing your skills, widening your network and opening up new professional opportunities. A personal site also serves as a central hub where you have full creative control while building trust with your audience; thanks to no-code tools you don't even need to be technical expert to get one up today!

No matter your creative pursuits or professional pursuits, personal websites provide a way to present yourself and share experiences in an authentic manner - without anyone trying to take them away! Your own corner of the internet that nobody can touch!

As part of your initial step in designing a site, be sure to decide on its type. This will guide your template selection and fill-out strategy - for instance a hybrid personal website could contain blog articles, portfolio showcase pages and information about career history.

As important is how you'll reach your audience. If you are a speaker, for example, include an online booking system so visitors can reserve spots at your next event; otherwise if you are an artist consider including an ecommerce feature to sell products. No matter your approach is essential to including a call-to-action that guides visitors toward taking their next steps with you in their journey.

Add Content

Content that you can host on your website includes text, photographs and videos. Your pages can also be organized into sections for easy navigation of how the final website will look.

Content that resonates with its audience will help build connections deeper than ever before, while developing personas for your target group can help shed light on demographics, interests and the challenges they face - data which can then inform design choices.

Utilize a blog to provide regular, valuable updates to your audience, while honing SEO skills so each post can maximize search engine visibility.

Interviews and spotlights can also provide useful content, showing your audience that you care about them as human beings and have a human side. This type of material could take the form of transcripted interviews, photographs or even short video clips.

Have a personal website is an effective way of raising awareness and reaching new clients as an illustrator or web designer, but creating one from scratch may seem daunting without the right tools and expertise. Webflow offers easy-to-use templates and tutorials so anyone can get started creating their site from the ground up quickly.

Host Your Site Online

Personal websites provide an effective platform to showcase your skills and professional background, as well as market your side projects or business. From building acting gigs into full-time contracts for actors to copywriters searching for full-time work opportunities - personal websites give individuals space to communicate more comprehensively than resumes or LinkedIn profiles alone.

First step to creating a personal site is identifying its purpose, so that you can select an ideal template. Next, list out your skills and accomplishments that you would like to include on the site - providing specific examples so visitors can gain an impression of who you are as an individual.

Decide whether or not you would like a blog, content updates or anything else on your site. If this is the case for you, ensure regular posting and updating so visitors have something new and engaging with.

Once your site is ready, it must be hosted online so people can access it. Wix provides various hosting plans designed to fit any business. Each plan includes unlimited visits, pages and posts - as well as one free domain name registration for one year!