Tips on Making Your Digital Mark — Personal Website

By Terry Nguyen ‘ 20

The spring semester may feel like a drag, but remember – life stops for no one, even if you have three midterms all in the same week (hopefully, not the same day). Career fairs, fellowships and summer internship applications are barely starting to roll out, and with that comes the need for a clear resumé booster to rival against the hyper-competitive students in your college.

“How should I boost my resume?” you wonder, as you stare at the blank, boring Word doc template suggested to you by academic advisors. The answer is a personal website: Not only would a website boost your professional, digital brand, but it also acts as an interactive addition to showcase your work. Although website might not be applicable to certain majors when it comes to job-searching, having an online platform would be beneficial for your future plans as a young professional.

Below are a few tips on starting out your personal website or portfolio and several recommended hosting platforms that are easy-to-use and customizable!

Use a customizable, free interface.

If you scour the Internet, there are many website builders easily available for you to make your own – for free! There is no perfect website builder, but each has its own pros and cons you should take into account before creating your platform. These platforms have “drag and drop” features, which allow you to customize your display on pages, and they contain easy-to-use design features.

Wordpress

The most popular website builder is arguably Wordpress, but there are other options if the platform is not your cup of tea. Wordpress has flexible features with ready-made themes; it does not grant you a “drag and drop” option but allows tech-savvy users to slightly tweak its HTML code. There are widget options in Wordpress that allow you to embed your Twitter feed,  Most Wordpress interfaces favor text-oriented material over visuals, so the site is better off for blogs and writing portfolios. Wordpress is simple to operate and is user-friendly, although it lacks extensive customization skills.

Weebly

Weebly is another crowd favorite when it comes to website builders. It has a collection of themes you can select from, but also allows for customization through its “drag and drop” features. You can easily switch in-between designs, and the site is perfect for both text and visual portfolios. The customization aspects for Weebly are more diverse than Wordpress: Weebly allows for users to change certain fonts and colors, while Wordpress is more limited in that aspect. Nevertheless, it still has limitations on editing the original HTML/CSS script.

Wix

Wix is very similar to Weebly, except it only has “drag and drop” features. Wix is more design-oriented and it has over 500 templates for you to use, while Weebly only has a select few. Wix has also been commended for being more mobile-friendly in its interfaces. The downside to Wix is that it does not allow the user to change the original template or theme they have chosen. Wix’s customizable features allow it to be text and visual friendly in all of its platforms.

Tumblr

Tumblr is well-known for its blogging popularity, but the versatility of its themes and coding capabilities should not be overlooked. There are hundreds of Tumblr themes made by independent coders that can easily be transformed into a portfolio. However, Tumblr can be used for a highly customizable website, especially if you want to showcase constantly updated works. Tumblr is  the best template for a blog, but that should not deter you from using it to host your personal website. 

Squarespace

If you are willing to invest some money into maintaining a personal website and buying a domain name, Squarespace will be the site for you! It is versatile, with hundreds of themes and customizable features. Many professional websites utilize this website builder, but the downside is that you must pay $12 a month to use its platform. Squarespace is essentially a better-designed builder compared to Weebly and Wix, but they offer very similar features.

Personalize your website with your favorite color schemes, fonts and photos.

Personalization is an important aspect of your website. Websites that lack customization can come across as impersonal. Photos and color schemes reveal another layer of your personality that appeal to viewers. Remember, this isn’t a resumé — you can be creative with whatever you display on your page; tools like Adobe Color CC can be helpful when it comes to deciding your color scheme. Also, depending on your website builder, you have the creative autonomy to select certain fonts.

Make sure to provide your Linkedin, social media, resume and a contact form on your website. Remember to add an About page.

Many students forget to include their social media links on their personal website, but many website builders have social media plugins or widgets you can connect your online accounts to. Connecting your social media accounts and Linkedin provides a sense of visibility and transparency on your site, especially if potential employers are on your page. Don’t be afraid to showcase images of yourself on an About page or craft a short biography on your home page.  It also allows viewers to have a more cohesive image of you as an individual and insight into your personality.

Finally, include a contact form. This will allow possible employers or simply those interested in your work to have a direct method of contacting you for any opportunities. Having a contact form directly on your website will also reduce spam, in comparison to publicizing your e-mail address.

Create sections to showcase your resumé, school work, and personal projects.

Your website builder should have options to create separate pages or sections to showcase your work. Many students use their landing (home) page to display their best works, but having separate pages allows you to have flexibility with your content. Some students have separate pages showcasing different aspects of their portfolio, or you can opt to having one “portfolio” section for all your work. For example, you can have different pages for your school work and personal project.

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