We have discussed the value of PR/Comms people having their own personal website, now let’s look at how to do this…easily…

As a PR or comms professional, your business is words, spin and promotion. So, your personal website should be more about showcasing your skills as a wordsmith, your career highlights and your PR capabilities and less about fancy, flashing extras. While this might sound boring at first (it isn’t), it means that having your own tailored, personal website will not require the involvement of a web developer or a designer. You can create a professional-looking site without having to bang your head against a wall (too much) and without having to burn a hole in your wallet.

There are many options for building a website, but the three tools that I recommend for beginners are:

1. WordPress

I happen to be a huge fan (and user) of WordPress. This free open source blogging and content management system has plenty of room to create tailored websites, with the option to blog or not, depending on your preferences. There are two WordPress options:

A) WordPress.com which is entirely free because it is hosted by WordPress. You choose from a small range of templates (themes, as they call them) and create your site from there. WordPress.com is an easy option if you want something simple to set up and if your site is going to be fairly basic. Your site will be called www.yourdomainname.wordpress.com but you can pay a small fee to direct it to www.yourdomainname.com. WordPress.com is fine for personal websites but can not be used for commercial activity (including generating income via online advertisements).

B) WordPress.org is the ‘grown-up’ version, which gives you more flexibility with what you can create. You have access to thousands of themes – both free or ‘premium’ themes, which vary in price.  If you go with this option, you will have to pay for a hosting service and to buy your domain name. You will also need to learn how to set it up, but with help from the WordPress forums and your host server, this is fairly easy to do. (It is also a great skill to acquire for your CV). There are no limits to how you can use your site and you are free to advertise or generate income.

2 Weebly

Weebly is a free online website tool which is very popular. Setting up a site is easy as it relies on a drag-and-drop principle – you just choose what options you would like to include in your site (ie. text, pictures, videos, maps etc) and place them accordingly. Weebly offers free hosting with tutorials and support if you have questions. Like with WordPress.com, you can either go with the free domain name option by calling your site www.yourdomainname.weebly.com or pay to have it directed to www.yourdomainname.com. Weebly is a website making tool, but you still have the option to blog if you wish.

3 Blogger

Blogger, is another free blogging and hosting service. Although Blogger is, unsurprisingly, primarily a blogging tool, it does have enough flexibility to be moulded into a website service. Of the three services discussed, Blogger is the most commercially accommodating, with easy options for ad placements and revenue raising, and with direct lines into Google’s search engines. Users choose from a range of templates and you can include pages, incorporate pictures and videos easily, as well as other Google options like maps (here’s a list of your options using Blogger). Your site will be a subdomain of blogspot, which means its address will be www.yourdomainname.blogspot.com but you can set up (for a small fee) to have your site address as www.yourdomainname.com.

All three website/blogging tools are suitable for beginners (while WordPress.org is really the best option for people with advanced web development skills or expectations). Just what sort of site you would like to put together will determine which service will best suit your requirements.

Happy web building!

Marjorie Solomon is Founding Editor of CommPros. You can connect with Marjorie here on LinkedIn or follow CommsPROs on Twitter or Facebook.