New Freelancers: Here's how to start a personal website to market yourself.

[PatrickWho]

Hey all,

Freelancing can be a great way to turn a skill into a quick income.

In my short time on the forum I've already seen many talk about getting started.

In an effort to help, I thought I'd share some easy to follow instructions on how to get started with some of the basics.

I'm a full stack web developer that spent many years freelancing, so I know very well the stress and pressure of trying to manage clients, projects and life.

Hopefully this info will make your dive into freelancing a little less scary.

You Need a Personal Website

Having a personal website where you start to build your brand is essential.

As an absolute minimum, here is where you'll share a professional profile, samples of your work, and testimonials from happy clients.

Whenever a prospective client needs to learn about you, your website is where you'll send them.

Don't overthink it. Just get your site online.

This is a quick overview.

1. Head over to Domain Names - Cheap Domain Names | Namecheap.Com and buy hosting + website
2. Search for a domain name that matches your name. (ie: yourname.com)
3. Once you get your account info, log into your hosting account, install WordPress and activate one of the default themes.
4. Install a plugin called WP Forms
5. Create some pages - Home, About, Work, Testimonials, Contact
6. On the Home page create a brief list of the services you provide.
7. On the About page write a professional bio here along with a summary of your expertise.
8. On the Work page write a summary of completed works along with samples.
9. On the Testimonials page add quotes for any testimonials you have on hand.
10. Create a contact form with name, email and message fields. Add this form to your contact page.

See attached images.

Make it look good.

Now that you have the outline of your site done, you can search for a better looking theme and polish it up a bit with photos, etc.

Updates to come asap.

Free high quality WordPress Themes:

For those wanting a great WordPress theme, those built on something called the Genesis Framework are great.

You can see them here: Premium WordPress Themes - StudioPress --> just be sure to filter for StudioPress themes, not 3rd party themes.

Any of the themes near the top would be best. The older ones are lower down and may not be updated.

I have a dev license for all the StudioPress themes, so if you see one you like I can send you the file. While I wouldn't want to give them away by the hundreds, doing so is totally inline with the GPL licensing.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[PatrickWho]

If anyone has any particular questions or troubles, please post them here and I'll add a sort of FAQ to the OP.

 

[FreelanceWarrior]

Thank you for this quick set-up guide, @PatrickWho . I have a few questions on the NameCheap hosting service. Is it easy to open subdomains in it? Do they provide with cPanel to manage your hosted sites?
I certainly don't know much about hosting services, but I have heard good things about one called SiteGround. Has anyone used it? I was told you get really interesting extra tools for an extra dollar every month and that they increase rankings. Would love to hear more on it from someone else who has experience.

 

[PatrickWho]

Glad you found the walkthrough helpful. I'll be sure to fill it out more so it will be even easier to follow.

I have a few questions on the NameCheap hosting service. Is it easy to open subdomains in it? Do they provide with cPanel to manage your hosted sites?

Yes. Namecheap offers cPanel, subdomains, etc. When you're just getting started, you should just focus on having a single site, so the first-tier shared hosting will be perfect.

I certainly don't know much about hosting services, but I have heard good things about one called SiteGround. Has anyone used it? I was told you get really interesting extra tools for an extra dollar every month and that they increase rankings. Would love to hear more on it from someone else who has experience.

SiteGround is fantastic, and certainly my first choice for shared hosting. I only recommended Namecheap above because the first year of their hosting is very inexpensive, and having your domain and hosting together makes things easier when you don't have any experience setting up a site.

You can also buy a domain with SiteGround when you get started, but for domains, I personally prefer Namecheap.

SiteGround offers great tools when you get more serious about your site and / or development, yes. Things do get more involved if you want to start using these tools, though, so be sure you're not biting off more than you want to chew at this point.

For freelancers just starting off, I really recommend you not bother thinking about site rankings, caching, and the other goodies SG offers. If you want to make money fast, you just need an online business card quick, so you can focus on the hustle needed to land new clients on sites like Upwork.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[PatrickWho]

Update.

Added offer for some great WordPress themes in the OP.

 

[FreelanceWarrior]

Hey, thank you so much for this really valuable information. NameCheap for starters then, got it.

 

[PatrickWho]

For sure. Later on, once you're making money and want to do something else, you can always move the site then. Most of the time, though, moving your site around won't really be needed.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[FreelanceWarrior]

Hey, I just discovered this Wix sites. What are your thoughts on them, @PatrickWho ? There is a free version and apparently you can still get decent traffic with it, for at least a beginning. Has anyone experience with it?

 

[PatrickWho]

I haven't used Wix myself, but I know of them, of course.

I would recommend keeping as much control as you can, and that would mean keeping your site on your own servers.

WordPress is best because of the huge array of plugins you can use. As you grow, you'll easily be able to add things like email capture, exit pop up email grabs, eCommerce if you like, etc. With Wix, you're completely at the mercy of the Wix company. They actually used WordPress code and charged for it, which was completely against the GPL license of the open sourced project. I don't trust companies like that.

You'll have the most control with WordPress.

 

[Aaron T]

Love seeing a fellow developer on here! Great quick startup guide as well. For all my working with websites and even using WP deeply, I still have never created my own personal website about me. Now i question, why haven't I? Well I have yet another project to get to now Thank you!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[PatrickWho]

hi @Aaron T - thanks!

yeah I had dragged my feet on starting a personal site for a long time, and when I did, I had a much easier time turning prospects into regular clients.

Now to be clear, above I'm advocating a personal website, but it should be professional content. By 'personal' I mean about myself as a professional, as opposed to doing work behind a company name.

 

[Aaron T]

hi @Aaron T - thanks!

yeah I had dragged my feet on starting a personal site for a long time, and when I did, I had a much easier time turning prospects into regular clients.

Now to be clear, above I'm advocating a personal website, but it should be professional content. By 'personal' I mean about myself as a professional, as opposed to doing work behind a company name.

Ah yes, this is what I believed you meant as well. I have had many a company and supporting websites. Consultancies as well. But a personal professional site I have not done. Your point is valid and I agree. It is excellent advice.

 

[PatrickWho]

Thanks.

Yeah I found that with those looking for freelancers appreciated the personal touch. I was quick to suggest a phone call to "meet", as well. All of that served to remove the fear of dealing with an unknown person over the internet, and made it much easier to secure a deal and get paid.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[FreelanceWarrior]

I haven't used Wix myself, but I know of them, of course.

I would recommend keeping as much control as you can, and that would mean keeping your site on your own servers.

WordPress is best because of the huge array of plugins you can use. As you grow, you'll easily be able to add things like email capture, exit pop up email grabs, eCommerce if you like, etc. With Wix, you're completely at the mercy of the Wix company. They actually used WordPress code and charged for it, which was completely against the GPL license of the open sourced project. I don't trust companies like that.

You'll have the most control with WordPress.

Alright, I see. Hey, that's mean what they did these Wix guys. Right now I'm finally purchasing my NameCheap hosting service! Following your guide at the same time I am setting everything up. Cool that you even put the screenshots up

 

[PatrickWho]

Glad you found the screenshots helpful. I hope to get some time soon to elaborate on the actual site setup.

Keep up with the momentum!

 

[FreelanceWarrior]

Ok, but is there any resource you could recommend me to get the site started? I even have created some kind of logo for the site, I cannot wait to have it ready and running! Thanks

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[PatrickWho]

Absolutely.

Are you familiar with WordPress, at all? If not, I'm happy to explain important aspects of the WordPress admin -- which can be overwhelming, for sure.

You can start on STEP 3 here: How to Start a WordPress Blog The RIGHT WAY (Step by Step)

Have you chosen a theme, yet?

If you'd like, you can send me admin logins via PM and I'll get some things in place for you. I'll take screenshots to share here, too.

 

[FreelanceWarrior]

@PatrickWho , thank you for your reply. I actually chose Poseidon as a theme (due to a youtube video) and right now I am checking on an Udemy course I got for free called 'Wordpress Essentials. Step by step setup', which looks kind of useful. Let's see. Thank you for your offer but I prefer trying first by myself so I can learn these useful skills of Wordpress setup. Anyway, I want to contribute with your post, so I can start taking screenshots of every step I go through. This is what I will do. I'll PM you as soon as I get the first shots done.

 

[PatrickWho]

That would be excellent! Thanks

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.