To be ahead in job search and self-promotion these days, you need to consider creating a website that sells what you do and can showcase off your talents and experience. Thanks to technology advancing so quickly, gone are the days where you have to email in a copy of your curriculum vitae (CV) or phone up for an application form. Having a website attached to your career means that you can instantly show people what you’re capable of.
A website is as important as your resume as it is an extension of you so make sure it is the best it can be and that it is reviewed with the same amount of time that you give to your CV.
However, a website requires dedication as you need to be able to commit time to it each month where you update it and make sure it’s still live. Also, make sure that there are no grammatical errors and that it is not poorly written or features any bad language as that is not how you will present to the world that you are professional and worthy of hiring! Here are four jobs that will benefit from having a personal website.
Website Designer
Unsurprisingly, every website designer needs a website. However, some website designers assume they don’t need them as they may think the clue is in the title of what they do, but how can you showcase skills and talents as a designer if you don’t have the product you sell.
There are many aspects of a designer that can be shown on a website, such as graphic design, product design, and user experience features. Other peoples work can also be highlighted as you can show sites you’ve designed for people, such as wedding photographers.
Civil Engineer
A newly qualified civil engineer or one that wants to develop their career further by doing a masters degree could find that they need a website to become self-employed. Generally, people that have websites for their personal use are internet savvy as many of them will have achieved further degrees through the non-traditional way of gaining them online.
If someone has been creative enough to study civil engineering online, then they are the perfect candidate to have a website as they understand the power of using the internet to study. They know how they can showcase their qualifications and projects easily. It’s good to have a website for job searching in this case on sites like LinkedIn as people can easily see what has been achieved and the experience you have.
Cleaning Company
It is paramount that if you are basing a business on entering someone’s private home and being amongst all their possessions, that you convey a complete sense of trust, and a website can help do this. This is because having a website, not only can show potential customers reviews from other people about your services, but they can see a comprehensive list of what it is that you clean. It is also handy as you can show people the type of product you use, whether they are environmentally friendly or allergy free ones, for example.
Alternative Medical Professional
For people that don’t understand what alternative medicine is and how it can benefit their health, a website is an ideal way to communicate this. A website with a blog is useful in this instance, as you can inform people about the latest research and findings that a particular therapy offers.
There are many benefits to having a blog on your website, not least for the information you can regularly add, but also for the influence it can add to your blog. Blogs help with what’s known as ranking factors in the search engine as if you add certain relevant keywords to your blog when a searcher types in a keyword that matches, the search engines are more likely to return your site.
They also help with search engine optimization, which is a way of getting free or ‘organic’ traffic to your website, which is crucial if you are using it to advertise a service.
What’s Needed
The content of a website depends on what the purpose of you having a website is and why you feel you need one. Using titles on your website, as mentioned below, will help you build out a website which looks professional and shows the world you are passionate about what you do.
Contact Information:
This page needs to be easy to found, and at least the bare minimum of what you add to the site. Using a number of ways for you to be contacted will make you more available to future clients or hiring managers as everyone has a preference of how they communicate, whether it be by email, phone or letter. With this in mind, you don’t want to add too many personal details, so providing your name, email, and phone number is enough information.
About Me:
An about me page always adds character to a website as the searcher gets to instantly find out more about you and what your story is. Make it clear and straight to the point though as people who need to know about you in a hurry don’t want to be searching through reams of information for the part relevant to your career.
Work Samples:
Make sure you have many formats in which people can view samples of your work. Videos and photos work well but adding links to external sources also provide support to the work you do through other mediums such as social media.
Reviews:
Testimonials are what helps many people decide whether to hire or fire you, so make sure you’ve got some relevant, trustworthy ones here. Try to include reputable ones from people high up in an organization and name them and their position, or well-known names that have perhaps been previous clients.
Once you have a website, make sure you keep it updated and relevant. Your website should be viewed as the heart of your online presence and the face of you online, so make sure it’s professional and helps support the message you wish to convey.
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