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The Case For A Personal Site

I believe strongly that everyone should have their own personal website. Go to my personal site, evanmullins.com (see what I did there?) for links to block examples and code samples. I made a block based theme to show some block examples for this talk. Some are core blocks, some block patterns and some custom blocks in the theme. The theme is open source on GitHub and includes these notes.

Do you have a personal website?

Chances are you may have a site already. Sadly, many links I follow to personal sites end with a 404. Is your site cared for?

  • Is it WordPress?
  • Is it updated to the latest version?
  • Is it version controlled?
  • Is the content current?
  • Is it sometimes overwhelming?

We often find that the cobbler's children have no shoes

Often we find that the Cobbler’s Children Have No Shoes - called the cobbler’s children syndrome where for example an agency that specializes in building websites and marketing, often neglects to market and build out their own website.

the cobbler - public domain image Applying this coloquial saying to websites, many who are involved profesionally with building website omit the simple step of having their own site. Or often if we have our own site, it's woefully neglected. This means the site itself may be broken in places, the software running the site (WordPress and plugins) may be outdated (and insecure) too, not to mention the content may be incredibly stale. I've been surprised at times to realize that my own site can quickly become stale and things like where I currently work can be years behind.

Reasons for a personal site

There are many many reasons to have a personal site. I believe that though there is some work involved, it's well worth the effort. Your own site is a place to be yourself and share your own ideas and thoughts. There is a whole spectrum of use cases, find your own. At the very least, it's a great way to to practice dogfooding.

  • Personal Branding
  • Your online identity
  • Share thoughts - write a blog
  • Own your content
  • Contact info
  • Social Media links
  • Share your Bio
  • Resume (can lead to a job)
  • Portfolio
  • Testimonials
  • Code examples and walkthroughs
  • Speaking engagements
  • Sell things
  • Self-promotion
  • All the cool people are doing it 😂
  • It's a great way to get started too!
  • etc.

Things to Consider

  • What will the purpose of the site be? (the Why)
  • Sharing?
  • Writing?
  • Code?
  • Images?
  • Start small and iterate.
  • Choice of domain name (the Where)
  • Use your name (or handle) if you can.
  • Find something that is available (and affordable) but also simple.
  • TLDs: .com .blog .me .site .online .xyz … (or get creative with a vanity url)
  • Remove Barriers to keeping it current (the How)
  • Find your focus and start there
  • Start small and iterate
  • Enable auto updates

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