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A personal website is one of the most significant pillars for building your personal brand. In addition to being a repository of up-to-date information about you, a personal website can be used for communication and as a source of income.
As you may already know, there are different ways to create a personal website as well.
Dedicated website builders, platforms like WordPress, and coding from scratch are some options you have.
After trying all these methods and considering their pros and cons, we believe a website builder brings the best of both worlds while building your personal brand. But, as you may know, a random website builder is not cut out for the job.
We have to consider a few factors such as templates, design options, SEO, integrations, and ease of use while choosing the best website builder for your personal brand. Of course, you may use a generic website builder, but your personal brand would struggle to stand out.
Therefore, we have done the tricky part of the job and have listed five of the best website builders for your personal brand.
We have chosen each product for different types of professionals, like artists, writers, and freelancers.
In the end, we have also answered some of the common questions you may have about building a personal website.
Best Website Builder – Reviews & Buying guide for 2021
Best Website Builder for Artists: Voog
Voog is one of the popular website builders in the market, and it will help artists create the best personal website. However, you must keep in mind that Voog is not a dedicated website builder for artists.
Instead, it claims to be a user-friendly platform for building multilingual websites and online stores. You can also add a blog to the package. Furthermore, Voog provides sufficient space for developer-level customization as well.
In the end, all these features come in handy for artists who need a unique space to showcase and sell their work/merchandise.
Pros
- Superb Templates: Voog offers an impressive collection of minimalist templates you can choose from. It has templates available in categories like Music & Artists, Blogs & Podcasts, Community & Non-profits, Creative & Photography, and Business & Services. Each category contains some of the best designs, and you have a good amount of control over how the pages look and behave.
- Straightforward Setup: Voog claims that you can set up your personal website in less than 15 minutes. After looking at the templates and editing options available on the platform, we believe it is true. Remarkably, you can have the website available in 10 different languages, with options to add more variants. In most cases, you can replace the text, add some images, and publish the website instantly.
- Built-in SEO Options: You have to optimize your personal brand for SEO if you need maximum visibility. It does not change when you are an artist—fortunately, Voog ships with some of the best SEO options for your website or online store. In addition, you get to have considerable control over how your website looks on Search Engine Result Pages without editing code.
- Powerful Stats: Whether you have an online store set up or not, Voog offers specific stats you can depend on. For example, you have an option to understand who visits your website and the online store. Of course, if you have set up the online store, you would have sales-specific information as well. In the end, Voog provides enough data for you to strategize the next moves.
- Easy Integrations: When you grow as an artist, you may want to set up a merchandise store. Voog is effortless since it comes with multiple integrations for sales, payment, and shipping. With some codes here and there, you can set up various other services as well. For example, in an online store, you get options for discount codes, videos, galleries, global shipping, order management, etc.
Cons
- Requires Coding: Even though Voog is straightforward and effortless for the most part, you may need to add a little bit of code to get the best results. Without some code-level customization, the website might look a little too generic. Also, despite the simple UI it has, Voog requires you to learn some stuff. So, the website-in-15-minutes claim is a little too ideal.
Nevertheless, if you want to add your flavor to the personal branding website, Voog would not let you down. It offers some excellent features as well.
Best Website Builder for Musicians: Strikingly
Strikingly is a brilliant website builder that entrepreneurs and creative individuals use. If you want to build a personal brand as a musician, it might be the best choice.
Once again, it is not dedicated to musicians, but the brand-growing capabilities of Strikingly are no less than excellent. You can rely on the integration options and the powerful editor, to mention a few strengths.
It is also significant that you have to spend minimal time creating and maintaining your personal website with Strikingly.
Pros
- Proven Templates: Strikingly offers a versatile collection of templates based on designs that are used and proven. For instance, if you look at the Personal category, you can find templates for entrepreneurs, illustrators, musicians, and writers. Professional musicians and bands across the world have used Strikingly to build their brand. So, you can have a hassle-free experience too.
- Super-simple Editor: As a musician, you may not want to spend too much time customizing the website — or changing the code. Strikingly understands this, and its website builder is relatively straightforward. There is no learning curve, and you can build a decent personal website in no time. The drag-and-drop editor allows you to add different elements to your website.
- Focus on Minimalism: A musician’s website should not confuse the reader. Instead, it provides necessary information as quickly as possible. The templates and the design options in Strikingly go in sync with this philosophy. If you want to build a single-page website that works, Strikingly is the best. The same can be said about the expansion and upgrade options in the package.
- Built-in eCommerce: Like Voog, Strikingly also offers eCommerce options. However, the selling options are not as advanced as the previous site-builder. As a musician, though, you would not have trouble selling your merch and receiving payments via PayPal or Stripe. So, even though the website builder keeps things ultra-simple, it can handle eCommerce.
- Better Communication: A better collection of communication options is another reason why we recommend Strikingly to musicians. Instead of creating a static page, Strikingly enables communication options like forms, live chat support, and even newsletters. You can also allow visitors to become members and receive updates. The best part is that you can do all these without coding or third-party tools.
Cons
Limited SEO
- Search Engine Optimization is not the strongest forte of Strikingly. Of course, you get the basic options like changing the title and the meta description, but that is it. If you have individual pages, making them visible on Google can be difficult. Rest assured, the main landing page would easily rank, which is a solace for most people.
If you can tolerate having fewer SEO options, Strikingly would ease the process of building the best website for your music-related brand. It focuses better on helping you grow the brand as well.
Best Website Builder for Writers: Clippings me
Clippings.me is hands down the best way to showcase your work and build your personal brand as a writer. Unlike the first two website builders we have covered, Clippings.me is dedicated to journalists, writers, and bloggers.
Used by thousands of professionals who write for a living or passion, it is optimized to showcase your adventures as a writer.
If you have been looking for an ultra-simple way to show the world what you have done, you should consider setting up an account on Clippings.me as soon as you can.
Pros
- Made for Writers: Because Clippings.me has been made for writers, it does not come with advanced features. Therefore, if you need the simplest personal website for your career, Clippings.me will be a great choice. You can simply add a biography, list all the previous work, add multimedia, and publish everything. Once set up, the builder will give you valuable updates as well.
- Simple Designs: Clippings.me follows an information-first philosophy while designing the templates. You have some level of freedom while setting up the website, of course. Even then, distracting elements would not confuse you in the dashboard. Instead, Clippings.me allows you to add the required information, place a few links and let visitors do the rest.
- Built-in Contact Options: As a writer, you should not leave anyone who is impressed by your work. With Clippings.me, you can place a contact form on the website with minimal effort. You can also add links to the other work you have done or another webpage of yours on the web. By the way, you can use the platform to let people know that you are looking for work or projects.
- Tailored Community: Unlike the other website builders, users of Clippings.me are writers, bloggers, and journalists. Therefore, the insight and advice you receive from the community are top-notch. We must also mention that the platform offers tips to help you create a better portfolio online. Because the platform does not require tech expertise, you can focus 100% on the content.
- Many Options: Clippings.me also offers a few options for maintaining your portfolio website. For instance, the platform lets you use your domain name or place your website under the Clippings.me subdomain. If you struggle to get started and do not want to spend on a website, it is a great place to start. The subdomain will help you rank higher as well.
Cons
- Limited SEO: It is true that the Clippings.me subdomain will increase the visibility of your portfolio website. However, as you do not have control over the design of the portfolio website, you cannot make considerable changes in terms of SEO optimization. The same is the case if you want to reinvent the entire design of your portfolio website for an all-new experience.
In short, Clippings.me is your best shot if you need the quickest way to create a functional writer’s portfolio. However, it does not leave many options open for customization.
Best Website Builder for Models: Jimdo
Jimdo is another name you cannot ignore while talking about website builders.
As you can guess, Jimdo lets you create a wide variety of websites, including company websites, photography websites, portfolio sites, salon websites, and author websites.
This flexibility means you can have better control over the design of a model’s portfolio. It is precisely why we recommend Jimdo as the best website builder for models across the world.
Regardless of your experience in modeling, the site-building options will give you an edge.
Pros
- Ultra-Simple Design: You do not need a single line of code to get started with Jimdo. As a model, you can add the necessary info, add your portfolio, and finish the setup. From the next second, you would have a reliable brand on the World Wide Web. It is also great that Jimdo allows you to create GDPR-compliant web pages all the time. So, there are no concerns over privacy/security, either.
- Easy Integration: Integrating multiple services into your website is an easy task with Jimdo. The website builder comes with an option to add social media accounts and updates to the webpage instantly. So, it can help you increase the number of Instagram followers and Facebook likes without any hassle. Jimdo even allows you to find the best royalty-free images for the website.
- Online Store: You also have an option to set up a fully-fledged online store using Jimdo. If you have created a brand or sell some merchandise, you can hook up an online store with the website. The best part is that Jimdo does not take any cut from the revenue. You will have to pay for shipping and other management tasks only. It is a relief for those who just got started.
- Advanced SEO: Because Jimdo is a fully functional website builder, you can benefit from advanced SEO options as well. The website builder also offers features like fast indexing on Google and in-detail statistics. It is worth noting that the SEO options on Jimdo are better than changing the title and meta description. So if If you want to be found for specific keywords, Jimdo can make it possible.
- Incredible Support: You can enjoy premium customer support from Jimdo at no additional cost. You can also depend on a wide variety of support material on the website. The content is relatively compact and answers your questions in an ultra-simple manner. We also noticed that you could have better tech support when you get an advanced plan from Jimdo.
Cons
- Limited Templates: Even though everything else about Jimdo is excellent, the available templates are not. The website builder could add some work to optimizing the available templates. At this point, you have to spend a considerable amount of time to come up with an innovative outlook. Of course, you can skip the method entirely, but it would not be ideal.
Long story short, Jimdo is an excellent option for models and other artists. Even though it needs to work on the template collection, it does an incredible job as a site builder.
Best Website Builder for Freelancers: Webflow
Webflow is a little different from the website builders we have talked about earlier. It is a piece of web design software that requires no coding knowledge.
Therefore, if you want to build the best website for your freelance professional brand, Webflow is the right choice.
One thing is that you will have to compromise convenience for the sake of flexibility. But, on the bright side, you can design your personal brand website in any way you want.
Pros
- Ultimate Control: Because Webflow is a web design software, you will have better control over how your website will look and work. You can quickly move around multiple elements and enjoy using various fonts, colors, patterns, gradients, etc. The best part is that you can do all this without installing anything. Webflow is available via the web.
- Superb Templates: You can choose between an impressive set of templates available on Webflow. You can find free and paid templates in the collection if you are wondering. You will not have to spend anything if you want to build a simple website for your freelance career. It is impressive that Webflow keeps adding new templates to the collection every day.
- A Fully-fledged Builder: Webflow is one of those website builders that bring impressive elements from everything. For instance, you can build multi-page websites with ease. The dashboard also allows you to see how the website looks on a common set of devices. Therefore, if you cater to the audience who use mobile devices, you will not have a problem. We should also add that Webflow looks like a proper web design tool on steroids.
- Powerful Integrations: Because Webflow has been designed for all sorts of websites, you can instantly integrate multiple tools onto your site. For example, you may want to set up an image gallery or an eCommerce store as a freelance professional. With Webflow, it is just a click away. We believe it is a great thing to have when you want to upgrade your website.
- Incredible Support: There are so many ways to clear doubts when using Webflow. In addition to the impressive collection of tech support material, you can get community help as well. If you upgrade to one of the paid plans from Webflow, you can even get 99.9% guaranteed uptime under SLA. It means the company would refund you if it cannot keep your website running.
Cons
- Not Suitable for Beginners: Webflow is not one of those tools that can help you build a website in minutes. Although the platform does not require coding expertise, you need to spend time with the design. You may also have to spend an additional amount if you want innovative designs. It is either paying the premium or working extra to make the site look as unique as you can.
If you can spend a considerable amount building the website, Webflow can be the best companion for the freelance professionals out there.
Website Builder for Your Personal Brand FAQ
How Do I create a Personal Brand Website?
The easiest way to create a personal brand website is to use a website builder. These services allow you to use a template and customize the content to suit your needs.
You may also have the option to integrate the additional options like an eCommerce store or a blog for better accessibility. You can choose between free and paid website builders.
What Should a Personal Brand Website Include?
A personal brand website must include essential information about your personal/professional life, work in the past, and contact details.
Depending on your preferences, you can create a single-page or multi-page personal brand website. You should include a few options for your readers to contact you for work and other needs in either case.
Is It Safe To Brand Yourself?
Yes, it is safe to brand yourself. However, while doing so, you should avoid the potential chances of risks. For instance, you should ensure maximum security for the website.
You do not want random people messing up your personal website. It is also essential to keep your website accessible for everyone. Nowadays, you have to keep an eye on privacy concerns as well.
Does Having a Personal Website Help Get a Job?
Yes, having a personal website can help get a job. While it does not ensure a job, a website that contains all your information works better than a traditional CV or resume.
More people are also likely to come across your name and work if you optimize the website correctly. You must also ensure that you have shared the website across the network.
Conclusion
We have tried to recommend the best products for each category. Rest assured, you can use any of those services to create a decent personal brand website.
However, depending on whether you want to pay and the features you really need, you can make the right choice. We must also add that all the methods are way easier than building a website from scratch or even WordPress.
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