For those people who have their own website, why?

I would start with a blog, if I were you. It’s a good way to get yourself out there without paying for a full site. It’s also kinda fun.

I have a website to promote my interactive design business. Without it, I’d be lost.

http://www.rawpixels.com

I have one (or more accurately, am working on one) to promote my design and web work. It’s got quite a bit of photography now, but I’m redesigning it. Ask me for the link if you want it so I’m not spamming.

I have another one that’s a personal blog, hosted with the same people. It’s entirely possible to create your website for free, using tools like Wordpress (self hosted)and NVU. This article by smashing magazine has some great examples.

Hosting’s not expensive, but it’s not free either. I use nearlyfreespeech. If you think it’s going to be a high traffic site, use something like dreamhost.

I’d start by going to your library and getting a book on HTML or CSS. You need to know both to make a good website. I’d be careful if you’re job hunting, people will google your name, and unless you’ve gone through all your public profiles and sanitized them, it might not be such a good idea.

I have one just to mess around with HTML and CSS. It also has a link to my blog, which has been sadly neglected lately.

@dverhey, get me out there where? To whom?

@rawpixels, WOW! Nice site!

@reactor5, I’d be using it for job hunting. I was concerned about posting certain info.

@rawpixels I just have to say that you website is beautifully made. I also have a passion for design.

I was thinking of getting my own website but I just stuck with a blog. Tumblr is great for begginers and people who like to customize and make beautiful blogs.

@Quagmire What I mean is get yourself on the internet with a simple little site that you can use to become familiar with some of the website functions, a bit of HTML, and possibly build yourself a following, or some fans.

You could start with a Tumblr blog, or if you want to get a bit more complicated a Wordpress or Blogspot blog could work for you.

I have one to share myself with the world.

@Quagmire what I mean is go through like facebook and stuff and get rid of beer bong pictures. For example, if you really are Quagmire, you might want to get rid of those youtube videos.

@rawpixels That’s pretty much awesome. I love the curly braces theme :D

@dverhey, interesting idea, especially because of the learning HTML, etc. I like that idea.

@reactor5 – Thanks for your answer. You saved me having to type it all out.

That is pretty much what I am doing to. Although I did take a 1 month, 32 hour class on standards in XHTML and CSS to help me pull it all together. I just couldn’t quite to it.

I use it right now as parking for my site to come that I’m designing, which promotes my photography and artwork.

@Quagmire By the way, w3schools have great web tutorials on HTML.

@dverhey, Wow! And they’re FREE I see! Thanks!.

@rawpixels Wow nice web site! I like all the design work, too. My only problem with it is it’s in Flash—I personally hate working with Flash, but I guess whatever floats your boat.

Damn dverhey, you beat me to it =) I was also going to recommenced w3schools.

Also, Quagmire, you may want to consider learning a server-side language like PHP (after HTML, of course). You can make your web site more interactive that way. W3schools also has tutorials on PHP.

I love creating websites from the bottom up. I’ve probably created about 50+ of my own. When I went to college I used their servers to put up websites. I actually still have one out there:

http://people.morrisville.edu/~wahl21/wahlmedia/index.htm

I haven’t gotten out there to actually create a site with my own domain or anything though. I’ve been wondering if Google Sites is a good place to create one. Any opinions?

I have mine so I can have a kick-ass one-character (well, before the @, at least) email address :)

Apart from that, I’m not really doing a lot with it.

The easiest way to create a free website is to do it on a free blogger site. You can customize it to look professional if you like, and you can name it by your specific name if you like so employers could easily find you.

I have a personal domain of myreallifename.com. I use it to host my blog as well as archive any information I come across that’s valuable to me. I sometimes use email addresses related to the domain names I own, but for the most part I don’t. I also use it to mess around with various code development I do.

I don’t think having a website would necessarily be a good idea for job hunting unless you’re looking for a web design position. Nothing beats old fashioned resume handing out for getting jobs. You will not be randomly given a job just because you have a website, but if you started a blog about your interests, you may start networking with people, and so many job opportunities rely on simply networking, being in the right time or knowing the right person.

I have had a site on Tripod for over 10 years that I use for work-posting syllabi, class expectations, assignments and messages. On the home page there is an email link and for my ego a hit counter. It saves a lot of paper and copying and the “I lost the assignment” excuses.

You can do it for free. They have dozens of formats and you can use Word for the text. Pictures are easy to copy into your site. Or you can use HTML. The basic site has more than I would ever use and I have a dozen pages. The free site does have pop-up ads so I pay $8/mo to keep it clean and that would allow me to have multiple sites and blogs.

I’m not sure how you are going to use a website to do a job search. It has been a while since I have hired people but there are so many applicants I don’t think HR people have to do internet searches. The best way to get you resume looked at is to attach it to a catchy introductory email, But at any rate you have to reach out actively not just post your resume on your website. Besides every time you submit your resume you should tweak it and/or the cover email to reference the specific position.

I use mine as a sort of blog and post reviews about random tech and also post random videos. Here it is

Thanks, folks :)

So people can find out more about my book.

@BBSDTfamily, can you post a link to one?

Links are in my profile; I have one blog, one design portfolio, one illustration portfolio, and one site for an upcoming barbecue catering venture I’m doing on the side with a friend at http://thehickorywind.com – I think that’s enough irons in the fire. Yikes!

@Quagmire Blogger.