How I Built My Personal Brand Website From Scratch: The First Steps

If you’re a young professional and want to create your own personal ‘brand’ website independent from the business you formally work for (eg, doctors, lawyers, business leaders), but you have absolutely no idea where to start, you’ve come to the right place.

This is a topic I recently tried to learn about — but was disappointed by the lack of content and guidance around this specific niche.

So…if you can't find something, then build it yourself.

The internet is a complex, scary, powerful place. Increasingly (speaking from experience), professionals want to have a say in their own online narrative, separate even from that generated by their employer.

As an example, my surgery practice has its own website, and I have a little 'About' page on that website. But I don't really have much control over how often it is updated or what content goes on that page.

What I really want is direct control over what people experience when they Google me as their potential doctor. This interaction matters!

To be clear, before starting this website, I had zero experience with web development. But as Marie Forleo told us, everything is ‘figure outable’. So I'm learning as I go and building in public.

Consider me more your guide and by no means your guru (credit Ali Abdaal) when it comes to developing your own personal brand website.

Here is where I began:

Build your website DIY or use a web design agency?

This is your first choice. Figure it out or hire it out.

Personally, I chose to figure it out (aka DIY). This is so much more doable than it was even a few years ago, thanks to the competition and innovation between website building companies. So I honestly don't know much about hiring a web designer.

If you’re not careful, I believe the web design agency route can get fairly expensive quickly, and you have to cautiously ensure you're getting appropriate quality/bang for your buck.

That being said, if you have an idea for monetizing your site, the extra cost may be well worth the investment. Or if you have absolutely zero time to devote to this endeavor, hiring an agency to build the site for you may be the way to go.

Website purpose

I could flesh this out into a huge existential topic - I won’t. While I wouldn't waste too much time thinking about this upfront, I do think there’s value in pausing briefly to at least start thinking about this.

What is the purpose of your website? Here are a few categories to stimulate thought:

• Showcase your services, business, or portfolio

• Control your online presence

• Rank for search engine optimization (SEO)

• Sell a product or service online

• Publish content (educational information, blog, video, podcast) regularly

Each of these purposes will have a different impact on how you design your website. Having these ideas in mind can even help inform which website builder you use to create your site (see below). And this will mean fewer overhauls or edits of your website later.

But remember. You don’t need to have the perfect answer. It’s better to get started than to be paralyzed by this question. Jot down a few thoughts and move on.

Choose a website builder.

If you're reading this article, I'm guessing you are not intending to code a website from scratch. There are a number of ‘Website Builder’ companies and tools out there. This makes the process so much more accessible than it was even a few years ago.

If you have a purpose in mind for your site (discussed above), this may inform which sort of website builder you choose.

And no, I don’t work with, affiliate with, or benefit from any of the below companies. The links are here just to make your life easier.

For instance, if all you want to do is publish blog posts and send those out as a newsletter, you’ll benefit from using site builders like Substack or Ghost.

Or say you just want one beautiful informative landing page to associate with your Google Maps listing, but not all the depth of a full site? Carrd is likely your answer.

But if it’s a full website you’re looking for, with a mix of all of the above capabilities, most people will choose between Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress. Squarespace and Wix have largely the same features, and WordPress is the most able of them all (many argue there are too many features in WordPress and it can get overwhelming).

This will ultimately be your first choice to make as you work towards DIYing your own website. If it matters to you, as of writing this piece, I’ve chosen Squarespace, as demonstrated in the clip below.

Just type in the address of the company you choose and click ‘Get Started!’

P.S. You can always start with the free plans as you are getting going. Ultimately, most professionals will want features that come with a subscription, but you can upgrade to those later as you see fit.

Claim your domain

When you sign up for a website builder, like the one above, you will be assigned a default domain name. For newbies like me, a domain is simply what you type into the search bar after 'www.' For instance, mine is www.nickgolinvauxmd.com (see clip below). I purchased and own that domain.

The default domain the website builder gives you for free will be something like ‘www.randomly generated ID number.squarespace.com.’

Ultimately, that probably isn't the website name you want to be fumbling through as you share it at cocktail parties or, in my case, in an exam room with patients. Most will instead want something memorable and simple.

In that case, you will want to purchase your own domain. These are not prohibitively expensive. I hold a few of them, just in case I’d like to build additional sites in the future.

You can do that through several services, including Google Domains (although Squarespace just acquired this site), GoDaddy, Namecheap, Ionos, and many more here.

Conclusion

So that's about it for the basics.

If you have no idea where to start, spend some time thinking about the above first steps. I promise it’s worth your time to consider what you want your online purpose and impact to be, research the different website builders available to you, and compare domain-purchasing companies.

Then take action.

The hardest part for sure is just getting started. At the very least, make an account and get going with a website builder on a free plan.

Once your new site is in front of you, you’ll be off to the races.