Q: What does it take to have a personal website?

A: Not much. A computer, an internet connection and a little bit of knowledge will suffice to build your personal website. Expenses are also minimal, and consist mainly of registering a domain name (typically about $6 to $10/yr), and renting hosting service (as little as $12/year). If $20 is still too much to pay for your first year of running a website, there are even free services available — with a catch, of course. Some personal web hosting companies offer free web space on which the individual’s site can be posted, along with the tools needed to build a nice-looking site, but then display advertising from third-party sponsors as the “price” of your hosting, and you will not be in control of what ads are posted. Some of the ads may conflict with the basic image of your site. For example, building a religious site with personal web hosting tools and placing it on a free web site could end up with your site hosting advertisements leading to sites that are in deep conflict with your religious message.

Q: Why have a personal website?

A: There are many reasons for having your own website.

• To share photos and other information with your family or friends.
• To publish a blog for the world to see.
• To maintain an updated resume for potential employers.
• To make money (more about that elsewhere).

Q: What Planning is Needed On a Personal Site?

A: Just think before you post! When posting information through a personal web hosting site, users need to realize that all information on a personal website can be seen by anyone in the world. There are many security problems with things like announcing your vacations, or even posting photos taken with your cellphone (which typically include geo-tagging, which tells anyone who uses easily-obtained tools to discover where and when the photo was taken). Personal identifying information can enable your personal website to be located by potential employers, who could end up seeing those naked pictures you posted as a joke and determine that you aren’t a person who suits the needs of their company. In addition, if you use a ‘free’ hosting service, you may not be able to delete anything on your site once you close your account, so it can remain there for the world to see forever. Even if you can (and do) delete something from your personal web site, your old information may remain in ‘cached’ sites essentially forever. If it’s something you wouldn’t want to see featured on the front page of your local newspaper, don’t post it on your personal page.