How to Design a Personal Web Page

A personal Web page is page on the Internet that is about an individual, not a commercial entity. While most personal Web pages are created by young people, those who typically have more time on their hands than those older than 30, there is no age limit for creating your own personal page. There are no rules about how subdued or how crazy a personal Web page can be, and the only limits that apply are good taste and the creator's imagination.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Web design software FTP software Web hosting company Your own domain

1. 
   My personal page is all about gaming

   Decide what the theme of your site is going to be. Is it going to be dedicated to your interests, contain your social calendar, serve as a blog or just to post pictures and other fun stuff?

2. 
   My site points to a braces support group!

   Buy a URL and procure a web hosting company. If you decide to use AOL or a similar service, you don't necessarily have to go through the process of registering a domain name or deal with a hosting company.

3. 
   On vacation with my gang

   Design the page to match your personality. Keep it light, and make sure any text is pithy and to the point. If you want viewers to read your epic poem, just give them the first few lines and then a link if they're interested in reading the rest. It's the same deal with pictures; don't include all 200 photos of your Cancun capers, just put one on the home page, with a link that points to a page with the rest of them.

4. 
   Don't include any questionable links

   Create any links to external pages with care. Even if you're a college student, affiliations to questionable causes may come back to haunt you. Even though it's boring, err on the side of caution when dealing with this sort of thing. If it's not in good taste, it's best to forget about putting it on your page.

5. 
   Be careful of pictures that can come back to haunt you

   Keep things fresh by constantly updating your content. Drive traffic to your personal site by referencing it in your other social networking sites: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your page short, don't make users scroll, and keep the content fresh.
• Be careful what pictures you decide to post, even after you delete them; they may have already been copied and posted on sites that you don't have any control over. Avoid including too much specific personal information. Be careful of including content that might make other (some of the people in your photos, for example) uncomfortable.

Resources

• GoDaddy
• Register.com