Why You Need a Website

Last Updated on January 8, 2020 by Katherine

So Why Do You Need a Website to be a Professional Blogger?

So you want to be a professional blogger? It’s a popular notion these days. I’ll show you later on in this post what provider I use for my domain, but I think it’s important to understand why your own domain and website is key to be taken seriously as a professional blogger.

You Look Serious

Having your own domain provides you with an instant sense of seriousness. You have bought your domain, it’s yours, you control it. If you weren’t serious about being a blogger, why the heck would you drop the money involved in getting set up on your own domain right?

Investing time and money into your website instantly makes you appear credible and people who want to work with you will definitely notice.

Networking

We all know about LinkedIn for networking, but did you know your own website can be useful for gaining paid work?

Put your website on your business cards, mention it to people you know. Your website is your first impression, make it a memorable one!

Portfolio

Everyone can use a portfolio, but certain jobs require it. I am a writer and I definitely need to be able to produce writing samples. That’s what this site functions as, people can come here and even their topic isn’t related to mine, they can still see what type of writer they are going to get. Working remote is hard and people need to see what their remote worker is capable of before they usually consider hiring them for anything.

Insert your personally branded website. Your content might not be in the same topic as a potential client, but they can check out your writing style and see if that’s something they want.

Passive Income Stream

Affiliate marketing is all the rage (or at least it seems). It’s not a get rich quick scheme and it can take many months to start to see a pay off, but I choose to do affiliate marketing because it’s relatively passive once I’ve written the blog post. As a rule, I only promote products that I have used, but it sure is nice to start to see some money trickle in for simply sharing my affiliate link with my readers. It doesn’t require any extra effort on my part and leaves me free to focus on freelance writing.

Also, if you don’t own your own domain and have your blog somewhere else, you may not be able to use affiliate income to boost your earnings (if you choose to go the free route and plan on monetizing later on, be sure to find a host that will permit it!).

You Own It!

Simply put, when you own your own domain, its yours. If you want to switch providers, you can take that domain name with you. No major re-brand necessary (unless you want to do it!).

So those are the five reasons that convinced me to sign up and pay for my own domain. Now allow me to introduce you to my fantastic webhost, SiteGround!

SiteGround*

In order to have a blog, you need to have a place for the blog, it needs a home. My “home” is SiteGround and I continue to be completely satisfied with the level of service they provide. Full disclosure, I’m an affiliate of SiteGround, but I have used them for a year now with zero regrets. They offer amazing value at a competitive price (especially if you snag a sale!).

They boast high speeds and low downtime and it’s super simple to get going. I haven’t yet had to contact customer support, but I’m confident based on the reviews from other website owners that I will get the support I need when I need it. They also have some super helpful tutorials that are easy to follow and can likely resolve any common issues you might be encountering.

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If you’re curious as to what other tools I use, check out my recommendations page.

Do you have a reason that I didn’t list, tell me all about it in the comments down below.

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