Ten years ago, when you started a business, the first thing you took care of was making business cards. Today your first thought goes to a website. Often freelancers create their websites without a clear plan. It’s true that WordPress makes it relatively easy to build a website on your own, but it’s a good/recommended practice to start such a project by asking yourself some questions before embarking in this adventure (trust me, it is epic and no, you don’t need to learn to code). - Do all freelancers need a website? - If you decided to build one, what pages should definitely be there? - What information is useful to your readers? What is worthless? - And by the way, who are your readers? What and how do you write for them? In this talk, I’ll explore common questions that freelancers have when deciding to build their own websites, and give some answers that will help you on your journey.

1. WEBSITES
FOR FREELANCERS:
ALL THE QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF BEFORE
BUILDING YOUR OWN WEBSITE
@FrancescaMarano

2. Francesca Marano
@FrancescaMarano
WordPress Community Manager at

3. Show of hands!
● How many freelancers in the house?
● How many have built their own website?
● How many build websites for other
freelancers?

4. Keyword: awareness

5. Ask yourself many questions
before you start

6. 1. Why
2. For whom
3. Content
4. Design

8. Everyone needs a website
I want to rank first on Google
Any reason not supported by a goal
and a strategy

9. Brand awareness, reputation
Sales
Reasons supported by a goal and a
strategy

11. Buyer persona
Customer journey
Real people, real problems, real
solutions

13. It’s not about you
It’s about the reader

14. What’s in it for me?

16. Say no to lipstick on a pig
Make it easy to navigate, easy to
understand
Unambiguous instructions

18. Must Have
● About Page (it’s not about you)
● Sales Pages (it’s not about you)
● Contact (this one is about you)
● Legal stuff (check with a lawyer)
● In a blog: search, tags, categories

19. One million bonus points if
you add a price range

20. Nice to Have
● Mini bio
● Links to social media
● Testimonials
● Newsletter signup form
● Popular posts

21. Before & After

27. It’s not about you
It’s about the reader

29. Links!
● Simon Sinek - Start with Why
● Think with Google: Micromoments
● Copyblogger
● John Maeda on three types of design in
digital technology

30. GRAZIE!
@FrancescaMarano
Photo Credits: Brad Neathery, Emily Morter, Galymzhan Abdugalimov, Mike Wilson, Glenn Carstens-Peters at Unsplash