Looking for your first job as a self-taught digital marketer can be frustrating. You have to face many rejections until you finally get a positive answer, and they are always the same:
“You lack professional experience.”
You can always just wait for someone to give you a chance to prove yourself, or you can do something about it.
Building your own personal website is a quick and easy way to give your job search a boost because it allows you to:
- define your personal brand, and
- prove your knowledge and abilities.
Let’s take a closer look.
Define your personal brand
Most recruiters will Google your name, and most results will be from social media, listing sites, and maybe even old high school grades.
Having your own personal website allows you to define yourself outside of all this. Use it to showcase your personality, demonstrate your skills and certifications, and control what shows up first when someone Googles your name.
Think of it as your digital resume and portfolio. Traditional resumes still matter, but having a personal website helps you stand out from the crowd.
Prove your knowledge and abilities
As a digital marketer, you need to know a bit of everything.
As a self-taught marketer, you probably got a couple of Google certifications, completed the Facebook Blueprint exam, finished multiple SEO and social media courses in Udemy or YouTube, and attended a few random webinars and conferences.
But you’re still missing the professional experience everyone asks for.
Building your personal website allows you to prove your abilities to recruiters and potential employers.
- Did you set up your website from scratch? That proves you know your way around the web.
- Do you maintain a blog? It’s a great way to showcase your copywriting abilities.
- Do you post regularly on social media? Keep it professional and demonstrate your social media marketing skills.
- Have you volunteered or worked pro bono as an SEO or Google Ads specialist? Use case studies!
Setting up a website is cheap, easy, and only takes about an hour. There is no cost-benefit analysis you can do that will prove the effort worthless. Creating your personal website and developing your brand in the process is something all marketers need to do today.
As a self-taught marketer and job applicant, you have a few more reasons to start now.