Poll: Is having a personal website worth the cost?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Oct 4, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Is having a personal website worth the cost?".

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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:55
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I guess so Oct 4, 2018

It's one of the prices we pay for presenting a professional appearance. Like business cards that we seldom if ever use. It makes us look serious to new clients. Mine has paid for itself many times over because it was how my best client found me.

Ester Vidal
Greg Strider
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Julien ROUWENS
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:55
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes Oct 4, 2018

I do (www.bpt.com.pt), and I find it has been worthwhile: it's another way of being visible and it has gotten me more than a couple of good clients.

Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Muriel Vasconcellos
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 14:55
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Oct 4, 2018

I suppose it depends on what you use it for, and how you leverage it to make the most of its possibilities. I've gotten along without one for most of my working life. I think there used to be a free website available via proz, but I never got round to using it, as it was too complicated.
Earlier this year I was invited to try a free website from Academia.com, so I did, but it was pretty useless, and it appeared that you can't really do anything with it unless you subscribe to the Premium v
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I suppose it depends on what you use it for, and how you leverage it to make the most of its possibilities. I've gotten along without one for most of my working life. I think there used to be a free website available via proz, but I never got round to using it, as it was too complicated.
Earlier this year I was invited to try a free website from Academia.com, so I did, but it was pretty useless, and it appeared that you can't really do anything with it unless you subscribe to the Premium version. So, I paid a year's Premium subscription just to see what it was like, but it doesn't seem to be much use for anything, except that I can now answer all queries like this by saying, "oh yes, I do have one".
In fact, if it wasn't for this poll query, I'd have forgotten all about it, and I just checked and it took me about five minutes to find out how to log into the blasted thing.
So basically, in my case, the answer is a resounding NO. My subscription money would have been better spent elsewhere.

PS: Maybe 10 or 20 years ago, having a website would make the owners seem more professional, and perhaps help to attract customers, but I don't think that's really the case nowadays. For example, if I see a really slick and professional-looking website, I find it a bit of a turnoff and start to wonder if the people behind it are all form and no substance.
I was inveigled into signing up for the academia.com website because they sent me an email saying "X number of people have mentioned you in published papers", but in order to see who the people or what the translations were, I had to register for the premium version. So, it's a useful way for me to see how many mentions I've had, but any random person or potential client stumbling across it somehow would probably think that I specialise in scientific and educational translation, whereas my scope is broader than that.



[Edited at 2018-10-04 10:29 GMT]
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Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
No Oct 4, 2018

The cost being having to deal with endless timewasters

neilmac
writeaway
andreearada
Michele Fauble
Mario Freitas
 
Greg Strider
Greg Strider
Brazil
Local time: 10:55
English to Portuguese
+ ...
It doesn't do any harm Oct 4, 2018

I'm not sure if having a website actually helped me that much to get new clients. There's been some one-time clients that requested a quote after visiting my page, but not that many.

Regardless, it's a way of showing myself, and also where I host my portfolio and blog. Other than that, it gives that "serious business" look, I guess, when you're selling yourself to potential clients. I got a pretty decent free hosting (which is limited, but enough since the traffic is low), and I pay
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I'm not sure if having a website actually helped me that much to get new clients. There's been some one-time clients that requested a quote after visiting my page, but not that many.

Regardless, it's a way of showing myself, and also where I host my portfolio and blog. Other than that, it gives that "serious business" look, I guess, when you're selling yourself to potential clients. I got a pretty decent free hosting (which is limited, but enough since the traffic is low), and I pay only a few bucks yearly for the domain, so it's not a big deal in terms of money.
Oh, by the way, this poll reminded me it's time for domain renewal again.

[Edited at 2018-10-04 10:54 GMT]
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Vadim Kadyrov
Vadim Kadyrov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 15:55
English to Russian
+ ...
Compared to the cost of having one, it is definitely a priceless marketing tool Oct 4, 2018

Hosting a web site is about 10 EUR/3 months, + some 100 EUR to customize a website template - which are available in abundance out there.

In return, you get a perfect digital business card + a personal e-mail address (no gmail-ish accounts, nothing of that kind).

Of course, if you are thinking about hiring a professional designer + a professional coder to do something really special for you, something that no one has, we are talking about thousands of euros here
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Hosting a web site is about 10 EUR/3 months, + some 100 EUR to customize a website template - which are available in abundance out there.

In return, you get a perfect digital business card + a personal e-mail address (no gmail-ish accounts, nothing of that kind).

Of course, if you are thinking about hiring a professional designer + a professional coder to do something really special for you, something that no one has, we are talking about thousands of euros here.

But anything that is below this standard is OK for a freelancer. You buy a template, customize it a bit, and that`s it.

[Edited at 2018-10-04 11:06 GMT]
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Rita Utt
Rita Utt  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:55
English to German
+ ...
Question for Vadim Oct 4, 2018

Hello, do you think you could tell me the name of your provider (domain and templates). There are so many out there, I never know which one to choose ...

 
Panna Kakuszi
Panna Kakuszi
Hungary
Local time: 14:55
English to Hungarian
+ ...
I guess it all depends... Oct 4, 2018

I had the amazing luck of finding my dream agency, so I don't feel the need for a professional website.. On the other hand, I could imagine that it can be useful if you don't work with a reliable and fair agency, and you have to find 'normal' clients for yourself...

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 10:55
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No, it's not Oct 5, 2018

I thought a lot about having one. Many people say it's important, etc.
However, I've heard from dozens of colleagues that, in terms of jobs or commercially speaking, it's useless.
So, thank you, but no thank you.
I already spend enough time in social media. I'm not goig to spend more time administrating a site or blog if it will give me no (financial) return.


 


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Poll: Is having a personal website worth the cost?






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