by Barbara Mantel
In this Lunch and Learn, participants discussed the challenges of setting up a professional website and whether it was worth the time, cost and effort.
Is a website necessary?
A few freelancers said they don’t have a website because it seems like too much trouble to set up and maintain. One writer said she doesn’t believe that anyone has ever found her through her website to offer her work.
But others said a link to a professional website in a pitch will give an editor a chance to see the depth and breadth of your reporting beyond the two or three links to clips that you include.
However, if you have several regular clients and are not pitching many stories, a website might not be necessary. One writer in that position said new clients sometimes find her through LinkedIn, and she hasn’t ever felt a need to create a website.
Another freelancer said some sources have agreed to talk with her only after looking her up online, and a professional website can let them see how serious a writer you are.
Alternatives to a website
Some participants rely on LinkedIn rather than a website. Others use Contently, where you can post hundreds of articles. Another suggested using Contently as a bridge while working on a creating a website. She puts the url for her Contently page in her email signature so that folks can easily find it.
Creating a website
Many participants said their websites were basic and that they do not frequently update them. They were looking for advice on a good hosting site with templates and easy instructions for maintaining the content.
One freelancer uses Squarespace to host her professional website and highly recommended it. She said it may take a little while to learn all the tricks, but it has nice templates, and with practice, it has become easy for her to keep her website current.
Others are using WordPress, and two participants have noticed that it is prone to hacking. They said it is easy to update as long as they don’t try to do anything too complicated. They are both looking for alternatives.
Another participant hired someone to migrate her website from GoDaddy to SiteGround and someone else to help her with the design. But maintaining her website with fresh content is like cleaning her closet; she doesn’t do it enough, she said.
Two participants use Bluehost, which, they said, is very easy to use. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles and their websites are simple, but they do the trick of displaying their stories and conveying who they are as a writer.
Several participants thought it would be worthwhile to hire a designer to help them create or refresh a professional website on a hosting platform that has a nice variety of templates. Two people who have hired designers said it is important that they write you good documentation so that you can easily maintain your website and post your latest articles.
Website content
There was some debate about whether the biography on your professional website should be in the first or third person, with some people occasionally changing it up. Keep your bio simple, less formal and throw in something personal, one participant suggested.
Participants also wondered how many clips to include on a professional website. One writer said she post articles that go back about four years, and then she puts the older ones under a tab labelled “Archive.” Another freelancer says she does the same, labelling that page of her website “All Time Favorites.” Another option would be to put a link on the website to your Contently page, where you have all your articles listed.
One freelancer suggested including a testimonial page, with a short paragraph from editors singing your praises. The only problem is that editors keep shifting jobs or retiring or getting fired in the turmoil of the journalism job market these days, and so she has to keep inserting “former” in front of their titles.
Someone asked whether freelancers should post their pay rates on their website. An experienced freelancer said she would never do that. It’s a red flag if an editor asks what she charges rather than tells her what the publication pays. Another says the editor might be on a fishing expedition to find out acceptable rates.
Everyone agreed that nice photos and graphics make a big difference in the allure of a website. It was thought that most publications don’t mind if you use their logo to illustrate your articles on your website, but they warned against using the photos from the articles. The publication probably paid for those photos, and it would be a copyright violation to use them on your own website.
One freelancer, who has taken photography classes, has a stock of her own images that she uses to illustrate the content on her website. And she said the camera on iPhones do a very good job.
