Why Bother Having Your Own Website?

In light of social media and newsletter platforms, is there any reason to have your own website?

The general answer from perspicacious netizens and AI is an enthusiastic, if conditional, “Yes!” The argument in favor of centers on the issues of autonomy, aesthetics, and professionalism.

Autonomy

Your website exists on the world wide web and so long as your content doesn’t break any laws, there is no governing entity that will cancel or censor its existence. There is also no reason, assuming your website meets SEO standards, that it will become harder to find due to any changes in a search engine’s algorithm.

Aesthetics

Having your own website means that you are not locked into any limited color pallet, page layout, or even functionality. I compare social media and newsletter platforms to having a stall or kiosk in a shopping mall versus having a brick-and-mortar store. With a stall or kiosk, there is only so much you can do to distinguish yourself from the next one. In your own brick-and-mortar store, you are only limited by your imagination, finances, and building permits.

Professionalism

While having a social media or newsletter presence for your project is necessary nowadays, it is also perfunctory. It is the bare minimum and viewed as such. The relative ease and minimal cost of a social media/newsletter presence doesn’t communicate your seriousness, commitment, or investment in your project to an audience.

Having your own website, on the other hand, lends a sheen of professionalism, even if content management systems like WordPress and Wix make it a fairly linear process. (And to be clear, I do mean CMSs when I say, “your own website.” With evolving AI, I would never suggest learning to code and building a site from scratch.)

The main reason why the general “yes” consensus is conditional, depends on its purpose: business or personal.

For a business website, the points made earlier about Autonomy, Aesthetics, and Professionalism are ratcheted to 100: you are not reliant on anybody for your presence; your presence is your brand, and its design should be unfettered by any third-party; and your own site establishes a certainty of purpose.

For a personal website, however, it can be argued as negligible. Just leave it to social media and newsletter platforms to do the heavy lifting. But personal websites showcasing your talents and accomplishments can serve as virtual resumes or portfolios, leading to employment opportunities. How is that different than a third-party website? Again, just the fact that you did the extra work can be the deciding factor, to say nothing of the effect that seeing your work foregrounded in the facilitatory context of your own site can have on a viewer.

Nothing I say is meant to disparage third-party platforms. They’ve helped countless entrepreneurs and creative types grow their businesses and reach audiences they would never have reached otherwise. Truly an example of doing the most with the least that is available. The danger of these third-party platforms, however, is their use degenerating into the usual social media banality. Even Substack, a perfectly serviceable and dedicated newsletter platform, was compelled to add a notes section, effectively turning itself into social media. And all the “social media” symptoms are there.

Pointless banter, flame wars, gratuitous nudity, provocative edgelord and bad-bitch posturing, clout chasing and all resulting in the predictable endless scrolling and FOMO-fomenting voyeurism that was absolutely NOT why you signed up in the first place.

It’s safe to say that your personal website will not have any of this, unless it miraculously explodes in popularity overnight and you encourage this behavior, that is. But barring that, you’ll be able to spend more time actually doing instead of simply announcing that you’ll be doing.

This is not to say that immediate productivity is guaranteed with using a CMS to create your own site. They all have learning curves that will need to be overcome before you can display your work in even the most rudimentary fashion, to say nothing of doing so with the personalized flare that justifies moving beyond social media in the first place. You’ll also have to navigate the processes of thinking up a domain name, hoping it’s available, purchasing it, deciding where it’ll be hosted, and what additional plugins you’ll need. All of that is time you don’t get to spend on the very reason you created the website.

The prospect of dealing with these technical issues can be a turn-off for many. Is there any other option? There is. You can simply be more judicious with your social media use. Take heed to carefully curate your experience to be functional, as in networking with like minds and growing a community from which patrons and collaborators can arise. Filter out the loud, shallow, and shrill. Control the urge to absentmindedly like and follow every gimmick that puts a momentary smile on your face and then later buries the meaningful content that you intentionally followed and wanted to be kept abreast of.

All talk of productivity aside, the argument for having your own website can come down to simply wanting a sliver of unmediated space on the world wide web to call your own. It is at once romantic and sobering: no matter where you are, how far you’ve traveled, or how removed you may be from everyone, your website is always there. It doesn’t care whether it is visited by millions or just you. But unlike the free social media account that you created and then forgot about, your website was a concerted effort from start to finish and only lives on because you decide to keep it alive. Even left idle, it’s a reminder that you once thought there was something worth saying or doing such that it deserved its own website.