This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Should I build a website for my freelance coding hustle? Hey there, what's up listeners? Welcome to Side Hustle School. It's Chris Guillebeau here. Today we're gonna go to a listener question from Mason in Atlanta.
Mason is a dedicated listener of the show and a freelance programmer. All right, sounds good to me. So if you've got a skill, if you've got something you're good at and you want to find a way to make money with it, what's the best way to do that? There's all kinds of ways to do that. There's all kinds of questions you have to answer as part of that process.
And what we like to do here on the podcast is simplify things, give you some practical action steps, just a path forward that you can apply right away. So of course we do this through lots of case studies, questions from listeners. And my whole goal in answering these questions is not just to help the specific person, but really to help lots of listeners out there who aren't kind of just going through similar issues or trying to find their own path forward, right? So Mason has been thinking about making a website to showcase his work, to attract more clients. And he's a little uncertain about whether this is the right step for his business, because it could also just be a distraction.
Like not everybody needs a website. So let's look at the question and try to figure out, does this freelance programmer need a website? And if so, what's the simplest and most effective way to make it? That's what's on tap for today. So glad you're out there.
Quick shout out to our sponsor and then we'll just kind of jump straight in. [Music]
My name is Mason calling in from Atlanta. I found your show while researching tips for programmers and I've been hooked ever since. I've been running a small side hustle offering freelance coding services. Lately, I've been considering creating a website to showcase my portfolio and attract more clients.
Your tips on optimizing websites have been handy, but I'm uncertain about the best approach for building the site and how to make it effective. Could you provide some more specific guidance on this? [Music]
Hey Mason, thanks for being out there. Congratulations on the side hustle thus far. And so let's talk about building a website.
As I briefly alluded to, not everybody needs a website. It's kind of like social media. It's like, sometimes that can be very helpful. Other times it's a waste of time, right? So for somebody like what Mason is doing here, I think a portfolio site could be very helpful.
Portfolio site is a very basic website. It's just kind of like here, I'm kind of staking out my claim. So you can make this in a day or less. And let's see what Mason wants to focus on, optimizing the website, best approach for building it, how to make it effective. So yeah, I would say, first of all, don't overthink it.
Let's focus on that portfolio aspect. I wouldn't try to add a blog or any kind of content that needs to be updated on a regular basis. I don't think that's necessary here. I think you just wanna have a pretty professional about page, a contact page, maybe highlight any work that has been done, any testimonials. If you're trying to target specific clients or from a specific field or a specific area, then probably they wanna do some SEO around that.
Use relevant keywords in your copy and in the meta tags. That's all pretty simple. Any platform is gonna help you with that. And speaking of platform, there's just so many of these days. Since we're talking to a coder here, he might be comfortable using WordPress or even something more customizable, but anybody else could opt for a more simple solution like Squarespace or Wix.
There are others out there that are just kind of like click and drag here. And then anybody can make a website by clicking a few buttons. So I would say keep it simple. Let's focus on the portfolio aspect, avoid anything that requires ongoing updates, and instead focus on improving your GitHub presence, for example, which is really important for coders. Or if it's somebody else out there, focus on improving whatever is important for your particular industry or field.
So you don't have to build a huge website, build something simple. I like it, Mason, good luck. Listeners, if you have a question or a situation, a scenario, an idea, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll continue to feature them throughout the whole year, every single week, new episode every day. In fact, it's all completely free.
My name's Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
