For someone with such creative skills, it’s tempting to just stick to social media.
“After all, what I need to do is be on social media and maybe, someone somewhere will see what I do and reach out.”
Or maybe you’re smarter than that and already have a portfolio set up on another platform you have no power over.
What happens when that platform shuts down?
What if Facebook deletes your page or limits how far your posts can go (which they’re already doing)? Or what if you get hacked and lose all access?
Does that mean your marketing comes to a halt?
That’d be terrible! But unfortunately, that’s the reality.
The truth is you can’t be a King (or Queen) and yet, live in another man’s Palace.
You need yours. You need to build online authority. You need your own tribe of fans – people who will love you for who you are and what you do for others.
And you need customers and clients who recognize, appreciate and would pay for your talent.
Social media on its own can’t give you that.
And a portfolio isn’t enough to prove your expertise. Customers need to see how you work. What your worldview is. They want to know the personality behind the creative work. They want to know if they can blend and how interesting you’d be to work with.
And they want to know if you understand their desires and if they’ll get results.
All this also adds to how much you charge for your creativity.
Setting up your own portfolio, and sharing your expertise, your ideas, your work process, your beliefs, your mistakes and successes on your own domain (your website) is what gives you leverage over those who refuse to do the same.
And guess what?
With a website, getting customers and other people who’ll see and appreciate your work is only a small part. You also attract a group of people who would buy every product you have, and who would spread the word about what you do.
Cool, right?
In the next email, we’ll get started with the pointers you need to setup your website the right way.
What do you think? Is a website really necessary? Let me know your thoughts via email.