The Value of Having Your Own Website

When I meet someone, I tell him to contact me at karlrockwell.com. We don't need to pull out phones, business cards, or write anything down. I am not tied to any communication channel or address. I can change addresses, phone numbers, and communication channels at any time without needing to broadcast to everybody. People can conveniently find the communication channels we use in common. I am not hostage to any platform or company.

How to Create Your Own Website

  1. You could piggyback on someone else's domain by creating a subdomain, but buying your own domain you control such as yourname.me gives you the most control and flexibility. It can also be used as your email domain. You can find domains available to purchase at https://www.gandi.net/,  https://www.hover.com/, or another domain registrar.
  2. Then you need to decide where to host your website:
    1. You could do it from your house if you have some kind of computer to use as a server. You will need a little technical aptitude and the patience to learn some things, but you will have the most control and own rather than rent your hardware.
    2. You can rent a VPS (Virtual Private Server) from a provider such as https://www.hetzner.com/, https://vultr.com/, or https://www.digitalocean.com/. It is easier to set up and maintain a VPS rather than run a server at home, but you will pay rent based on how much resources you need. You will pay only about $5 a month for most basic websites.
    3. You might be lucky to know someone already hosting a server and willing to host your site. He might not charge you anything and take care of all the administration as a favor. ;)
  3. Pick the software to run your site on. This site runs on free Bludit, but you have many options.
  4. Create your content any way you want.

There are many options, and I know a few. If you want any help, set up a meeting on my calendar.