The FJP — Hello! I’m a journalism student and I bought my own domain recently because I want to have my own website (to increase my “social presence”, yenno). I want to put a bio there and to post PDF files of my clips. I really have no idea how to create that website or what websites to use to help me with that. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you :)

Hello! I'm a journalism student and I bought my own domain recently because I want to have my own website (to increase my "social presence", yenno). I want to put a bio there and to post PDF files of my clips. I really have no idea how to create that website or what websites to use to help me with that. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you :) — Asked by zipporah

Hi Annie,

There are all sorts of ways to go about this. Here are some initial thoughts. I think the best way to choose from these and others you come across is actively take the time to play with them and see what best works for you.

WordPress: Pick a theme and use “Pages” instead of “Posts” to organize your content. Since you indicate you want to have a portfolio site, when picking a theme do a search for… wait for it… “portfolio”. If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, you can install WordPress on your servers for greater overall control.
Contently: These guys are relatively new and have a relatively easy method for creating your online writing portfolio. As an added bonus, they’ve also created a freelancers network where organizations and writers can connect on writing gigs. Not entirely sure if they offer custom domains.
Tumblr: Sure, why not? Like WordPress, pick a theme that’s portfolio centric and Tumble away. How to find one? Follow this link. And, of course, Tumblr offers custom domains.
Flavors.me and/or About.me: These aren’t quite what you’re looking for but they are nice tools for aggregating your online presence in one place. For example, you can have your Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Google+ and other activities all connected to your About/Flavors account.

There are other portfolio options out there, of course, but sites like Behance and Dribbble are geared toward visual creatives. But definitely look around and see what others are using.

And, of course, you can always use your LinkedIn profile to link out to works you’d like to highlight.

Good luck, and send us a link to your site when you’re done. — Michael