In today’s competitive and high-tech job market, it is essential for college students to develop their own professional website or blog. While great-looking resumes, portolios and cover letters are good tools for marketing yourself and a good idea to get that internship and exposure, oftentimes it’s not until after graduation that students recognize the need for a personal website. Luckily, there are lots free apps dedicated to building these sites, but one in particular stands out for its ease of use: Weebly.
Setting up a website within the Weebly app requires almost no technical skills. While it doesn’t have too many bells and whistles, it’s easy to set up a simple page to feature your contact information, resume, headshot, and about me section, for example.
The interface is easy enough to understand at first glance. Drag and drop boxes allow you to add text, photos, videos, image galleries, YouTube videos, music players, etc. and snap them to your pages. These are organized according to column and rows, which can be shifted and re-arranged. There are also templates included in Weebly, making it even easier to create pages in minutes. There is no learning curve when using Weebly, saving you time to work on your content rather than trying to learn HTML on the fly.
Your domain name is included for the first year, but after this users must pay extra. The basic plan is always free, but removers some features and adds an advertising box at the bottom of your page. The free plan should be enough to suit most students, however.
According to their website, Weebly claims to have created 30 million personal websites, including those used for eCommerce. Though it may not seem like a big deal, the time investment to set up a personal webpage using the Weebly app will be worth it in the long run — especially when complimented with your CSUN Portfolium account. Though it won’t suit some as well as others, it’s perfect for anyone looking for something easy to use or for those of us who can’t afford to hire a private web developer.
The app is free to download and available on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android.
