As part of setting up my digital presence, I recently went through the process of installing and customizing my own self-hosted WordPress site via cPanel. You can check out my new platform at mastronardit.sites.carleton.edu!
To get started, I performed a fresh WordPress installation through cPanel and cleaned up all the initial placeholder content by deleting default posts, comments, and pages to start with a blank canvas. To protect the site from comment spam moving forward, I activated the Akismet plugin. Next, I created a dedicated “About” page featuring a bio that highlights my background, goals, and academic pursuits. Finally, I selected and activated a new theme, using browser DevTools to inspect specific layout elements and adding custom CSS code through the WordPress customizer to personalize the design beyond out-of-the-box settings.
Having full control over my own WordPress instance opens up several exciting possibilities for how I can use this platform. I plan to use it as an academic and professional portfolio to showcase class projects, research, and coursework in a clean, structured format. It also provides a dedicated space for personal blogging and writing without being constrained by the formatting limitations of third-party platforms. As I progress through college, it will serve as a central hub for an e-portfolio highlighting internships, accomplishments, and career goals for prospective employers or graduate programs.
Building a website on your own server space comes with distinct advantages and trade-offs compared to using proprietary platforms or social media networks. On the positive side, self-hosting gives you complete ownership and control over your content and data, protecting you from changing platform algorithms, sudden policy shifts, or unexpected account suspensions. You also gain unmatched customizability through CSS, plugins, and full theme integration without platform ads or monetization limits. However, these benefits come with increased responsibility. Because you manage the server instance, security updates, plugin compatibility, spam control, and backups fall entirely on you. Additionally, setting up databases and editing custom CSS carries a higher technical learning curve than setting up a standard social media profile, and without built-in discovery algorithms, driving traffic to a standalone site requires intentional effort. Overall, setting up my own WordPress site was a great hands-on exercise in web administration and design customization, giving me a solid foundation for my personal digital identity.
Tyler, your website is super cool! I can tell that you played with the themes and I like the modern design of your website. The about us and having the Carleton Football Knights marching down to Birdge Square is an awesome pic! Furthermore, I like how you played around and made your own icon (I did that too!). I totally agree that wordpress could be used as an e-portfolio as well.
Tyler, I thought your website was excellent. Favorite part being the picture of you walking downtown Northfield with the cereal bowl trophy in your hands. similar to you, I also plan on using this platform as an academic and professional portfolio to showcase class projects, research, and coursework in a clean, structured format. I also agree with you that creating these websites comes with increased responsibility.
It was very enlightening to see your take on the pros and cons of self hosting. I agree with you that while self hosting may give you more control of your blog, there is more responsibility to ensure security, maintenance, and keep posting content on your blog. The concept of your site being a digital portfolio is also brilliant. I feel that having a personal website that you will be able to develop over time at college may be helpful when looking for internships and jobs.
I really like how your website turned out, Tyler. I also think it’s cool how you included both football and your interest in medicine on your About Me page since those are obviously two big parts of your life. Being on the football team with you, I know how much time football takes up, so balancing that with being pre-med and studying for the MCAT is definitely impressive. I also like the idea of continuing to build the site throughout college as you get more experience in medicine.
I can definitely resonate with your point about driving traffic, since a site with no algorithm behind it only gets visitors if you share the link yourself. I’m planning to put my site’s URL on my résumé and LinkedIn so recruiters find it, and I’m curious how you plan to get people to yours.
Your site looks great! I really liked your design choices and custom icon, as well as your point about how self-hosting gives you complete control over your content and structure. Like a few others mentioned, I’m also planning to use mine as a professional digital portfolio moving forward.