Personal websites should be truly personal.
What's the problem?
If you search for resources and materials on the topic of making a so-called personal website, a lot of the readily-available results generally assume that you are trying to get hired or get clients. To me, this is a strange interpretation of "personal". I would describe such websites as professional websites instead. When I say "personal website", I do not mean a page or portfolio for potential employers or clients to hire you. I mean a place to be yourself and to express yourself to others. I want advice on self-reflection and introspection and knowing yourself -- how to identify and how to introduce yourself; how to be genuinely engaging. Stuff that gets to the heart of who you are.
There is shockingly little of the latter content among what I can find. Virtually everyone is offering their advice for the former. The personal has become the professional. And, well... can you blame people, really? The current internet is highly commercialized and focused on promoting products or services. Sure, a website is ostensibly about conveying information, but a lot of that information is intended to get you to do something -- usually something representing a financial transaction. It's always "build your brand" or "showcase your portfolio" or some other transparently profit-motivated initiative. Everyone is always talking about the sales funnel or the call to action or whatever. It's just assumed you are also like this. No one seems to have any tips or hints on how to make a truly personal website.
It's hard to be a person.
I suppose part of the problem is the difficulty in finding purpose with such a website. Good communication has a clear occasion, purpose, and audience. You might be able to figure out an occasion and audience, but it's not immediately clear what your purpose is. It's easier to build a website when you have a clear flow of the information and how to architect it, but it's hard to tell a narrative about yourself; the clarity comes less naturally when you're trying to differentiate one person from a billion others. What story am I telling, and how do I tell it?
I guess when it comes to myself, I feel like I have a lack of content. What do I really have to show for myself? Looking at my website makes me feel like it's incomplete, a bit lacking, and although there's no clearly visible shortcoming or thing to fix, it still feels flawed. Ironically, I have an easier time solving other people's problems than my own, but I suppose it's easier to think outside the box when you're not the one in the box.