Thinking about setting up my own website

I had a lot of luck with setting up my own website in the beginning. These days, my marketing efforts are much more targeted so I prefer direct interaction. Here's my suggestion, as someone's who has done exactly what you're thinking of:

Domain

If money is tight then you can start with something like blogger (Blogspot.com) but you should invest the $20 it takes for a good .com domain. It can be your name or it can be a brand name you come up with. Blogger lets you use your own domain with their free hosting (or it did, at least).

If you can afford it, however, I would highly suggest purchasing your own hosting plan. The reason for this is versatility. If you install WordPress you have a nearly unlimited variety of options for everything from layout to usability. More importantly, this will look far more professional.

Landing Page

Make sure you have a landing page. When someone clicks your link, this is where they will end up first. This is a great place for some information about you, some sales copy, and maybe even some pricing. You don't want to make people search around for this page so make it the one you link to. (Easily done in WordPress).

Blog

A blog is a great idea. This is a perfect place for samples of your work. Update it about once or twice a week with a new article. I kept mine focused on IM and business in general although the whole purpose of the blog was to present samples of my writing and had nothing to do with SEO or anything like that.

I think it can be a good idea to vary the type of articles you post. Post short ones, long ones, instructional articles, opinion based articles, and anything else you're good at writing.

Testimonials

Testimonials are important too. I had a page of testimonials but I also had something in a sidebar slot that rotated testimonials I had received. The best way to get them is to simply ask a client for one once you've completed a project. Tell them you will be willing to link to one of their websites in the testimonial so it's mutually beneficial.

Contact

You'll have a "Order Now" button on the landing page but you should also have a "Contact Me" page. This should include a simple form that people can fill out as well as a traditional email link. The form just makes things that much easier and doesn't require people to do much to get in touch with you.

Etc

A portfolio page can be good too but only put your best stuff on there. The biggest gigs, the biggest projects, the things you're most proud of, are what should go on there.

A FAQ can also be helpful. I had questions like "What information should I include when contacting you?" and "What is your turn around time?".

I think that about covers what I would suggest including. You can add to it, of course, and even sell some sort of product right on your site. You could sell PLR material, for example, to catch those customers who just want something right now.

Keep working on it and perfecting it. Pay attention to your traffic. Look at where people are coming from, what they're looking at, and where they're spending the most amount of time. This information will tell you everything you need to know about what to focus on.

Best of luck!

The only thing I would disagree with is monetizing the site with ads. I just don't think it's appropriate for this sort of site. The whole site is an advertizement for yourself and your services. Maybe if you partnered with someone who, in turn, sent you work, that would be a different story.

Selling your own products, such as PLR material, is also acceptable.

I don't think you'll be generating enough traffic to actually make good money from the ads. You don't need 10,000 people to see the site, just a few people who will be good clients. I think it also diminishes people's confidence in your abilities. Think of it like this:

If this person is such a great writer that they make a living from writing, then why do they need to put ads on their site?

It's just my opinion but I never put ads for anything other than my own services on my site.

I don't think you need to do the "Quit your job" routine. This site is advertising your writing services, not a money making system, so you need to think about your target customers. The majority of writing work in the IM field comes from other IMers. These are people who either have or are starting a site,are creating a product like a book, or are looking for sales copy and emails.

Sell them what they're looking for: A high quality, reliable, professional writer.

My site was solely dedicated to my writing services. I advertized it as a writing service because those were the customers I was targeting. There's no need to try any "tricks" because you want to attract people who are looking for a writer.

You can try advertising it along the lines of "Quit your job" but I don't think that will be really relevant traffic unless you're teaching them how to start a Kindle business, for example. Remember that for this purpose, traffic numbers don't mean as much as client numbers. Low numbers of interested visitors are better than large numbers of window shoppers.

I also don't think you need to include information about your personal history unless you want to. Related work history is, of course, relevant but your trials and tribulations don't have much to do with your writing service. In the end, it's up to you. I didn't include anything I didn't feel to be relevant.

I decided to go with creating a brand name, mostly because I like branding. Even if you used your own name, however, you would still be creating a brand.

Finding the right theme has, for me, always been deceptively complicated. It's like I have a list of 5 things I want my theme to do and there are tons that only fulfill 3 out of the 5.

I would say it should be modern and up to date with current design trends. It should also be responsive (meaning it works on mobile devices and all browser types). I also prefer one which is customizable since I like everything to be exactly the way I want it.

I usually get my themes from ThemeForest (I'm not affiliated with them in any way.)