Do Not Hire a Prison Consultant to Host Your Website

by

In recent years, federal prison consultants have expanded their services to include website creation, often positioning the offering as a way to help individuals rebuild their online reputations post-incarceration. However, there are significant reasons to think twice before moving forward with this service and it is best practice to decline this offering.

Prison consultants like to promote the idea that building a profile summary page, which highlights your skills, qualifications, and personal growth, can be beneficial when you begin searching for employment post-incarceration. They suggest that having a polished, positive online presence will help employers find an updated narrative about you, potentially outweighing any negative content.

The idea is sound: building a personal website can help craft a more favorable digital footprint, making you appear more appealing to prospective employers during the re-entry process. But the way federal prison consultants deliver this service is problematic. Below, we’ll explain why this is a service you’re better off without.

If you’re looking for more information about repairing your personal search results, you can read our summary here.

What’s The Downside Risk of Hiring a Prison Consultant to Build and Host a Personal Website?

One of the biggest concerns is that many consultants host these websites on their domains, which often prominently feature words like “prison.” While the intention may be to address the past, this approach often backfires. Instead of moving forward and distancing yourself from your history, these domains can keep you tethered to a negative association. If your goal is to clean up your online presence and start fresh, a prison-themed domain is not the way to go.

Additionally and perhaps most importantly, there are cases where consultants charge extra fees for edits, including taking down the site once you realize it isn’t having the desired effect. Some individuals have found themselves stuck, paying more money just to undo what was supposed to be helpful.

Before you agree to any website creation service, it’s important to consider how it fits into your long-term goals. Building an online presence is an investment, and it should work in your favor, not against you. Make sure you research thoroughly and ask the right questions before proceeding.

What to Do If You Have a Page Hosted on a Prison Consultant Website

If you already have a profile page hosted on a prison consultant’s website and feel that it’s harming your online presence, contact the consultant and request the consultant remove the page entirely – not just “noindexing” or “de-indexing” it. Ensure you receive confirmation once it’s taken down. If they charge you for this, document all communications and fees, so you have a receipt to prove it should have been removed in the event that it re-appears.

While you wait for search engines to de-index the page (which can take up to a week), ensure that you remove all references to the previous biography website from your social media profiles. Failing to do so may result in the page remaining indexed longer than necessary.

You should also focus on building your own online presence on platforms that align with your goals—such as LinkedIn or a personal website with a neutral domain.

Tips for Building a Personal Website to Assist with Online Reputation

As we share in our guide for fixing personal search results after legal trouble, it is best practice to own your own website so you remain in control of the message.

While this may seem like an intimidating proposition, it’s easier than ever:

To start, choose a domain name that reflects your name, considering variants with a middle initial or different top-level domains if needed. Popular domain registrars like GoDaddy offer various options. Then, select a dependable web hosting service, such as Hostinger, to store your website’s data and link it to your domain using their instructions.

Once your domain and hosting are in place, employ a content management system like WordPress for website construction. Your site should prominently feature your name, a concise introduction, and your professional background. Utilizing strategic keywords and SEO techniques will aid in enhancing your visibility in search engine rankings.

Fix Your Personal Search Results Page

If you are feeling uncertain about your ability to build a WordPress site for yourself, it is not a problem to hire a website developer to build a simple, one-page profile page, though it’s paramount to ensure you retain full control of the domain registrar and WordPress logins in case there needs to be a change down the road. You should seek to avoid locking yourself into unnecessary long-term service contracts – typically, web developers will build this kind of website for an individual for less than $1,000.

Additional Resources