Importance of professional website to search committees I am hitting the academic job market this fall and was advised to have a professional website, but I am completely lost in putting this advice into action.  I now am sitting here thinking about making a professional website in preparation of the job market. I am uncomfortable with this kind of self-promotion but, on the other hand, I do not want to ignore a low hanging piece of fruit because I don't like its shape. 

My questions are: 


Do professional websites enhance the application for potentials?
How much does the professional website matter at this stage in my career?
Is it worth time writing up my own webpage or is sticking to prefabs  like weebly good enough?


Background: My field is in the social sciences, though my area of research is computational within it.  My publication record upon finishing my postdoc will be strong. I am exceptionally uncomfortable with the idea of self-promotion or even engaging in social media conversations. 

Any advice would be appreciated. My hope is that my research productivity will stand on its own and I will not have to create a professional website, but I hope you can advise me on how important it is.
I look for and use the websites of job candidates all the time, and I know many of my colleagues do as well. The reason is that we can find things there that are not on your CV, for example:


Links to the PDF versions of your papers, if you put them there.
Links to pages that provide teaching materials for your students.
Numerous other things that belong on a website but can't be obtained through the CV itself.


So yes, do create a website. As @aeismail writes, take a look at the websites of your colleagues in the field, pick the ones you like best, then imitate that style.

What system you use -- handwritten HTML or a content management system -- is secondary to the content you put online.