You do great work that deserves to be shared with the world. You want to showcase it but don’t know how to make an online portfolio that matches your ambitions. A website gives you space to show what you can do, but how you organize your information can depend on so many different factors. Still, there are certain principles that apply to all types of online portfolios.
No matter what industry you’re in, these actionable tips and bits of insider advice will help you create a breathtaking portfolio website.
Online Portfolios Come in Different Forms Depending on Your Needs
Before we dive in, it’s important to note that these tips are about creating an online portfolio in the broadest sense of the term. All types of businesses can benefit from an online portfolio, and they’ll all use different means of showcasing their work, including how and where they share image galleries, links to code libraries, product catalogs, and any other groupings of words you use to describe your collections of works.
What are the Benefits of Having an Online Portfolio?
Provides a platform to showcase your best work – An online portfolio serves as a dedicated platform to display your finest work and projects. It allows you to curate a collection of your most impressive achievements, whether they’re art pieces, design projects, or academic accomplishments.
While it’s possible to display your work on social media platforms such as Instagram or Deviant Art, having your own portfolio website provides greater freedom and creativity. With a portfolio website, you have the ability to select a professional template and create essential website pages, along with multiple images or work galleries. This allows your unique personality to shine through, making your portfolio more authentic and reflective of who you are as an individual.
Boosts your visibility and online presence – 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. That means when potential employers or customers are looking for someone to work with, they might just turn to search engines too. By having your work readily accessible on the internet, you can reach a wider audience. When more people can see your work, it increases your chances of stumbling upon new opportunities, collaborations, or even job prospects that you might not have come across otherwise.
How to Make an Online Portfolio
Now that we’ve covered what an online portfolio can do for your business, let’s get to the key points that can set your portfolio apart.
Step 1: Organize portfolio sections
Structuring your portfolio in an easily navigable way is essential, especially if you serve several different types of customers. Your audience should be front-of-mind when you consider the structure of your portfolio. Rather than putting everything in one place, segment your portfolio according to your audiences.
For example, a photographer may want to have one section of their portfolio for weddings, another for portraits and another for commercial photography.
Step 2: Craft compelling introduction
The introduction to your portfolio should support the structure of your portfolio and let your audience know what your business is all about.
Step 3: Highlight successful projects/designs
Another way you can frame your portfolio is as a history of your business’s accomplishments. Interviewing customers for case studies similar to the ones we’ve made provides a unique opportunity to showcase your work from your customers’ perspectives.
Step 4: Set clear portfolio objectives
Consider what your customers’ goals are and what they want from your portfolio. Generally speaking, they want to know that you are talented, capable and — at the very least — reliable.
Step 5: Gather and display client testimonials
Your portfolio shouldn’t leave any room for doubt regarding your ability or legitimacy. Link to customer testimonials on social media and other review sites for additional proof of your high-quality work.
Step 6: Provide easy-to-find contact details
Link to social media, contact forms and anything else you want your customers to engage with after reviewing your portfolio. Include a clear call-to-action that’s easy to see and understand.
Step 7: Incorporate engaging storytelling elements
Ideally, whoever views your portfolio will see a narrative emerge from the information it provides. After viewing it, they should know who you are, what you’re about, when and where you work, why you do what you do and how they can do business with you.
What Makes a Good Online Portfolio?
Visually appealing – A good online portfolio should have a visually appealing design that captivates visitors and showcases your work effectively. Use high-quality images, videos, or interactive elements to create a visually engaging experience.
Relevant – You want to show off your best work that’s relevant to the types of jobs or clients you’re targeting. By sharing your most relevant work, you can effectively show what you can do and convince them that you’re the right fit for the opportunities you’re seeking. This will leave a strong, lasting impression on potential employers or clients.
Search engine optimized – To make it easy for potential clients and employers to find your portfolio, you should optimize it for search engines. This means structuring and designing it in a way that helps search engines like Google understand and display your content. You can do this by using relevant keywords, organizing your portfolio with clear navigation, making it mobile-friendly, and getting other websites to link to it. These steps will help your portfolio show up higher in search results, making it more visible to the right people.
Web.com Online Portfolio Inspirations
As a company that serves small businesses of all types, we put a lot of thought and consideration into our online portfolios. For example, our website template gallery offers a preview of what you can expect when you sign up to use our website builder, and it does so by showcasing templates from over a dozen unique categories.
For more insight into how this portfolio was structured, we talked to Web.com Director of User Experience and Digital Design Mike Lynn about his approach to building this page. Mike has over 10 years of experience with Web, and over 15 years of experience in graphic design. In regard to our templates page, he explains, “We wanted to get a good number of templates on there because we need to appeal to as large of an audience as possible.”
When asked about his general approach to designing portfolios, Mike doesn’t mince words, saying, “You make a portfolio for one reason: to sell yourself. You want to make sure you show a range of skills, presenting all your abilities on their own.”
On the topic of online marketing for photographers, he says, “A gallery of images from a photographer is going to be way more impressive than pictures from your phone. It may be subtle, but it makes you look more professional.”
In his final remarks about building a portfolio, Mike reminds us that our competitors will show us how they use their portfolios to generate leads, “A decision you have to make is where you house your portfolio. Look around the industry you’re in and see what other people are doing. You should still have your own website so you can link out to it, but there are all kinds of ways of generating leads.”
Build an Impressive Digital Portfolio Today
These days, having an online portfolio is a must for designers and creatives. Think of it as a modern-day version of a business card and a resume all on one website. It’s where potential clients go to learn more about you and your work.
Start building an online portfolio with Web.com. With a DIY website builder and professional web design options, you can get as much (or as little) help as you need to show prospective customers what you can do.
