It’s still early enough in the year to take charge of your freelance gigs or artistic career. But does your online presence reflect the best of your work? A professional and impressive online portfolio is of course central to ensuring you thrive in 2023 and beyond.
When it comes to building an online portfolio, the biggest mistake creatives make is treating it as an afterthought. Treat your website as if you were completing a project for a paying customer (yourself!). Keep in mind that your online portfolio is often your audience’s first impression of you and what you’re capable of–so aim for sophistication and style.
Here are the most important things to keep in mind to make sure your portfolio is exactly what you want potential customers to see.
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Clean and crisp. The first step to building a dazzling yet professional portfolio is to make sure your website, especially your homepage, does not look cluttered. You don’t have to jampack every single thing you’ve done into a single site. Instead, pick your absolute best 5-10 examples. Think of quality over quantity. Your goal is to pique their interest then land a discovery call.
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Have clear goals. Depending on your objectives, you either want to make sure your portfolio clips showcase your specialization, or your wide-range. Do you only design for country cottage homes, or can you take on contemporary and industrial projects as well? Do you consult for a niche category like vegan food, or are you more of a generalist who can consult across the entire food and beverage industry? Make sure you’re sending the right message to prospective clients.
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Make it low-maintenance. While you want to make sure your portfolio looks stellar, you also want it to be easy to maintain, refresh and operate for the long-term. Pick a template that does not require you to have to build the website from scratch or shift everything around in order to keep it updated.
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Aim for picture perfect. Follow the basic elements of design and user experience. The format should flow from one webpage to the next, giving potential customers the opportunity to explore your work and learn more about you. All images should be high-quality. Fonts should match your branding, and complement the overall site. (Why use Comic Sans for your elegant wedding planning business?)
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Word power. More important than the font is the content. Images can say 1000 words about your brand, but don’t undermine the importance of copy-editing. Proofread every page to ensure there are no typos, and that everything is grammatically correct. Download Grammarly if you need a crutch, or hire an editor if writing is not your strong suit.
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Credit where it is due. Even solopreneurs have to show they are team players. If you worked on a team project that involved other people, it doesn’t hurt to mention or credit them. For example, if you’re a freelance journalist uploading a PDF of a major magazine spread, why not add (and link to) the photographer and stylist for the story? This shows you’re collaborative by nature. Better yet, your peers will appreciate you for it (and perhaps recommend you to others for future projects.)
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Get the right eyeballs to your site. Don’t keep your beautiful portfolio a secret. Post it to social media, list it on business directories and share it via word of mouth. The most strategic way to grow online is to focus on SEO, or search engine optimization. Focus on adding keywords that are relevant to your product or service. Be sure to pick the right domain name that matches your name or business. These simple steps help you rank high in Google search results, and soon your portfolio will become an online resource for inspiration.