Here you are, trying to figure out how to build an online portfolio.
First and foremost, it is an excellent decision! It’s something you can consider, whether you’re a company trying to expand its customer base or an employee looking for new job opportunities.
You’re possibly (at least) a little concerned that the challenge will prove difficult, particularly if you’ve never built a portfolio before. But don’t be concerned. We’re taking you on this journey from top to bottom today.
What Are the Benefits of Having an Online Portfolio?
The most important advantage of making a portfolio page is that it defines your online brand. The very fact that your business/services are mentioned online gives you access to millions of people who use Google and other search engines to do research before agreeing to partner with a company or recruit a new employee.
An online portfolio is an excellent customer acquisition or career search platform. People can visit your website whenever it’s convenient for them because websites are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A portfolio will help you connect with other like-minded individuals — your colleagues in the same niche — with whom you could form a relationship and therefore help each other expand through referring work. Finally, building an online portfolio allows you to make new friends and expand your network in ways that would otherwise be impossible.
Finally, due to new website technologies, you have full leverage of your portfolio, which means you can highlight your talents, qualifications, or whatever else you want in the portfolio however you want.
How to Build an Online Portfolio
Making a portfolio website is a chance to showcase your talents and express your distinctive voice while still appearing as crisp and polished as the rest of your work. You will go beyond technical limitations and creative sacrifices to build a strong online identity with the right resources.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to building an online portfolio you’ll be proud of:
1. Gather your Resources
The first step in creating a portfolio is to do some visual research. Looking around at other online portfolio websites will provide you with plenty of inspiration and spark some initial ideas, regardless of the profession. It’s particularly important to look at other people’s websites in your artistic niche or business.
It would be best to take notes or even build a vision board to help you stay on track throughout the creative process. Gather resources and consider important details such as colour palette, typography, site layout that you like, and emerging web design trends.
2. Choose your Platform.
It’s time to start developing your portfolio with the platform of your preference now that you’ve visualized it. You have a few options, but your desires and interests will determine the right choice.
If you have no technical experience and want to save time and money, a website builder is a way to go. By selecting a template, uploading your works and contact information using a drag-and-drop tool, and linking to a personalized domain name of your choice, website builders make it simple to publish your online portfolio.
Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix are the top three sites for creating a website portfolio. The best overall portfolio website builder is Squarespace. Weebly is the most cost-effective option, while Wix is the best for SEO support.
3. Create a Simple and Clear Structure
What is the best way for guests to navigate your website? To get more details, do you open a menu or scroll down? Do you want a single-page website or a gallery of full-screen photographs that open up into separate pages? These are the questions you should be asking yourself when you choose your portfolio template in the next step.
When you’re ready, take a look at artistic portfolio models. You might see something that looks close to the result you like, in which case you can tweak it and make it your own. If you’d rather start from scratch, you can still create your website and have full control of how you express yourself online.
4. Showcase your Best Works
The importance of quality over quantities in a portfolio cannot be overstated. And suppose you only included one huge, amazing example of your work. In that case, you’d be better off than if you included 20 meagre sub-par projects.
It’s a good idea to provide a narration for each project so that guests can get a sense of the context. Be sure to give a brief overview of the project and your position, and any partners you collaborated with — this is an important portfolio design tip that is sometimes forgotten. A little bit of storytelling keeps visitors captivated.
5. Contact Information
Once your platform has wowed visitors, make sure they can easily contact you. So, provide a contact form, your email, phone numbers, and connections to your social media accounts to ensure you’re reachable.
This can be used in the menu, on a separate contact list, or as a pinned link on the side of the page. It’s also a good idea to repeat your contact information in the website’s footer, giving people one more chance to contact you.
Once you’ve spread the message, keep in mind that your portfolio should expand with you. There’s still another tweak to make things a bit easier around the corner. Continue to add new content and projects to the platform and introduce new features, improve the user interface, and keep updated with relevant design trends.
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