How to Create an Online Portfolio for a Strong Online Presence
Having a strong online portfolio is extremely important in current times, given how everything around us is marked by a powerful digital presence – be it an individual or a brand.
This is especially true if you’re doing an online job hunt or looking for potential clients for your freelancing business. Your online portfolio represents you in the digital platform and gives your employers a reason to hire you.
That’s why it’s important for your portfolio to be impressive enough to be able to grab your employer’s attention instantly.
Here are some of the most effective ways to create a great online portfolio that can help you create a strong online presence.
Pay Attention to Your Design
The first thing that people will notice about your online portfolio is its design. The better it looks the more professional you are considered to be.
Just like a business is judged by its website, your work and professionalism is judged by the way your portfolio appears. So make sure you have a powerful and catchy design for your online portfolio.
If you’re not that good with designs, you might want to hire a professional designer who can help you create a great look for your portfolio.
But sometimes, you may not want to invest too much by hiring a designer. In that case, you can look for pre-built portfolio templates that can save you both time and money. You’ll find different templates depending on the platform (WordPress, Magento, Wix, etc.) you’re using. It’s the easiest way to make your portfolio look super sleek and professional.
Showcase Your Best Work with a Story
Storytelling is a powerful way of capturing people’s attention. And you can use this opportunity to hook your employers by telling them the story of your best work.
You don’t have to do that for all your projects. Just pick the ones you like best or the ones that have received the best results. Now tie some stories related to these projects. You can talk about how it started, what it was about, how you were able to achieve results for it, etc.
To make it more interesting, you can add some images or videos that better describe the project and your involvement with it. This will not just engage your clients but will also give them a reason to see how creative you are.
Add Solid Samples of Your Work
It’s not possible to create a story for all your work. You can do that for one or two of your best projects. But that’s not enough for your clients to know your caliber.
Some of them might want to check out more of such result-oriented work samples. So make sure you have a section that lists some of the best work samples for your clients to peruse. You might also want to include samples that display your skills in different areas.
For example, if you’re a freelance writer, you might want to include samples of blog posts, case studies, eBooks, etc., to give them a better idea of the skills you have.
Validate Your Work with Testimonials
The next important thing that can quickly make your portfolio shine are testimonials from clients you have already worked with. Testimonials act like feedback on the work that you’ve done, and they are extremely important for landing more clients.
It supports your credibility and the level of your expertise. By adding testimonials to your portfolio, you can strengthen your reputation too. That’s because, through these testimonials, your clients are expressing their trust in you and your business.
It’s a great way of adding value to your skills and making it more believable for people who are exploring your portfolio for the first time.
If you don’t have a testimonial yet, don’t worry. Just reach out to your clients through a polite email and ask them to write one for you. They’ll surely do it without any hesitation.
You can even link your social profiles to your portfolio to give them a glimpse of your latest work. This will also encourage your clients to follow your latest projects for more information. Plugins like Smash Balloon can help you integrate your social profiles to your portfolio without writing a single code.
Write a Great About Me Page
Your portfolio is incomplete without a great ‘About Me’ page. It’s the one page that tells your client everything they need to know about you. So talk about yourself, the skills you have, how you’re different from your competitors, etc.
But in doing so, don’t go overboard and talk just about yourself. When a client is hiring you they want to know how you can add value to their business and help them get results.
So instead of going on about yourself, get a little creative in the way you put things across. Try to strike a balance between not appearing too self-centered and not being too bland about what you can do.
Give Them a Way to Get in Touch
Now, you’ve done everything you need to make your portfolio shine. But your client can’t find a way to get in touch with you. Can anything be worse than that?
If you don’t want that to happen, add a contact form to your portfolio through which your clients can reach out to you. You don’t need to design a contact form from scratch. There are tools and plugins that can help you add a form to your portfolio with just a few clicks of the mouse.
One such option is the WPForms plugin.
This drag and drop form builder plugin is the perfect solution for adding any kind of form to your website on a budget.
Building a portfolio is easy. But creating a portfolio that makes an impression isn’t that easy. By following the above points, you can come up with a portfolio that stands out and helps you mark a strong online presence.
Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonster, WPBeginner, MonsterInsights, and WPForms.
