Creating the “Perfect” Portfolio
Already Have a Solid Portfolio Selection
If you have been in the business for a while and want to upgrade your portfolio, your first step is to review all of your current content and cut out anything that no longer matches your skill level and any client work that you were eager to do early on but that turned out bad.
We all grow as professionals over time. A piece that we may have considered a masterpiece five years ago is likely outdated now.
Swallow however much pride you may have had in it and cut it out.
Pieces that are outdated, ugly or that reflect “bad practice” will hold you back.
How to Build Your Portfolio
This is an ongoing process for web professionals, whether or not they currently have a portfolio.
Take the time to filter old material at least once a year. As an incentive, you may be happy and inspired to see how much you’ve grown. Cut out any outdated or ugly pieces.
As you build your portfolio, keep in mind that not everything has to be added to it. Only add pieces that are worth showing.
Recognize that we sometimes do bad client work, and even “portfolio building” projects can turn into nightmares. When working with new clients, though, you can always at least make constructive suggestions so that you produce the best work, both for your client and your portfolio.
Show Off Ambition, Expertise and Personality
Many potential clients (or whoever views your portfolio) want to see the person behind the website.
A personal portfolio is supposed to be personal, after all. Are you friendly to work with? Are you approachable? What made you want to work in this field?
If you’re passionate about your work, not only will you probably do your job better than most others, but you’ll attract clients by making personal connections.
Below are a few ways to show off your ambition and expertise. Highlighting the following would make any professional stand out.
They answer the question, “What makes you better than others?”
Self-Driven Projects
When I got my internship, in a highly competitive position, I was told I got the job because I was the only one who had a website.
They appreciated my passion for the subject and that I wasn’t in it only for the money or for the “professional experience” that college kids need these days. I was truly excited to get into the field.
Other applicants had 4.0 GPAs, all the necessary programming knowledge and some awesome references. All of that was impressive, but when we were asked the simple question, “How well do you know HTML?” I was the only one who could say that I learned it long before my college days.
While my personal project was for a great internship, many organizations and clients want to see personal projects, too. People who love what they do tend to do great work. Clients love to see that passion.
Start a blog, a forum or another type of website by yourself or with a small group. That fun hobby can get you noticed professionally.
Getting Featured in Magazines or Popular Blogs
Be sure to get out into the community and participate in any way possible. This is another way to show your passion for the field and pick up some interesting practices and habits along the way.
If you become good enough at what you do, getting featured in bigger blogs, communities and even print magazines is possible.
If you do get featured, then anyone who discovers you will see that you are a voice of authority in your niche.
The more popular you are, the more clients will be impressed (and you may even be able to charge more for your time).
Try to write guest posts or even get a job as a blogger. Being featured in interviews is also a great way to build authority, and thousands of websites are looking for designers, developers and web professionals from all niches to interview.
Instead of waiting for these opportunities to come to you, go out and find them.
For Everything Else You Have to Brag About: The Résumé
A résumé isn’t just fancy-looking paper that you hand out at job fairs; it can be an essential part of your online portfolio. Always include a professional résumé, whether as a web page or a downloadable document.
You can include details for anyone who wants deeper information on you and your services. You can include school information, past jobs and references.
A résumé should be the icing on the cake of your portfolio website.
Treat an online résumé as you would a printed version that you personally hand to a potential employer. Visitors who take the time to check out your résumé are really serious about employing you.
Portfolio Marketing Tips
A web professional won’t do very well if no one notices their portfolio.
If you’re applying to a school or for a job, simply telling the school or business about your portfolio is one way to get it noticed.
For most designers and developers, though, the portfolio serves as a means of obtaining clients, and marketing the portfolio effectively is essential for this purpose.
Here are a few ways to attract clients.
Make Potential Clients Stay Longer
Many marketing studies have shown that the longer someone stays in a store, the more likely they will purchase something. Other studies have found this also to be true with websites, even portfolios.
So, the longer someone looks at your portfolio, the more likely they will contact you about their project.
Portfolio pieces and previous work are probably the best things to get potential clients to look at the longest.
There are a number of ways to do this:
- Make sure they have a lot to look at.
Does this mean you should include bad work to make your portfolio bigger? Of course not! Instead, if your portfolio is thin, build it by adding freebies or selling templates, themes or scripts, whatever is appropriate for your profession. This is an excellent way to fill out your portfolio, because these items will show off your personal style, not your clients’ styles. - Create a layout that allows visitors to access all of your projects effortlessly.
For example, you could put small versions of all images (whether thumbnails or not) on one page, allowing visitors to easily scroll through and view many projects at once. In addition, make each image show more information when clicked. The overall goal is to give your portfolio a flow that entices visitors to continue viewing more projects. - Take advantage of the F-shaped reading pattern.
If we understand how visitors read web pages, we can position content so that users are drawn to certain elements on the page. These elements should attract attention and make visitors want to dig deeper. An element could be one of your best pieces, a great testimonial or some viral content with a catchy title.
Content Is King, So Create Valuable Content
When you have some downtime, creating some valuable viral content to feature on your portfolio is a great way to gain recognition. The content could be a blog or just simple articles in HTML format.
Whatever the content, make sure others would find it worth linking to, especially others who may lead you to clients.
Titles like “How to Find the Right Web Designer” and “How Much Should You Pay for a Logo Design?” are excellent link bait and will support you as a web professional.
Here are a few more resources for writing quality content: