Creating a portfolio website is an essential move for any artist or designer who wants to show their work off to the world. Further, it’s important to have a portfolio if you’re looking for work or want to exude some credibility.
A portfolio can keep your work in a concise, professional way that’s easy for customers or employers to look at. We’re going to talk a little bit about how to create a portfolio that really highlights your work.
Hopefully, we can provide some ideas that will give you a leg up in your career and your future as a creator.
How to Create a Great Portfolio Website
This is a list for those who aren’t well-versed in graphic design or organizing professional websites. It won’t get too technical, so you should be able to contextualize the ideas below and fit them into your process.
1. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the prospect of creating your own portfolio website. Fortunately, you don’t really have to do that if you don’t want to.
There are dozens of sites that make creating your own site, whether it’s a portfolio or not, very easy. They offer enough freedom for you to add personality to the site without forcing you to do any coding.
2. See What Others Have Done
If you’re coming at it from scratch, you might be at a loss for how to start thinking about arranging your site. It might help to look at some examples of beautiful graphic design and portfolio arrangement.
This way you’ll have some framework to use when you’re conceptualizing your site.
3. Display Your Best Work
You should include a variety of work in your portfolio, but keep in mind that it’s sort of like a resume. When someone looks at it, you want to draw them in and entice them to keep viewing.
Starting out with some striking work, framed in a stylized way will help your chances of finding customers and employers.
4. Make Sure Everything Works
It’s important to keep checking on the various links and pages throughout your site. Links can die and pages can get wonky when they’re pulled up on different devices.
Do regular check-ups on your site and ensure that visitors can navigate it easily and effectively without any hiccups.
5. Focus on The Contact Page
Ensure that people can get in touch with you easily. A clunky contact page can be a disincentive to doing business with you.
Make sure that the contact information is correct and that there’s a way for people to reach out to you right from your site.
6. Consider Optimization
Search engine optimization is a way of making your page visible to more people. It’s a process that yields as much as you put into it, and it could expose you to a much wider audience.
Do some cursory research on how to conduct search engine optimization, or think about working with a company who can manage it for you.
Taking The Next Step in Your Career?
Your portfolio website might be the first of many steps toward a successful career. There’s a lot to take care of in the process, and we’re here to help you move forward with your ideas.
Explore our site for more professional tips, career ideas, and ways to improve your lifestyle.
