A portfolio website is one of the best ways to display your work as a designer. Even if you have a physical portfolio, a website is a more effective way to show your design work.
Of course, not everyone has the design skills to create a website that creates a layout to show off their work. However, we’ve put together some tips to help if you’re not sure how to make your portfolio site shine!
1. Be Yourself
One of the best ways to create an effective portfolio site is to be yourself. Rather than copying the design used by others, create your own site to differentiate you and your work from the pack.
Create a completely unique site that inspires people looking for your services. And it’s always possible to hire a website builder to help you create that stunning website.
2. Keep Your Portfolio User-Centred
What does this mean? Think of your portfolio as a product that you show potential clients. It’s best to gear your site toward a specific target audience. These are the customers most likely to search for and buy your products and services.
Once you’ve found your target audience, build your portfolio site to attract them. It’s necessary to learn what your audience is looking for and how they prefer things to be shared on a site.
With this information, you can create a unique website that grabs the attention of those most likely to hire your services!
3. Show Your Personality
With the information about your target audience, you can create a beautiful portfolio website that shows your personality. When customers visit your portfolio, they want to get an idea of who you are and the type of work or services you offer. They also want to know more about you.
So, include a professional headshot of yourself. Show that you’re a real person with your own identity and style. It’s all about being creative in a way that draws potential customers in.
As visitors come to your site, ensure they find everything easily and quickly. Ensure your portfolio website’s navigation is clear and easy to use. For instance, if your site is made of several pages, ensure the navigation remains consistent across each page.
Be sure customers can easily find information about you and your services, too. You can do this effectively by creating an “About Me” page. And create a “Contacts” page to make it easier for potential customers to get in touch.
Keeping the navigation easy and clear allows customers to find the information they want as they view your portfolio site.
5. Make Pages Load Quickly
An effective portfolio website also loads quickly. Keep in mind that most site visitors expect a website to load in three seconds or less! If the page doesn’t meet this expectation, some site visitors and customers will leave for competitor sites.
So, choose the right hosting package to ensure all pages of your website load quickly. If you’re not sure about a web host’s loading speeds, then contact them directly. Look for a host that ensures your site loads quickly every time.
6. Create Fresh Content
Not only do search engines (especially Google!) love fresh content, so do site visitors. If you’re looking for a way to improve your site’s ranking in the search engine, then you may want to consider adding a blog.
Blogging is a great way to show off your knowledge and expertise. It’s also a great way for search engines to find your site and draw more visitors.
Ensure your posts are relevant and linked to your portfolio. You may also want to consider adding short, engaging video content to keep visitors on your site longer.
The key is to regularly add fresh content to help rank your site higher in the search engines. Doing so ensures you draw in more site visitors and customers!
7. Creatively Show Off Your Clients
You can impress and draw more customers by showing off previous clients. Doing so allows new clients to see that your work is excellent and trusted by some large companies. It also offers a track record for potential clients.
If you’ve worked for a famous client or brand, showing these to potential clients adds more weight to your skills and knowledge.
8. Don’t Show All Your Projects
It’s tempting to show all your projects when creating a portfolio website. After all, wouldn’t customers be impressed by all the work you’ve done? Well, no. The main reason is that most customers don’t want to spend an entire afternoon perusing your portfolio. They may only have a short amount of time to make a decision. So, your website needs to work quickly to win over potential new clients.
So, rather than cramming your site with all the work you’ve done, choose those projects that emphasise quality. Use your best projects on the site, but not too many. The goal is to communicate information clearly and quickly (in 60 seconds or under).
You may also want to include a case study with each project, which outlines the project’s details, goals, and final results. Potential clients can see how you manage a project and deal with issues that come up.
9. Use Live Examples
Another way to help potential clients view your work is to share live examples. This is a great way to impress clients with your professional skills.
Here, again, it’s not necessary to link to each of your past projects. Choose those that are the best, with a couple of your most current projects. Doing so helps clients decide if you’re the right person for them.
Concluding Thoughts
Now is the best time to create your own online portfolio. Use our tips to create a beautiful, functional site that offers a stunning portfolio of your work. You’re sure to impress potential clients and even draw other designers to view your projects for inspiration!
