Saturday 12 July 2014

Online portfolios can work for you in two ways. One, they can help convince a potential client that they want to work with you. And, two, they can help you get discovered on sites dedicated to bringing together portfolios of specific types of professionals.

 Personally, I’ve received many job opportunities thanks to my online portfolios, which include:
  •  a dedicated business portfolio website 
  • a one-page portfolio on my blog
  •  portfolio links on my social profiles
  •  portfolios on networks for freelance writers and journalists
I will share examples of all of these throughout this post. Essentially, you can never have too many portfolios. Even if you only get one lead from one of your portfolios, it will return your investment.

In this guide, we’ll show you how you can create a great online portfolio on your website, blog, social media networks, and specific professional networks.

Portfolio 1:Create a portfolio on a dedicated business website 

http://www.4yourprice.comYour primary portfolio should be on a dedicated website for your business. This is a website whose goal is to capture leads to your business.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be a web designer to create a great business website complete with a portfolio. There are lots of platforms you can use such as a WordPress website using a portfolio theme. If you run a search on Google for WordPress portfolio themes, you’ll find lists that show you every type imaginable, premium themes, and marketplaces that give you many more portfolio options.


Portfolio 2: Create a portfolio on a blog

What if you have a blog that is separate from your business website, or you don’t have a business website at all? You can still create a portfolio. In this case, maybe it would just be a page that showcases your work and lets your blog readers know you offer services related to the content you create. I get quite a few leads from my blog’s portfolio page, which is a simple list of the latest blog posts I’ve written.

At the end of this list of posts, I include a contact form that potential clients can use to ask about having similar content written for their websites.

This kind of portfolio page is perfect for people who are primarily known for their blogs and want to expand into offering services, but don’t have a business just yet. It can also help them generate business from their blog, without having to lose the identity of the blog itself by turning it into a business-oriented website.

Portfolio 3: Create a portfolio on social media networks 

Social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn,4yourprice.com and Pinterest allow you to create portfolios in a variety of ways. On Facebook, you can create a custom tab for your Facebook page that is a dedicated portfolio, much like Social Identities has done with their social design portfolio.

Portfolio 4: Create a video portfolio

If your business creates video, helps people create video, or has work that can be showcased through video, then you definitely want to create a portfolio on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. GoAnimate, a service that helps you easily create animated videos, has sections of featured videos and tutorials, all demonstrating the power of their tool.

Portfolio 5: Create a portfolio on a professional network 

Last, but not least, there are lots of professional networks that help connect freelancers, consultants, and businesses with their ideal customers. There are lots of them out there, so your first job will be to make sure the network is right for your business. Here are some things to use as qualifiers before adding your portfolio to the mix.
  • Pricing: while most networks are free to those offering services (and then charge the people who want to hire), there are some networks that will charge you certain fees to join or to get you leads. If possible, aim for networks that allow you to link to your website, or have a free-to-use contact form.
  •  Listed Rates: if a network lists rates, and yours are considerably higher than other businesses on the site, then you might want to skip it. If everyone else only charges $50 on a logo design, and you charge $500, you’re probably not going to get a lot of business.
  •  Quality: do the other portfolios on a site stack up to yours in a quality test? If a network is well known for not having great work, you don’t want your name to be listed there
  • Popularity: if a network allows companies to leave ratings, testimonials, etc. on those they have hired, look to see how many people actually have feedback on their portfolios. If there are a ton of portfolios, but no feedback, the network may be attracting more portfolio submissions than people who are looking to hire. That’s not so bad for a free site, but it’s not great if you’re paying for your portfolio listing. With those things in mind, here are some networks you can create a portfolio on to reach a new audience.

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