As a creative, you may be asking yourself “Do I need a portfolio website” We’ll get that settled for you right away: yes, absolutely! Here are 3 key reasons why building a dedicated portfolio is worth it!
A Portfolio Shows You Take Your Career Seriously
It demonstrates a serious commitment to your creative career, since you’ve invested your time and money to present yourself to the world. Conversely, nothing says you’re glib about your work like sending a client a link to a Google Drive folder. People who put in the effort to present their work in a convenient way will always have a leg over other candidates.
You Can Better Curate Your Work And Skills
It showcases your skills and artistic experience in a way that nothing else can. Think of your portfolio as an extended resumé. Both businesses and people want to see examples of your work before they engage your services, and a website makes that process easy. Unlike Instagram or other social media, a website lets you categorize your work and has fewer constraints regarding image size, page length, etcetera. A potential client can get an overview of your best-of from your website’s home page alone.
You Become Easier To Find on Google
It helps you go up in search rankings. The SEO of your own website is easier to optimize than the SEO of your social media. Your portfolio website can thus become a treasured part of your personal brand — a heavily curated highlight reel with no distracting elements.
Your portfolio should have the following information:
1. About Page. Keep your biography concise and to the point. Only include the essential info: who you are professionally, and who your clients are.
2. Contacts. Make it easy to get in touch with you. Try to avoid forms: most people don’t enjoy filling them.
3. Body of work. This is, of course, the most important part. Show only the type of work that you want to do more of in the future. Update and curate your projects, and always describe the prompts and ideas behind them. A little blurb mentioning the art director, client and concept will work wonders for your SEO, as well as explain the context in which your work exists.
4. Awards, certifications, reviews, and testimonials. Don’t be afraid to show off a little! If you won a contest or completed a cool (and relevant) workshop, let the world know.
Do I Need To Know Code?
The final question is: do you need to code a custom website? You don’t. Builders like Wix, WordPress, Carbonmade, Squarespace, and the like will work just fine for your needs. There are also some free websites, namely Tumblr and Behance, that give you the option to add your own domain name to your account.
In that same vein, PosterSpy PRO members now get access to a shareable PRO Portfolio! It automatically imports your uploads and lets you share them without the PosterSpy navigation bar or footer. This is a sleek, clean way to show off your work — and cheaper than a hosted website. Over time we will be adding themes, custom ordering and more to make your experience even more enjoyable.) PRO membership costs just £45 per year (£3.75 per month) or £4.99 per month. Making this option much cheaper than a dedicated domain, web hosting and the time required to build out a website.
GO PRO
PRO Portfolio Included for
£45 per year / £4.99 per month
And that’s about it. If you already have a portfolio, go and check if it needs updating. If you don’t — what are you waiting for? Consider this blog post your call to action.
Sources:
Tom Froese. 10 Portfolio Tips for Illustrators
Anoosha Syed. How to Make a Portfolio for Your Art — Tips and Tricks to Get You Hired
