Make your online portfolio website to showcase, share, and sell your work online. Grow your creative business with Pixpa's easy and affordable website builder for photographers, artists, designers, fashion models, and creators. This guide explains everything you need to know to make your online portfolio website.
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An online portfolio website is a must-have for photographers and creative pros to market themselves and grow their business. Whether you want to land a new job or get new clients, a professional online portfolio website showcasing your best work is the most vital tool to have in your arsenal.
In the old days, creators carried a physical portfolio into job interviews or client meetings. Online portfolio websites are just the modern equivalent. A responsive portfolio website could help you showcase your skills and talent and curate your best work to show potential clients.
Photographers and creators looking to grow their business need to build a strong online presence with a well designed professional portfolio website.
Photographers need to create stunning professional online portfolio websites to showcase, sell and share their work online. They need to make a lasting impression with their photography portfolio, convert visitors to clients, sell images as prints or digital downloads and grow their photography business online. Check out these examples of best photography portfolios.
Videographers and filmmakers need professional portfolios, as do graphic designers, models, dancers, fashion designers, and even digital UI/UX designers. Check out these examples of best graphic design portfolios.
Get inspired by photographers and creators around the world and build your beautiful online portfolio website with Pixpa.
The process of creating a successful online portfolio website requires inspiration, imagination, curation, and flawless execution. Here are ten expert tips (plus a bonus tip) to guide you in making an online portfolio website that would make you proud.
TIP 1
Like any project, your online portfolio needs a clear-cut set of goals. Once you know what you want to do with your online portfolio, you can start laying out the actions that you need to take to achieve those goals.
Remember, as creators, your portfolio is your first best impression to the world. They're used in all sorts of ways, and they reach all kinds of different audiences. Your online portfolio website might be seen by potential employers or by future clients.
Approach your online portfolio as if it were a big project for a client. Create a brief, have a clear goal, and know why you are making it when you go in.
This is all about your mindset; it's what sets you apart as a creative professional. If you want to do work for other people, start by showing you can work for yourself.
TIP 2
Many creators try to say too much with their online portfolio websites. A vital element of the creation process is picking out exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it.
Start with a big-picture idea of what you want to communicate and what you want the world to know about you. Always ask yourself, does this help communicate my vision? If an artwork or image doesn't help tell that story, then it should not be included.
The critical elements of this strategy include a clear idea of who you're marketing to and the best ways to go about it. Going forward with your planning, you'll now have a clear picture of what your target audience looks like and be more able to speak directly to them. Get inspiration from these online portfolio examples..
Some portfolios aren't set up for potential clients or employers in mind, as the creators want to share their work, receive feedback from their peers, or show friends and family.
You can also use your portfolio website for building your reputation in a particular area or for general networking with other people interested in what you do.
TIP 3
The first step into making your online portfolio website look like your own is to define the look and feel of your site carefully. The online portfolio template you pick will have a lot to do with the works you want to highlight.
If there's one crucial thing to keep in mind when choosing a template, it's that less is more. Look for portfolio templates that will adapt and grow with your requirements and will be easy to update later. The best ones leave you feeling like there's no other template in the world that would work with your art.
TIP 4
Once you know what you are marketing and who your target audience is, it's time to put together your pitch. Your pitch is made up of a small collection of the best work on your online portfolio website. You have to go through your work while pretending to be the audience – it's not an easy task.
Always ask yourself, does this piece help tell the story I want to tell, and does it help me achieve my website's goals? If you do use something that's a few years old, make sure that it still visually matches your style now. If you're a photographer and are now using newer editing techniques, go back to the original file and update it. You want all of the images in your gallery to have the same look and feel.
TIP 5
Originality is essential in the creative process, but it shouldn't override the best practices in web design. Make sure users from all backgrounds can intuitively navigate and use your website. Your portfolio needs to work flawlessly and load quickly on all mobile and desktop devices. Focus on the user experience by providing intuitive website navigation and design.
Don't get too fancy. We all want our work to stand out among the crowd, but making an overloaded website with many animations and crazy artwork probably isn't the best way to do it. Use white space to balance busy parts of the page. The goal should always be to make a clean, easy-to-understand website.
TIP 6
Start with the basics – your domain name and your brand logo. You can purchase your custom domain name for a few dollars a year, and the amount of authority it would add to your marketing is worth every penny. You should make sure that you use your custom domain name with your website. For example - DrewHastingsPhotography.com looks a lot more professional than blogs.google.com/drewphotos.
In addition to the domain name, having a well-designed logo representing you as a brand goes a long way in establishing you as a professional and improving your credibility.
TIP 7
Go beyond just showcasing your work and let your viewers in on your creative process. Doing so will undoubtedly show them the person behind the work, but more importantly, it will demonstrate how you complete real-world projects.
Think of it from the perspective of a potential client who has gone through several portfolios. How are they going to choose who to hire? They're going to go with what they think can do the best, most professional job for them. You can build their trust and confidence to show them exactly what the process will look like. Videos or tutorials are great ways to show this, as are blog posts that break down a specific client project.
The goal is to walk your audience through the process. Show that you can respond to briefs, receive feedback, and perform revisions. This shows a level of professionalism and that you will put time and consideration into their project, which is music to their ears.
TIP 8
Online portfolios are not just for showcasing your work. As a creative professional, your online portfolio website represents you and your personality. Getting the tone and vibe right should be a significant consideration while creating an online website. You have to strike the right balance so that your website visitors can connect and appreciate not just your work but connect with you at a personal level as well. You also have to project yourself as a professional who can be trusted to do the job on time and within budget.
Tell your story. Show the person behind the work. The most important parts of landing a job/client are soft people skills. Show a little bit of your fun side in your portfolio, just enough to communicate that there's a real person behind the scenes making all of this fantastic work.
Adding an About page and a blog to your website is a great idea. Make it easy for clients to contact you from your website. There should always be some form of a call to action included on a great sales page. If you apply this to your portfolio, what would your call to action be? Do you want interested parties to email you, call you or follow you on a specific social media channel? Include that in a creative and catchy way and make it easy for them to do it.
TIP 9
To the extent that your portfolio website site is a marketing tool, make sure you follow through and get it out there. Several creative portfolios are designed to generate sales leads and build up some brand recognition for the creator. Make sure you're giving out your web address at every opportunity. Include it on your social media account profiles. If you actively post in forums, make sure your signature line includes your site. Put it in your emails and on your business cards. Make it your mission to get everyone to go to your site.
TIP 10
If that's the case, you want your site to rank well on search engines. All text on your online portfolio should be optimized for search engines. You should do some research and figure out which keywords you want to rank well for. Of course, your portfolio isn't straight going to rank in the top five for "photographer." But if you can narrow it down and find your niche, you could quickly become the top hit for "beach wedding photographer Naples, Florida."
Adding a blog to your online portfolio website is an excellent way to improve your search engine rankings. It adds value for your clients and shows your personality as an individual behind your work. Blogs can include all sorts of long-form keywords and help you rank better on search engines.
Bonus Tip
Don't let your portfolio get stagnant. As a creative professional, there is an expectation that you must have a steady stream of unique projects to use in your online portfolio website. So you've got to keep new projects flowing on your social media pages. If you have a blog on your website, it's the easiest way to add new content regularly. It's a lot of work, but that level of dedication will help your clients and potential clients know that you're serious.
Pixpa's fully customizable, responsive templates are designed to meet your professional needs. Add stunning galleries, videos, forms, and pages to structure your online portfolio website the way you want. You can change your online portfolio template anytime to refresh your website.
There are many ways to create creative online portfolios, and all of them come with advantages and disadvantages. You can make your custom-code your website from scratch or use do-it-yourself website builders. There are plenty of website builders that are designed to make the process of creating a great-looking portfolio website easy without needing any coding knowledge. Ensure that the website builder platform you choose has all the features you need to showcase your skills and talent.
Pixpa's all-in-one professional portfolio website builder makes photographers and creators feel right at home. Start with beautiful templates that you can completely customize to match your style and requirements. Showcase, sell, and share your work online easily, with a built-in store, blog, and client galleries. See all features that allow you to build and manage your professional website with Pixpa without coding knowledge.
1. Pick your website template
Choose from professional, responsive templates tailored to meet your requirements. Customise all visual elements easily to create your unique style.
2. Add your content
Add pages to your website menu using Pixpa’s drag-and-drop website builder. No coding required.
3. Add the features you need
Expand your website’s capabilities. Add an online store, start a blog, use client galleries, and do much more.
4. Promote your website
Use Pixpa’s built-in SEO, marketing and social tools to grow your traffic and convert visitors to customers.
Your online portfolio website is the single most powerful professional tool in your arsenal. Your resume can only do so much for you. After all, it can list your professional qualifications and experience but your portfolio website can show people what you are truly capable of through work samples and pictures. Your online portfolio website is also an excellent way of marketing yourself and expanding your network.
Yes! In many fields, especially creative professions, an online portfolio is not only advantageous but practically mandatory when searching for a new job. Unlike a resume which simply lists out your qualifications, your portfolio provides concrete, visible evidence of what you have achieved and what kind of work you are truly capable of. Your online portfolio is the x-factor you need for any job search.
Requirements differ from profession to profession and field to field and there are no hard and fast rules. However, there are some basic requirements. Your online portfolio website should always contain a beautiful landing page to ensure a good first impression, an ‘about’ page where you can introduce yourself and provide a short bio on your personal, professional and educational background, your resume, your best curated work and a contact form.
You can start building your online portfolio website with Pixpa’s 15-day full featured trial for free. No credit card required for sign up. Pixpa’s all-inclusive subscription plans start from as little as $7/month with no hidden costs. All plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee and offer unlimited bandwidth, SSL certificates and 24/7 support.
It is important to host your website with a service that provides good bandwidth and security to ensure fast loading times and protection from cyber attacks. You will also need adequate cloudspace for uploading pictures, videos and work samples. Pixpa’s scalable, global cloud infrastructure powered by AWS and selected cloud partners, will ensure you get all of these features and more. All Pixpa websites are secured with 256 bit SSL certificates and provide ample storage facilities for your files and pictures
The easiest and most cost-efficient way of promoting your website is through search engine optimization (SEO). Through Pixpa’s built-in SEO manager you can make your website rank higher on Google search results and gain more organic traffic. You can also use social media integration features to share content from your portfolio website directly through social media channels.
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