If you work in a creative field and want to expand business opportunities, you need to showcase your work online. A website portfolio is meant to display this talent and allow viewers to contact you for services. It’s often the only thing a prospect has to make a value judgment about your competence and creativity. Therefore, it’s critical to put your best foot forward and create an online portfolio.
Emphasize Your Work
An online portfolio should display your work and make it the centerpiece of the website. Often, the most effective design strategy is to just keep it simple. This doesn’t mean the site shouldn’t be aesthetically interesting. Rather, the portfolio should complement your work and show your style without being distracting.
You want to make an impression on the viewer as fast as possible with an online portfolio. The average attention span of your viewer is around 8 seconds. Users spend little time on websites that don’t grab their attention. Therefore, high page load speed is critical for your portfolio. To do this, make sure to find the right web hosting service for your site.
If you are showcasing artwork or photography, try to avoid tiny thumbnail images that force the viewer to uncover your work with multiple clicks. These tasks frustrate users and encourage them to leave the site. Sometimes they are necessary because there’s not enough space to contain images. But remember that a balance can be reached between space and image. Strive to present your viewers with a complete view of you talent whenever you can.
Express Your Personality
This site is all about selling you and your talent. Therefore, the user should get a sense of your personal style based on the web design you choose. What is your back story? What makes you different from the countless others in your field? Your portfolio should answer these questions as fast as possible. The longer you leave the potential client guessing, the less of an impression you will make.
Consider Your Audience
Although you want to express your unique perspective, you don’t want to abandon your audience. For many artists, their potential clients are also involved in creative fields. This market generally encourages you to push the envelope with website design. However, if you are trying to appeal to an investment bank or law firm with your portfolio, it may be time to pump the creative breaks and be more conservative. You never want come off as unprofessional to your target audience.
Showcase Recommendations
Testimonials are often overlooked by artists and designers. Some believe that the work should speak for itself. However, prospects often don’t just want the finished product. They want to know that you will be pleasant to work with and meet all deadlines. By displaying recommendations in an online portfolio, you can communicate your personality and work ethic. Potential clients will be more comfortable reaching out to you for business knowing that others have had positive experiences.
Contact
This is one of the most important features of your portfolio. It all goes back to your objective: doing business. Say a prospect client decides they like the work they see in your online portfolio and want to hire you. The worst mistake you can make is to not make your contact information obvious and available. You’ve already hooked them and now there’s no way to real them in! It’s helpful to use a form on your website for prospects to contact you. This eliminates the need for them to seek you out after they leave the site and are no longer engaged in your work.
Creative minds can’t afford not to harness the exposure of the Internet. But you don’t want to put something out there that gives potential clients a bad impression. There are many reasons your website portfolio may suck. It’s critical to understand the faux pas and avoid them at all costs.