Personal Online Portfolio – How to Make It Look Flawless
Are you in the process of building your own personal online portfolio? Do you have any ideas on how to make it attractive and interesting enough for your target audience?
Having a well designed online portfolio can make or un-make your career. In case you are a budding graphic designer, you’d want a personal portfolio that would convince potential clients to hire you. The same goes if you are a writer, photographer, or web developer.
Personal online portfolios not only serve as a vehicle for you to sell your skills or products. You can also use it for educating your audience. For example, you can promote a personal advocacy through your own online portfolio.
Knowing the purpose of your online portfolio is important as it will determine how you’d design your own website. For instance, if you are to promote yourself as a freelancer your portfolio would be dominated by samples of your previous works. In case you are to promote a personal advocacy, then your blog or website would have more content devoted to your cause.
With that in mind, here are some tips to make your personal online portfolio look professional and engaging.
Promote Your Brand
Your name or company is the brand that the online portfolio is promoting. As such, the personal online portfolio you are developing should immediately tell your audience about yourself or the business that you are into.
There are two key things you must be conscious of—the logo and tagline of your online portfolio. You would want the online portfolio to have a logo and tagline so that it would appear professional-looking to its target readers. The logo is the first graphic mark or emblem that your audience will see. Thus it must be placed on the header of the website, preferably on the left side.
Meanwhile, you should also think of a catchy tagline. It must tell your readers what to expect from you. Concise descriptions such as ‘I make eye-catching web designs’ or ‘Experienced SEO Writer’ make good taglines.
Show Your Products and Services
Simply tell the audience the services or products you offer.
Are you into graphics design for print? Do you accept logo design or stationery design? Or are you more into leaflet and flyer designs?
But don’t bore your audience with miles and miles of descriptions. List down your services so that your readers will immediately know what they can expect from you.
In case you are offering products, you would need to put high-resolution images of your stuff. You would also need to put a short description of the items that you are selling.
Leave Your Contact Details
One of the most important facets of a portfolio website that is often neglected by website designers is the contact page. No matter how impressive your portfolio website is, it won’t get the results you want if it does not have any contact information. The contact information page should be very noticeable. You must never hide it in the footer. Your readers must know immediately how they can get touch in you. Some of the best portfolio websites make use of a contact information form that would make it easier for users to get in touch with them. Others have details like phone number, e-mail address and social media accounts prominently displayed on the home page.
Tap Social Networking
Do you know that there are close to a billion Facebook users around the world? And that every month, close to 300 million people are using Twitter? These facts underline the need for you to tap social networking websites so that you can reach out to more potential clients online. You should make it clear on your personal online portfolio that you can be followed by your readers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Flickr. Having social media accounts not only gives you the potential to reach out to as many people as possible.
Another benefit of social networking accounts is that it gives your potential clients an assurance that you are legitimate, meaning you are a real person and that you could be contacted through your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Call to Action
Finally, your website should have a call to action. This simply pertains to what you want your visitors to do next. Do you want them to hire you? Buy your products, or request for a quote? Your personal online portfolio should have a clear call to action. Make sure to use appropriate language like ‘hire me’ or ‘contact me for more details.’
Lastly, remember that since you are developing a personal portfolio, your language and tone must be friendly and casual. You must not sound like one giant corporation. Using friendly and engaging words will make your visitors more likely to get in touch with you and use your services.
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