The online portfolio is basically a file that brings together all the information and the best work of a professional.
It serves as an introduction to your potential and is an important complement to your . The latter is a textual description of competencies, and the portfolio shows potential clients exactly what you, as a professional, can produce.
People from various professions can create an online portfolio to stand out in the market.
However, the material is more advantageous and essential for those who work in areas such as writing, design, photography and advertising, for example.
Those who are entering the digital market usually have many doubts about this matter and end up getting lost when it comes to mounting the file.
If this is your case, do not stop reading this text, since we are going to show you how to create a complete and efficient online portfolio.
The importance of the portfolio
Most freelancers use the Internet to present and advertise their work.
These actions become an obstacle when people and companies that want to hire someone manage to analyze all the options and find the ideal professional for the service they need.
Also, how will the people they hire know that a professional found on the Internet can actually do something with the quality and detail they need?
After all, training is not always a guarantee of a good job.
Experience and completed projects say a lot about your ability as a professional, especially if your work requires artistic skills, creativity, or fluency in written communication.
The online portfolio then serves to show your potential clients all the value you can provide them.
This is important mainly for freelancers, who rarely have face-to-face contact with clients. Therefore, this resource is the best way to delight clients with the quality of your work.
Online Portfolio Classes
Well, now that you know the importance of having an online portfolio, you need to know the tools that can be used to create it.
A few years ago, it was common for professionals to create physical portfolios, with all their best work printed.
But, as we said before, not everyone meets customers in person, which makes it unnecessary to print so many sheets to store the material in the closet.
If your idea is to attract clients in the virtual environment, the online portfolio is the best option.
In digital format, you can create a PDF file or through online platforms. We will specify below how each of these options works.
It’s hard to find someone who has never opened at least one PDF file.
The format is widely used in documents that cannot be altered by the reader, such as invoices, course completion papers, and contracts.
By creating an online portfolio in programs like Power Point and saving it as a PDF, all the pages are brought together in a single document, making it easy to view your work.
In addition, the file can be sent by email or even by message, since most devices have the necessary resources to open documents in this format.
online platforms
The professional can also create and make available their portfolio on a specific online platform for it.
Platforms, in addition to being spaces to host files, serve as a bridge between professionals and clients, which is why they have been so widely used.
By registering you can see the projects of other people in the area, have inspiring ideas on how to create your online portfolio and, in addition, develop and disseminate what you do for several people at the same time.
Unlike the PDF file, which needs to be sent directly to people, on online platforms the client discovers the professionals through their portfolios and can contact their favorites.
There are several platforms available on the Internet, but these are some of the most popular:
- Behance
- carbonmade
- wix
- wordpress
- Cargo Collective
How to make an attractive portfolio?
Regardless of the type of portfolio you are going to make, you have to pay attention to some details to make it really attractive and captivate more clients.
1. Talk about you
Often the portfolio will be your only opportunity to introduce yourself to the contractor, especially if they don’t ask you to send them your resume.
For this reason, the first part of your portfolio should function as a mini resume, since in this way the client will know your professional career, have access to your contacts and identify your profile.
Speak about yourself in a summarized and objective way, showing the skills you have acquired in your work and academic experiences, if applicable.
Briefly describe the completed projects, your biggest clients, courses and volunteer work you did and any other actions in the area.
2. Make information accessible
In the Internet age, everyone wants to have the opportunity to verify the information found.
That is why we advise you to make sure that the client can access all the data included in your online portfolio.
Contact information must be complete and easily understandable.
Remember that your clients can be anywhere in the world, so you have to put your phones with the codes and prefixes, leave your emails visible in the portfolio and place the links of the most important ones, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, where the person who hires can know more about you and what you do.
On the other hand, if you have works published on blogs or websites, do not forget to add the links so that the client can access them.
3. Promote your best work
If you’re early in your career, you may need to add virtually all of your work to add volume to your online portfolio.
As your experience increases, isolate only the best jobs, that is, those that are most likely to delight your potential client.
If you report all your work in the portfolio, the file can be very large and heavy, making it difficult to view and tiring the reader.
The online portfolio acts as a showcase for your work and in none of them do we put everything that is for sale, right?
The important thing is to attract attention and that people notice the quality of what you do.
4. Organize your portfolio
If the first impression is the one that counts, you can not convey to your potential client a disorganized and confused image, right?
It is essential to leave all the information well organized and sequenced in your portfolio. People have to find everything they are looking for with ease!
Most of the time the person who hires analyzes several portfolios to find the ideal professional. If you are faced with material that is difficult to understand, the chances of eliminating that person before you know their work are enormous.
Choose a standard and use it in all the content of your online portfolio.
Total that, if you have presented the first work in 2 pages, one with images and another with texts, do the same in the next ones. This establishes a method that helps the reader to identify exactly what you mention in each part of your file.
5. Create ghost pieces
If you’re just starting out now and still don’t have any work to put in your portfolio, don’t despair!
It is possible to create an interesting online portfolio, even without having been previously hired. If not, how would beginners get their first customers?
For this, there are ghost pieces, that is, work done for clients that are not real.
It may seem strange at first glance, but this is a common practice among professionals. In the end, the most important thing is that potential clients see your skills, and that can be verified in any project of yours, be it real or just for illustration.
In this case, you can create pieces for a totally fictitious client or for brands that really exist and that are, preferably, known in the market.
Create the material as if you were hired and, in the case of famous brands, use all your potential to create something of equal or higher level than what they usually do.
6. Be original
It seems obvious to talk about originality here, since we are talking about an individual online portfolio.
Unfortunately, however, there are still many professionals who add other people’s work or modify only small details and present them as their own.
To distinguish yourself and put together a really interesting online portfolio, use only your own work and choose those that present what you can do.
If you created something amazing together with a colleague, consider if you would be able to reproduce something similar on your own.
If the answer is no, avoid putting that piece in your portfolio so as not to run the risk of receiving demands that you cannot meet.
Also, put the works that represent your distinctive aspects well in relation to the competitors, so that the client recognizes your originality and value.
If and you know that you stand out in a certain type of work, show it in your portfolio, since it can be the detail that will enhance you at the time of hiring.
Create your portfolio
Surely you have understood why the online portfolio is a key tool for attracting clients, right?
So if you are looking for new opportunities and need to stand out from the competition, follow all our tips to create an attractive material.
Who works primarily as a freelancer should know everything about the subject, because the online portfolio is your opportunity to present yourself, show your strengths and get more and more work.
You are not yet a freelancer, but are you one of those people who dreams of working on your own?
It’s not always easy to make that decision and totally change your career, especially if you don’t know if you have the right profile for that profession.
To get rid of your doubts, access our post and find out if .
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