Online Portfolios Part 2: Seven Online Portfolio Don’ts

Welcome to Part Two of my series on Online Portfolios. If you missed it, check out Online Portfolios Part 1: Using an Online Portfolio Service. In this article, I discuss seven “don’ts” for online portfolio creation. There are varying opinions on best practices for building portfolios online. I wrote this from personal experience and lots of research. It should serve as a good jumping-off point for anyone interested in showing off their work online.

1. Don’t Get Too Fancy

Yes, if you are a designer, then your website should look cool. However, you can create the coolest flash application ever made, but it won’t do you any good if potential clients don’t feel like downloading the plug-in. You want everyone to be able to see all of your portfolio, so try to keep the coding simple and be sure to check it out in popular browsers. If any piece of your site fails to work in Internet Explorer or Firefox you could lose a lot of business.

2. Don’t Include Ads on your Portfolio Site

I’m a huge fan of monetization, but your online portfolio should be about your business and nothing else. Trying to sell potential clients affiliate products is just plain tacky. Though you might be able to get away with a couple ads for complementary services, Adsense and other contextual advertising should be avoided at all costs. Your portfolio is about making money from your services, not from advertising other people’s products and services.

3. Don’t Let it Get too “Busy”

There are a couple of pieces to this “don’t.” First, don’t overdesign your portfolio site. It should be simple and showcase your work. If you clutter it up with widgets (unless you build widgets!) and curlicues, you run the risk of confusing and overwhelming your prospects. The second piece of this is to keep in mind that you do not need to include all your work on this site. In fact, you shouldn’t. Stick with a few projects (I recommend no more than ten, but closer to five) that are your very best work. Try to show your range and choose projects really let you showcase your voice, your look or whatever that x-factor is that makes your work recognizably yours.

4. Don’t Compliment Yourself, Let Others Do It

It’s perfectly acceptable to include all the necessary information about your product or service. In fact, most creative pieces need at least a bit of explanation to really shine. But once you have explained the concept, the creation or whatever is most important, the best way to showcase your work is to let it speak for itself and let your customers speak for it. Whenever you complete a project, ask your customer for a testimonial. Telling visitors how excellent your work is and how much they will love it is rarely effective. However, showing off your excellent work and having satisfied customers tell visitors how much they love it is one of the most effective marketing strategies.

5. Don’t Just Wing It

Your portfolio is a project like any other, so treat it as such. Don’t just jump in and start uploading some stuff and throw up some text and call it good. Take the time to carefully think about your audience, choose your best stuff and write compelling, useful copy. If you aren’t going to give your portfolio the importance it needs, then you are probably just wasting your time creating one. Plan carefully and keep in mind that potential clients don’t have all day to browse through your work.

6. Don’t Save the Best for Last

People don’t have time. Your portfolio should tell a story, but it should begin in medias res. Potential clients don’t need to see your improvement, they need to see your very best work and the range of that work. If you have twelve projects in your porfolio, but you wait until ten or eleven to show your shining glory, chances are not many people are going to get there. In order to create an excellent portfolio, you need excellent examples.

7. Don’t Forget Your Audience

This should be a gimme, but it can be easily forgotten. If you are a web designer, don’t go on and on about how you use php coding with a backend sql database to populate data fields. Your customers are not likely to know the technical terms involved with your specialty. That is why you are the specialist and they are the customers. As much as you are able, write in easy-to-understand plain English. If you think you might have problems doing this, have a friend or relative outside of your field proofread for you. They’ll be happy to do it and it could make a huge difference to your business.

In today’s competitive, digital market, having a great online portfolio that stands out from the rest is often crucial to your success. Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer or copywriter, having a central site that showcases your best work can mean the difference between success and failure.

What did I miss? I’m sure many of you have online portfolios. How did you go about designing them? Do you actively market it or just use it for people already interested in your work? How has your online portfolio helped your business?

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