Creatives need two things to successfully job hunt. The first is, of course, their resume. The second (and more important) is their portfolio. If you don’t have a vibrant portfolio that showcases exactly what you can do, then you’re missing out. There’s only so much you can say in words to convey a fully fleshed-out image or design mock-up, after all.
That’s why digital portfolios are so important, and yet not many creatives have their thriving website to direct potential clients or employers.
If this sounds like you, then it’s time to make a change. There are so many ways that you can easily set up a stunning website portfolio that puts you and your talent at center stage. All you need to get started is to follow this guide:
Pick a CMS
A content management system is how you load up your images, mock-ups, content, and more. It’s also what powers your website. The most popular CMS is also one you’ve likely heard of— WordPress! Now, what’s important here is that there are two WordPress organizations. One is an open-source CMS that you can fully customize to your heart’s content. The other is a website builder. You can use either or, but if you want full creative freedom choose the open-source CMS instead.
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Set up your website
From there, you need a hosting provider and a theme. There are so many stunning themes out there that give you a framework to start your portfolio. The only time you might not want to use a theme is if you, yourself, are a web developer.
Optimize your site
There are two stages to optimizing your site. The first is going through and customizing everything so that it looks and works the way that you want it to, at least visually. This can mean uploading galleries, it can mean adding post texts, videos, and so on, with case studies galore.
The second step is to go through and make sure it’s all optimized for SEO.
SEO today is a great quality assurance checker. This is because Google has extremely high standards today, so to improve your rankings, you need to meet those standards. In the process, all your site visitors benefit.
If you aren’t familiar with either step, then it’s a good idea to consult with a company that specializes in WordPress SEO services. Setting up your site beautifully the first time is how you can work on building up your brand from day one.
See also: Surfer SEO Tool: your go-to solution for SEO optimization
Build up your reputation
Do you know what matters more than great content today? Who wrote it? That’s why once your digital portfolio is launched and out there you are going to want to go through and find every mention of you and your work.
Once you find them, contact the publisher and ask if they wouldn’t mind linking that mention to your website. Many will likely be happy to since it enriches their content.
You’ll also want to work on getting published elsewhere more often. You can guest post yourself on industry-relevant content, or use PR marketing to increase mentions of your brand —with every bit of publicity linking back to your portfolio.
Combined, this is how you increase your visibility, reputation, and the value of your creative skills.
See also: How to create a professional website using WordPress
