WixHaving a sharp online presence is vital for getting the clients you want. A great way to do this is by creating a professional Wix portfolio that showcases you at your very best. Your portfolio should be the foundation of your branding efforts and give potential clients a look at what you can create together. Wix is home to over 160 million creators, innovators and businesses building a name for themselves online. With the right set of tools (and a great blog article), you can shatter creative boundaries and build a successful online portfolio.
1. Start with a professional template
You’ll need a canvas to share the projects your proud of. Wix has plenty of options with over 500 fully customizable templates to choose from. Pick a portfolio template designed with the pages, features, and layout you’ll need. Personalize it as much as you want and continue adding and re-imagining as you book more jobs. There is always the option to start from scratch if you want to show-off your technical skills. Before you dive in ask yourself what do I want my portfolio say about me?
2. Build your brand
Branding is all about professionalism and building a reputation for your freelance business. According to Forbes, Personal branding is a way of establishing and consistently reinforcing who you are and what you stand for in your career and life.
A memorable name with a positive vibe is important, so people can find you through search engines like Google. Choose a straightforward brand name for potential clients to understand what your offering. It can be your name or your initials with a taste of what you do, simplicity is key here.
After picking a name (and matching domain), it’s time to add the professional touches. You’ll need to stand out among the noise online, but at the same time keep your branding on point and uniform. Meaning your logo, fonts, color palette, images and all the other elements of your business should convey the same message to potential clients. Also, make sure to follow through on social media and anywhere else you promote your brand to tie it all together.
3. Showcase your work
Here is where you can tell your story and add the essence of your brand to your portfolio. Think about the content you want to include and decide the best way to organize it. You can add as many pages as you want, but here are the ones we recommend you start with:
Your Homepage is the very first thing people will see when they come to your portfolio site, so you need to make it pop. Here is your chance to show potential clients who you are and what you do, with images and text. Both are important to set the tone for the rest of your site. Keep in mind that the text can help you secure a good Google ranking so make sure its sharp and to the point.
Highlight your best work with a Projects page. You can show your professionalism here by adding your best work plus a list of respected clients you’ve worked with. The Wix Pro Gallery is a great tool to bring your projects to life.
The About page is all about Y-O-U. Here you can present your strengths, provide essential info about your experience and summarize your unique abilities, work ethic and why clients love working with you.
Add a Contact page to book jobs. After you’ve amazed potential clients with your portfolio site, make sure they can contact you. Add a contact form, your email, phone number, social links and any other way they can easily get it touch with you.
If you want to add extra pages to display some of your other talents, feel free. Some suggestions would be testimonials, FAQ, blog, online store or bookings pages. Whatever you decide to add, make sure it ties your brand together nicely to keep the professional look and feel alive.
4. Stand out with powerful design features
Show that you’re on top of your visual game by making your portfolio site truly unique. Think about which cool design features you want to highlight your content and decide which ones to add to your site. Some examples include: hover effects, customized grids, parallax scrolling and animation. Consider how each effect will look to a first-time visitor and what purpose it serves. Wix has many design features that are just waiting for you to personalize.
5. Grow your business with the right tools
As a freelancer, you’re probably used to doing everything yourself. Your portfolio site can help you with turning your one man show into a full fledged business. Wix offers a handy set of tools to simplify marketing and customer management for your budding business. Customers can schedule appointments or classes with Wix Bookings.
You can also connect with your customers, automate your work and get a personalized SEO plan with Ascend by Wix. Your website comes with a free Ascend plan that includes live chat and a monthly quota of email campaigns and social posts. Using Ascend from your site dashboard you can upload your contacts, send unlimited invoices and so much more.
Check, Share & Update
Before going live, share your portfolio site with your network of friends and colleagues. You don’t need to take every suggestion they make, but it’s always good to have a second set of eyes to check your work. Once your site is exactly the way you want, share it everywhere you can—social media, email campaigns and platforms for freelancers, hello Twine.
After you’ve got the word out about your killer new portfolio, remember to do maintenance checks every once and a while to add new content and feature updates that keep your site fresh and in the now.
We’re excited to see what you create! Now get ready for the job offers to come pouring in. Good luck 🙂
Wondershare
Michelle Payne
WordPress.com
