The lack of a portfolio for any freelance expert is unthinkable, how could someone prove his skills and expertise without an online presence showing the previous works, the testimonials from other clients and some amazing personal projects? The power of example is obvious making Cicero, the great Roman speaker to write a famous book called simple, “The power of example.”
The decision of making and launching a portfolio is simple and mandatory, the difficult part is coming when we must build the website, it’s very important and none want to create one that isn’t appreciated by people. Unfortunately, there can be any expert that, by using a mathematical formula to create the most beautiful website. The subjectivity is very high and plays the most important role. This article isn’t written to scary you or to convince that abandoning the launch of a website is a solution. The main purpose is to make anyone think twice when launching a personal portfolio; any mistake means serious brand issues that need many sacrifices to correct. A very handy solution in order to create the portfolio may be the well-known CMS, Word-Press. It’s an awesome entity that, in addition with a smart developer, may launch real masterpieces and it’s a sin not to benefit from it. Hence, everyone must consider two great advantages:
1. There are unlimited Word press solutions
Having a unique Word Press theme for your portfolio is the best solution but, the cost may be prohibitive for some people but there is a solution that is fabulous: buy a Word Press theme that may be easily customized for your needs. I am pretty sure that anyone, no matter how demanding is him, will find barely a bunch of themes that are liked and proper for his kind of portfolio. The market of Word Press themes is increasing both in the number of selling websites and quality of the works. Briefly, my idea is simple: is impossible not to be satisfied with the offer of Theme Forest, Mojo Themes, Elegant Themes to name just few websites where are exposed themes.
2. Easy to use and maintain
Someone very skilled in Word Press said that anyone that knows Microsoft Office is already a decent user of Word Press. One of the most important features of Word Press is the easiness to maintain, there is no need of a developer to keep updated a portfolio, anyone can do it. Besides that, the Internet is full with high quality blogs related to Word Press and anytime when you don’t know how to do, check these, is unlikely not to find the necessary information. These advantages are enormous and quite probable make anyone to consider Word Press as a viable solution. There are three modalities to launch a Word Press portfolio:
- Design and code yourself the portfolio
- Hire someone to create the portfolio
- Buy a theme
It doesn’t require any financial investment but you must be a good designer and coder. It’s cool because you decide, you execute, there is no third party that may intervene.
Being so important, some talented designers preferred to hire other designer to create their own portfolios. Anyway, hiring other people to create your portfolio is a good solution but usually it requires a serious payment (if you need something decent to high standards).
I mentioned previously this case which is very frequent amongst freelancers. Personally, I recommend it mostly for the beginners.
Before effectively selecting one of these modalities is better to pay attention to the next tips, very important in making a successful portfolio and not just a boring and unprofitable website.
3. Think in advance
A portfolio isn’t only a website or an online presence where are uploaded some good works, it’s the one that establishes your online identity and many times is capital in creating an appreciated brand. Accordingly, isn’t enough just to select the best designer or theme. The portfolio must be build on a complete strategy that includes lots of other factors as advertising, the quality of the services, the long term perspectives and so on. Therefore, think in advance and create the portfolio according to the perspectives. Don’t do it just to have a portfolio!
4. Make it appropriate
There are many superb themes or impressive layouts sketched by designers but the no.1 priority must be the matching between the style of it and the field of activity. The administrators of the selling websites understood this problem and classified the themes according the various types of websites and the portfolios, usually, are well done catalogued. You may be totally impressed by a theme mostly for photos showcases, perfect for a photographer but it won’t work for presenting a SEO specialist or a company, no matter how cool it is. I really hope you get the point, you must choose with the mind and not with the heart!
5. Don’t be avaricious
There are many free themes or very cheap designers that are saying that Word Press is their first name but is better to ignore these solutions. When you are creating the portfolio is recommended to invest some money to look serious and not one from a dozen of “others”. You invest, you decide but think of this tip.
In the end, I hope that you enjoyed this post and the tips from here will be useful when you decide to go online and show what you can do. Please consider it as a last tip, but also very important: don’t hurry to launch the portfolio!
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