Whether you’re freelancing or you’re on the lookout for a full time job, you will need an awesome portfolio website to up your chances of getting hired. With most headhunters, clients and employers using the internet to search for potential talent to add to their team, building a web presence has become necessary these days.
In this era of intense competition, your website portfolio has to stand out. Your site will represent your brand on the web and you need it to be able to showcase your skills to potential employers. Fortunately, you don’t need high level web development skills to build a website. Strikingly’s free portfolio website builder lowers the barrier to entry for individuals looking to establish a presence on the internet. With this platform, you can get your website up in minutes and with no coding required.
With the technical aspect of website design out of the way, you can now focus on creating content that will market your skills and talents effectively. To start, you need to select from the many portfolio website templates in Strikingly’s library. From there, you will need to get to work on adding your own design elements and content to make your site unique. Here are a few portfolio website examples to help you create awesome pages out of Strikingly’s web templates.
1. Add a custom logo
Logos are not just meant for big brands and small businesses. Even individuals can benefit from a good branding. Your logo can represent your style especially if you are looking to pursue a career in the creative field.
Your logo does not have to be an intricate graphic. Your name, written in a decorative font would do quite well. Emilio Rios, a graphic designer, created a logo out of his own name to make his website look even more professional. This portfolio website example uses the Fresh template to create a clean and modern webpage that displays work samples in a grid layout.
2. Lead with a magnetic headline
You want to attract the user’s attention as soon as he lands on your portfolio website. However, be careful not to rely on a tired cliché and instead come up with your own original tagline that perfectly captures the type of services you offer and your value-add to any company or organization who will hire you.
Inksome Tiny is an art portfolio site that opens with a very interesting tagline to set up the mood for the kind of art that it produces. Using Strikingly’s Showcase template, the site features a minimalistic design with mostly white spaces to draw focus towards the artwork.
3. Clearly list your strengths and skills
It’s important for visitors to be able to find the kind of services that you offer or the skills you’re particularly good at. Your header could provide a quick overview of your value proposition as a professional. Indicate your strengths and how you can be of service to a potential client or company.
Ash Smith’s website provides a clear description of the designer’s expertise and what potential clients can expect from his work. As soon as a user lands on the website, he gets a gist of the kind of projects that he works on along with a powerful CTA inviting clients to collaborate. Ash Smith used Strikingly’s Glow template for a sleek and straightforward design.
4. Explore different ways to present your portfolio
Strikingly’s portfolio website templates provide you with a bit of leeway to present your latest and greatest work efficiently. Explore different layout options and create separate galleries if you have a diverse collection of work that you want to present. Grid-style layouts are always highly recommended especially if you have amassed a large number of successful projects over the years. Just make sure to choose only a handful of them to highlight so as to not overwhelm your clients. If you’re a web designer or a graphic artist, you might also want to take a leaf out of Galu Design’s book and present your work as clickable thumbnails and GIFs to direct users to the actual sites that you have worked on.
Transform a portfolio template into your own awesome website today.
