Importance of a Portfolio
Portfolio. The word sometimes lingers in one’s mind, but usually is associated with artwork, or a collection of works from your high school English class. But really, an online portfolio (whether it’s only artwork/graphics or programming) is very important when trying to find interested clients.
Generally, most people can only establish their names by doing quality work at a great price (or in a few cases, great work and advertising at a high price pays off too – but those are the few giants of the web today). Word of mouth is good, but when you have a website, you should be showing off more than that to your potential clients. When a client visits your site (no matter which way – browsing, by accident, referal, etc.) their first opinion is your site itself. From there, they are looking for a giant link or button that says “Portfolio.”
When the user goes to this link, they don’t want to see just links, but they want a thumbnail shot of what to expect, a link to a working example, and a description of the purpose of the work. Now I know I do not have all of those things right now (just yet, anyway), but they are well worth it. Since most users see other works I’ve done (and after speaking to me on MSN) they are always satisfied with what I have to offer, but I am working on my designing skills and a portfolio script which I shall be launching very soon so I can practice what I preach.
So now that everyone understands that a portfolio should be more than just a collection of works you done, everyone can start really presenting themselves effectively. Like I said, soon I will be finishing my portfolio script and perhaps releasing it to the public, so if you are unsure about how to get yours started, that may be a great starting point for you!
Regards,
Dennis M.