How to Build Your Online Portfolio (and no, it’s not just a resume)

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For many professions, an online portfolio has replaced the resume as the best way to showcase your work. And thanks to the miracle of user-friendly technology, there’s no need to pay someone with technical expertise to create one. These days, many services entice users to create their sites free of charge.

“Everybody is developing an online portfolio,” says Debbie Faires, the assistant director for Distance Learning at the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University.

While some sites offer more flexibility than others, the hardest part may be figuring out what to upload before you start.

 “With greater potential for creativity, you also have the responsibility to figure out how you want to organize and present it,” says Faires, who also teaches her students how to create Web sites. 

Showcasing Your Work

“You don’t have to put all your assets on the page,” says Jenna Rose Robbins, a writer, editor and Web consultant based in Southern California. Robbins mentors writers, marketers and photographers on how to create their own online portfolios as part of her Web consulting services.

The company name, contact info and most impressive recent project should be prominently placed, says Robbins.

She recently encouraged a movie public relations person to highlight her biggest movie on the first page, including how much it cost to make and how many people it reached. She showcased other projects via links to other press sites.

Google Sites

For another perspective, check out this director of engineering who used Google Sites to create a no-frills Web site with resume, goals, current project and even press clips. If you don’t need to wow anyone with your artistry, it’s a popular, free, user-friendly service.

Upload content by browsing the files on your computer and clicking on “Upload” (Faires recommends PDFs, a standard file format that can’t be altered). Photos are uploaded similarly by clicking on your text field of choice. You can position them anywhere on the page by clicking and dragging.

Fonts can be changed, but you’re limited to a similar template, white background and table format. Faires prefers services like Weebly, a “drag and drop” interface geared at educators and students that offers more varied design templates.

WordPress

Although primarily considered a tool for bloggers, www.WordPress.com, which hosts blogs such as CNN’s Political Ticker —has many possible uses. Like many services, the basics are free, but more advanced uses aren’t.

A photographer Robbins mentored used WordPress to upload his site, in order to display artistic shots from weddings and other events. Because it’s hosted through a different domain, though, the site has features that don’t come for free, like scrolling Twitter feeds.

“Widgets,” a host of different tools, can be dragged into a side bar in your account, whether to incorporate artistic photos, a video of a performance or your latest Tweets. Someone who wants to provide an overview of their artwork can use WordPress Plugins, which groups images and videos into collections of sub-galleries or sub-albums.

Uploading Images

Photos are typically sized using Photoshop, says Robbins, where you can “save for web” a JPEG, PNG or other file. “Most WordPress templates have a way to display thumbnails. Many widgets auto-resize, including thumbnails, for you,” she says. “For example, in my gallery where I say, ‘Show this image,’ it gives me the option of posting a thumbnail, medium, large or full size [image].”

Thumbnails may function as a navigating tool—a tiny image as a preview that will enlarge when someone clicks on it. When assigning them captions, “don’t say, ‘Click here,’” Faires says. ”Say, ‘See my latest project.’”

Hosting Sites

When your site exists via services like WordPress, you face certain limitations and your site is subject to advertising banners. But you can also pay a minimal fee for a domain hosting service. One benefit is shorter, more professional sounding names. Think: www.jennarobbins.com versus www.jennarobbins.wordpress.com. Just make sure the two are compatible before you start.

Go Daddy

For another easy option, Go Daddy offers free, ad-supported web space with every purchased domain name. “They provide a template, and you dump in the text” like filling in a form, Robbins says.

Think You’re Done?

Before taking the plunge, have someone review your new site. Robbins suggests posting the link on Twitter and asking for feedback. “If you don’t have a good-looking, professional Web site, it’s better not to have one at all,” she says.