People decide whether to use your services based on previous work you’ve done. You might be wondering the best ways to showcase your firm’s portfolio on the web. Figuring out what to include and how to present it might mean the difference between landing a new client and losing them to a competitor.
According to Internet Live Stats, there are 1.85 billion websites online, but about 75% are inactive. Even factoring in only live sites, you’re looking at 460,00 million vying for user attention. Not all are your direct competitors, but they are still a distraction. You must grab leads’ attention and keep it on your work.
Fortunately, you can build a strong portfolio website. Here are the steps to ensure you meet user expectations and highlight why you’re the best choice.
1. Know Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
What is the advantage of choosing your firm over others in the same category? Take the time to figure out what other companies claim their UVP is. You should come up with something you do that is different or better than the competition.
Made by Vadim specializes in UI/UX animation. The art director knows this is his strength, so he adds it to his tag line and puts it on the landing page. To show he is the best choice in this category, he mentions his awards and that he judges for another competition.
2. Vary Your Highlights
It’s difficult to know what to include in an online portfolio. Do you only showcase your best work or should you vary the type of examples?
Since your site visitors may seek different types of services from your company, you’ll want to include case studies showing the expanse of your capabilities. Choose only the best images and most successful jobs.
3. List Your Services
Don’t make site visitors guess what you can do for them. Create a list of your services and share them via a dropdown menu or grid system. You may want to separate them into categories if you offer a lot of different options.
For example, if you serve both consumers and businesses, you could separate the two to better funnel your leads to the appropriate details.
The Anstadt Company offers creative design services. They use one of their portfolio pages to highlight a case study. They created admissions box kits for Elizabethtown College. The design won the 2020 Graphic Arts Association’s Neographics Best of Category Award for presentation kits.
4. Make Contact Info Easy to Find
If you were thinking about doing business with a company, you’d want to know you could reach a real human if you had issues or questions. Make your contact information easy to find. Place a link within the navigation bar. The expected location is to the far right.
You should also list your contact info in the footer. Some sites include a toll-free number near the top of the page and a live chat option.
People have no reason to trust you’ll follow through on your promises. They may not have heard of you before visiting your page. However, if they see you are easy to reach, they’ll be more likely to give you a chance. Clear contact info adds a trust factor for consumers.
5. Add Testimonials
People tend to trust the reviews of their peers far more than anything you can say about your own work. Collect testimonials from happy clients and share them on your portfolio pages. Find out how your work helped your clients’ businesses grow.
Greiner Construction highlights client testimonials. Note how they vary the different types of work they do, showing they are great at installing finish work, redeveloping areas of the city and building custom designs.
6. Perfect Your About Page
Much of your firm’s work is about the personalities behind the brand. Take the time to tell your story via an About page. Share the reasons you started the company in the first place and what your goal is for future growth.
Your story should include significant obstacles and how you overcame them. Take the same tone as you do on the rest of your website.
7. Use 360-Degree Views
If you want to highlight your best work, you need to show it in a way that gives the user a 360-degree view. Make it feel as though they are there in front of the item. If you design a promotional flyer, take images from different angles. If you built a tiny home, take a video and show the different features as though the person walks through the location.
Think about the different senses you can involve. Share the color, sound, smell and feel of the item through your descriptions. The more you bring your featured projects to life, the more of a feel potential clients have for the type of work you do.
Update Your Portfolio Regularly
Every firm starts with a certain set of skills and builds on them over time. A project finished today is likely much better than one you finished last year. Update your portfolio every few months to include your most recent and best projects.
Add pages showing off new skills you’ve learned or large corporate clients you’ve landed. Think about what you’d want to know before hiring your firm to do work. Answer those questions via your portfolio pages and you’ll see conversions increase.
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a digital marketing agency before becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philly with her husband and pup, Bear.
