Your Portfolio Speaks Volumes
The Importance of Portfolios
It is important, for small businesses in particular, to portray their portfolios to impress their website visitors and prospective clients. Portfolios are especially important for contractors, web designers and artists, and are an ideal tool for them to display the quality of their work. A portfolio should include examples of your best work, the work you are proud of, and the work that best demonstrates your skills.
What to Include
A great portfolio can transform website visitors into clients but you need to ensure that you only showcase your best work.
Before you start
Think about how you can answer your visitors’ questions.
Your online portfolio could be a blog or a website but either way, what you need to remember is that it should always answer the questions your potential clients are likely to have.
Your online portfolio is an important tool for people who are looking to hire specific services – they will want to check you out before making contact.
It’s also important that your site accurately represents what you’re offering because you may not necessarily have a tangible product to sell - it is therefore difficult to show clients what they’re paying for in advance. If your clients are not impressed by your online presence, they won’t bother to make contact to make that initial enquiry.
The aim of your Portfolio
Your portfolio’s job is to impress and persuade potential clients. Simplicity is the key – people need to know why they should hire you over and above someone else, so if your portfolio is well laid out, clear and impactful, it will tell them what they want to know within seconds.
What to show
Think from your ideal client’s point of view and ask yourself what that person is going to be interested in seeing. You can then decide which of your work you want to display within your portfolio.
Choose a maximum of ten items to display. It can be very tempting to include all the work you have done but in reality people are only going to have the time to view between five and ten before moving on to view something else.
Case Studies
Within your Portfolio, you should turn each project into a case study – detailing the client brief and how you created and fulfilled the project.
Each project should include a list of your skills and how they can be utilised. It’s valuable to include client testimonials because, like your portfolio, these are very powerful in underlining your skills and value from others points of view.
Use items that made you feel excited - this way your enthusiasm will shine through when discussing your portfolio with potential clients.
A good way to build your reputation is to attach your portfolio to your blog – a simple way of giving your visitors the information they need to get to know the style and quality of your work.
Multiple Portfolios
If you work within more than one market, it’s an idea to create different portfolios, each representing an area of your work. You will automatically know which portfolio is the best fit for the specific area of expertise you want to portray.
Give your visitors the answer they are looking for, as simply as you can, and remember, only the best will do!
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Why an Online Marketing Strategy is important when planning a website
You have decided you need a website and you want as many visitors as possible - but where to start?
Arrange to meet your marketing people, or, if you don't have marketing people, re-visit your marketing plan. Your online marketing strategy should form part of your overall marketing plan, so if you haven't included it, that is a good place to start.
Consider the message you are trying to get across. For example, do you sell quality sportswear with the emphasis on "quality"? If so, you will want to think about your objectives and the content you need to produce to ensure your website is going to attract more visitors who are looking for quality (rather than quantity).
In addition to your website, an online Marketing Strategy encompasses:
• Blog Articles (your very own opportunity to prove your expertise in your field)
• Social media (Twitter, Linked-In, Facebook, etc)
• Links
Here are some important factors to consider when planning your website:
1. Time
Some people think either that a website takes a couple of days to build WRONG or that it can take for as long as 12 months WRONG AGAIN!
It only takes a long time to complete a website when decisions are delayed. A successful website requires proper planning and this all takes time, but certainly not as long as 12 months.
To assist in the process, you need to:
- Be available to explain clearly exactly what you have in mind to your web designer (and don't be afraid to ask questions)
- Respond with quick decisions if queries crop up along the way
- Make it easy and straightforward for your web-designer to be able to update your site as you add to your services or product ranges
2. Your niche market
Before you start you need to really think about what it is you offer that makes your clients buy from you. List these positives as bullet points and build on them to create your site.
Don't forget that your website is your opportunity to show off your talents within a portfolio by showcasing examples of your work or products which are backed up by testimonials from clients.
3. Blog Posts
By writing blog articles incorporating some keywords which are relevant to your website, you will be able to hold the interest of readers and entice them to read more about you and your products and services on your website. Visitors who have read your blog and then come to your website, are considered warm leads which are already presold and will more than likely convert into leads and either purchase your product or will get in touch with you.
A blog will also help your search engine optimisation and search engine ranking as every blog post creates a new page which is full of keywords.
4. Social Media
It doesn't stop there! You need to think about which social media networks are appropriate for you and your business. Twitter is a great way to share knowledge by providing others with recommendations and links to useful websites. Linked-In is a great tool for connecting with like-minded professionals whilst Facebook might be totally inappropriate for your business. There might also be social media networks that are relevant for your industry and it could be worth joining them, so do some research.
After your website is live, updating your social media with tweets and useful comments (schedule these in your calendar if you don't already) will encourage people to read your blog which, in turn, will get people interested in your website where you can really show them what you and your business are about by show-casing your work and testimonials.
5. Links
Once your website has gone live, you can list it on some of the many online directories and business sites. The more links you have coming in to your website the better. However, don't be tempted to provide links to other websites unless they are important to your site and add value to your overall strategy.
To ensure you remain popular online it really is crucial these days to continually provide useful and interesting articles and blogs for your readers and website visitors.
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