Making Your Online Portfolio Stand Out

My blog is a lot like a patchwork quilt. A little bit of writing skill here, some expertise there, and a stitch of what things interest me. It is designed to be both a form of self-expression and a portfolio, which makes it difficult to hone down exactly what I’m doing. Chances are, I fall into the huge category of young professionals trying to differentiate themselves from the competition by taking an active role in their web presences.

An online portfolio shouldn’t be dry or boring or cookie-cutter. It should pop and really speak to your strengths and personality. Over the past week, I’ve been reading about how you can make your portfolio stand out and here are some of the tips I found most helpful:

1.) Give Your Portfolio a Human Side: a short bio of who you are, what you like, what you’re interested in, and what you’ve accomplished gives a prospective employer or client more information about you. They get a feel for who you are and what you might be like to work with. Plus, it shows you’re not just another producer of bland content.

2.) Pay Attention to Design: this is especially critical for those looking to enter an artistic or visually-driven industry. Having a killer design captures your audience and gives your portfolio a chance at standing out from the crowd. Plus, it’s another way to express your personality and reinforce personal branding.

3.) Clear, Crisp, Concise: we don’t want to be bogged down with a lengthy tale of your career history. Short, sweet, and to the point information will get your point across quickly to a prospective employer or client without making anyone feel agitated in the process. Slim and trim your paragraphs. Write actively. Keep the reader engaged and make sure your resume, case studies, or project descriptions are clean and neat.

4.) Make it Available: this is one of the biggest mistakes people make when they put a portfolio online. Either they put it in a place where it can’t easily be found or they make it difficult to share, save, or email. Make sure that your online portfolio or resume is saved in a PDF format (it’s pretty universal) and can be downloaded easily. Also, you may want to think about adding a share button so that it’s easy to email or post.

Try adding a link to your portfolio on social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Brazen Careerist. You can also create a button for your blog so that prospective employers and clients can find your stuff and access it easily.

5.) Show Off Your Skills: Be sure to provide a body of work that displays your talents and really speaks to your abilities. Don’t just put in one or two samples of work in the same field or genre. Try to tailor your porfolio to a specific career goal, or go all out and show a little bit of what you’re capable of. As always, only put in your best work.

However, if you’re looking for another way to be creative, try writing a blog post that features some of your not-so-best work and discuss what you learned from the experience and what you’ll do better next time. This can be a great way to show an employer that you’ve got some mad critical thinking skills and that you care about improving.

What are your favorite portfolio tips?

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