#1. Be Seen:
No matter what industry you are in, others will want to see the kind of work that you want to offer. Others will want to be inspired; maybe they are looking for somebody like yourself to hire or trying to find work like yours in order to purchase it. The long and short of it is that your portfolio site provides others with a gateway into your world and allows you to easily showcase your best work to the people to whom it means the most. If you don’t put your work out there, then nobody will be able to see it, or your ideas.
#2. Be Heard:
In addition to showcasing your best work and most successful projects, you can use your online portfolio to keep up to date in your industry and get your ideas and opinions out there. Using a blog gives you the opportunity to showcase your expertise and knowledge in your industry, which is essential for impressing, particularly if you’re looking to get hired. Providing interesting, unique and informational content can go a long way, no matter what you are trying to achieve with your portfolio.
#3. Learn:
In addition to spreading the word about the services that you provide or the products that you produce, an online portfolio and blog will enable you to continuously learn new things and evolve in your career. Blogging itself often requires a lot of research to make sure that you are placing the right facts in front of people, which in turn can expand your own knowledge base and improve your expertise in your field. Managing your online portfolio and blog can help you to become a more powerful, self-directed learner, and this could even become a topic which you write about and share with your visitors. As a result, your learning can easily become a searchable thing; you’ll no longer need to rely on your memories.
#4. Build Credibility:
One of the main reasons to consider putting together your online portfolio is to enable you to build credibility in your industry. A portfolio will help you to expand your presence which, in turn, allows you to become known by others. The more familiar people are with you, your work, and what you are about, the more likely you are to build a strong standing within your industry and community. Naturally, others are going to place more trust in somebody who has been able to showcase what they have done so far and followed through on their promises to deliver. Not only that, but they are more likely to trust you if you can demonstrate that you are an expert in your field and have the content to back that up.
#5. Build a Following:
In certain industries, such as art or modelling, for example, building a large following can only be a good thing for you, since it gets your name out there in the industry and enables you to become more well-known by those who are able to provide you with work, connect you to industry experts, or buy your products and services. Perhaps your aim is to be hired for your dream job, or perhaps your most avid blog reader will be able to make this dream come true or put you in touch with somebody else who can. Your following will also be able to vouch for you and your skills and expertise, whilst sharing it with others on their Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles.
#6. Create Community Discussion:
Creating a community may sound similar to building a following, but the difference here is encouraging a dialogue between yourself and your followers. When you achieve this, your followers are no longer simply passive consumers of your work and thoughts; they are active participants who can provide you with feedback, ideas, and opinions to shape the work that you do in the future. This develops a ‘two heads are better than one’ scenario, helping to provide you with fresh ideas that you may not have considered in the future, and it helps to evolve your thinking. When your topics and blog posts are becoming a topic of discussion, you know that your following has been taken to a new level.
#7. Market Your Skills:
Developing your own portfolio website means that you are provided with a place where you can market your best skills and control exactly how others see you in a creative or professional setting. You are given the ability to showcase your best work; putting your best foot forward on your website and own your skills. If you are a writer or a manager, for example, then your blog and written work are going to be one of the best places to showcase these skills. On the other hand, artists and creative types such as designers should focus on channeling their skills to create something creative; a visual portfolio can be an extremely strong tool for showing off what you can do. Your portfolio will also create a base which you can use to share your work on social media, where it can be put in front of an even larger audience.
#8. Protect Yourself:
Last but not least, starting a portfolio website to showcase your work can become an essential tool for protecting your rights to the projects that you have worked on and created. It will become more difficult for others to steal your work, use it without permission, or pass it off as their own. Securing rights to your own work is easy enough and putting it all together into a portfolio site means that you can start using it straight away to hunt for jobs or find new clients. Just as it’s important to make regular updates to your resume, it’s vital to keep your portfolio well-maintained and up to date with all your latest accomplishments. It’s a wise idea to set aside a few hours or days per month to work on your portfolio, and organise and edit new projects to showcase. It doesn’t have to take a long time and can provide you with incredible security for your career whilst opening up new opportunities for the future.
Whether you’re pursuing a professional or creative career, creating an online portfolio is one of the best ways to put your best work in front of the right people.