Portfolio websites are usually considered something meant only for graphic designers, web developers, design studios, artists, photographers, and the likes. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go for a portfolio website to get more clients or job opportunities, regardless of your job or profession, as long as you’ve got something to write home about.

A portfolio website can serve as a resume that will help you stand out of the crowd. A job applicant with his personal website will surely make a much better impression, as compared to someone presenting a typical CV, which are a dime a dozen. Having a portfolio website is one of the most effective ways of presenting and sharing your work samples, skills, and accomplishments. All you need is to share your website with prospective clients and let the website do the job. Not only that, but it will also help you brand yourself and find a better job opportunity.

And if you are thinking that a portfolio website is only for the well-established, veteran professionals then you are quite wide off the mark. Creating a portfolio website and working on your online presence via social networks like LinkedIn is equally important for fresh graduates looking for their first job.

Here’s how to make the most of your portfolio website …

The Appearance:

Appearance includes everything from logo to banner, and the overall design to colors and typography of your website. While it’s great to be a little creative and come up with an original design, however, trying to be overly creative at the expense of the usability, accessibility, or the readability of your website is not going to cut it. For example, creating a website without a header or navigation menu might be a novel idea but your potential employers might not appreciate the time or effort required in navigating through the website, so you should leave such novel ideas for graphic designers.

Talking of graphic designers, if you are looking for some inspiration, you can search for portfolio websites by some of those web designers; no wonder some of the most catchy and impressive looking portfolio websites are by web designers themselves. If you are short on budget, you can create a website yourself while using some of those freely available CMS. If you can invest a little, you can hire some freelance web designer, or simply use one of those premium templates (e.g. MotoCMS Templates).

The Content:

Content is the “meat and potatoes” of a website, be it a portfolio or any other kind of website. For a portfolio website, the main content is of course your qualification, work history, work samples, achievements, and accomplishments. Not to forget the testimonials. For a fresh graduate, it might be difficult to come up with all those achievements or testimonials to impress potential employers, but you can get some endorsements from your teachers. Regardless of the nature or type of your job, you should only present the best of your work, instead of focusing on the quantity, because usually the employers don’t have the time to go through more than 3 – 4 samples.

The Social Aspects:

Talking of the content, it is important to keep your website updated and for that, there’s nothing better than a blog. You don’t necessarily need to produce highest quality content on regular basis. All you need to do is to mix good quality posts on a relevant topic to some personal experiences and day to day activities. Not only the blog will serve as a tool to continuously update your portfolio website, but it will also help you add some social aspect to your website. You can share the good ones at social networks for some free promotion.

The Marketing:

Once you’ve a fully functional website with some content, it’s now time to market or promote your website. You don’t really need to invest your time and resources on conventional marketing techniques like SE optimization, link building, or PPC marketing. However, you should be focusing on social networking and outreach, and for that you will need to produce good quality content. Simply create a profile and spend some time at professional social networks like LinkedIn or Quora, not only you will learn a lot by Interacting with other professionals at these networks, but you will also find a lot of contacts and job opportunities from referrals.