Building software, painting, making impressive 3D designs, and other artworks are very great skills for anyone.
However, In the mind of every creatives, entrepreneur, tech guy, writer, graphics designer, and co, one question remains at the top of their minds; How to get their product out there in the world? I mean, how do you show people asides from your family members’ of course how good your craft is? And probably gain more clients.
Most times, the difference between a booming and a falling business is the amount of promotion, packaging, and “brand washing” that you provide for that brand. And in this age and time, aides for providing these advanced means of promotion are not lacking at all.
You may probably be worried about the stress, time, and resources it will require to put your business out there to attract more clients. And it may have beguiled you into thinking that it may be an impossible task. Calm your fears, here below, I have gathered the best online platform where you can create your portfolios.
For these online platforms;
- You don’t need to pay (except for premium services)
- You don’t need any line of code
- It is easy to learn and master navigating the platforms
- And you will not be building a new website
Before you continue, one thing you must come to realize is that the internet has become a wide umbrella that supports almost all businesses. If your business is not scalable on the online platform, it may well be on the way to collapse.
Here are the best places to host your crafts and works to reach more clients;
- Shown’d
This is one of the most extensive and biggest portfolio hosting sites on the internet. Asides from the features you get for free, you will also get a watermark tool for your articles, graphics, and other content you post online to prevent property theft.
On this site, enjoy posting your 20 images allowed simultaneously.
- Behance
Imagine how wonderful it is to host your portfolio on a site that acts simultaneously as a social media platform connecting both entrepreneurs and craftsmen. Even clients are not left out of posting job openings and other materials on this site.
Connect that client for your gig using Behance today.
- deviantART
It is only one of the biggest platforms for the art enthusiast. On this site, there over 20 million members with much more content posted on the platform. While many people don’t consider it a portfolio for hosting, it can do much more than that.
- Crevado
You can’t tell anyone you are a graphic lover/designer, and you don’t know Crevado. It offers both free and paid plans to cater to the needs of its million-plus community. You have up to 30 slots for showcasing your images in 5 galleries.
- WordPress
There is no I.T person who will claim they have not heard of WordPress. It is the most popular and one of the biggest website builders in the world. However, what makes this platform special is its exhaustible Plugins that you can customize into different things including a fancy platform.
Divi, Elemntor, WP Bakery are only some of the plugins that can help you customize a beautiful and professional platform.
- JoutrnoPortfolio
Following the name, it seems like a place for writers, journalists, and letter creative. However, visual artists, graphic designers, and some other craft members can advertise their crafts on the platform. It can help you showcase up to ten projects on a sleek, beautiful homepage.
When you subscribe to the paid option, you will get unlimited uploads with the option to add links to the projects.
- Fabrik
A platform once created for London’s film and design industry, it has attracted over one thousand professional illustrators, designers, filmmakers, and more. There are different options you can pick from this platform. There are about 9000 possible layout combinations possible.
- Weebly
With a history that focused on ease for market, functionality, and technology, it is hard to ignore how far Weebly has come over the years. Currently, the platform is exhaustive with contents ranging from eCommerce to design and writing. The SEO functionalities mean that your craft will most likely come up top.
- Adobe Portfolio
Thousands of designers continue to use the extensive platforms offered by Adobe. The Adobe Portfolio aid designers, illustrators, XD, Photoshop, and co to showcase their work. If you are into photography, architecture, and others, Adobe Portfolio will offer you the best portfolio
- UXfiol.io
Those who have analytical skills related to their visual/digital crafts, it may find it difficult to showcase their crafts on other platforms. However, UXfol.io focuses on the skeletal parts of designs, buildings, problem-solving and more.
Overall, it is a great place for UI designers, product managers, and maybe some who still want to showcase a few of their visual design skills.
- Dribble
It could equate the place of social media for an artist; where you mainly showcase your content, craft, images, and other contents including, “works in progress.” You can also get lots of feedback and advice about your work from clients. The platform also makes it easier to download a palette you like for your images.
- Portfoliopen
The free version may limit you to uploading pictures of 10MB, but if you upgrade your plans to the paid subscriptions, you will get extensive disk space. The ads on this platform are reduced to a minimum, and it creates wonderful custom profiles.
- Wix and SquareSpace
I chose to put them together as they fall under the same traditional CMS, basic website builders. You can host a custom website (portfolio) for free in the first year (a great deal), but pay to own your domain name at the end of the free period.
Just like WordPress, they offer great plugins that make either your eCommerce sites, design, architecture, and other portfolios beautiful.
Why is having an online portfolio important?
Your craft deserves to amaze and illumine the whole world. Most people think their craft is “worthless” just because few people show interest in them, but in reality, publicity and location may just be the drag causing it.
Creating a Portfolio for your business will also help you connect easily to like-minded people and similar craftsmen. It also brings about positive change and improvement through criticisms.
Lastly when choosing an online portfolio, do not be scared off by their rates, instead think of the whole gains the network and exposure brings, and consider the best platform for you.
