For web designers and web developers (as well as other professionals, such as photographers) the portfolio website is one of the most important assets. In many cases the portfolio site will be a leading source of inquiries from potential clients, and it is the best way to showcase your work to anyone who is interested.

Although the importance of the portfolio site is obvious, having an effective one requires that people actually see it. Having a great portfolio is one thing, but getting it seen is another. There are so many designers out there that competition is very stiff and without marketing your site it is likely to get very little attention.

In this article we will discuss some of the basic things that you can do to get more eyeballs on your portfolio site, and ultimately more business.

1. Build a Search Engine-Friendly Site

Search engine optimization is a very large topic that involves a lot of different aspects. The structure of the site itself is just one aspect, but it is an important foundation. You can give your portfolio site a chance to get decent rankings by making it easy for search engines to crawl the site and determine what it is about.

To make your site search friendly, use valid code that is clean and well-organized. This includes proper use of headings, and choosing not to do anything that will trick search engines or make it difficult for them to crawl your site.

2. Use Effective Page Title that Include Your Keywords

One of the most important factors for search engine rankings is the page title, so give plenty of attention to the titles that you use. Think about what people will be searching for and what will help them to find you.

Since there are so many sites out there already that are about web design-related topics, it’s best to pick more specific phrases that can narrow down the amount of competition you have and increase your chances of ranking high.

Consider specific words and phrases such as “e-commerce web design.” This is descriptive of the services provided but will eliminate a lot of competition as compared to more general keywords, meaning you will have a better chance for a good ranking.

3. Don’t Forget About Localities

One way to make your website stand out is to optimize it for local searches. For example, instead of targeting the phrase “web designer,” try targeting “Philadelphia web designer.” This will drastically decrease the competition that you have for search rankings and it is something that local clients would actually search for.

4. Build Links

Probably the single-most important factor for achieving great search engine rankings is getting links from other websites. Getting links is like getting votes from other sites. As more sites (and high-quality sites) link to you, the search engines will give more authority to your site and ranking well should not be a problem.

Link building is critical if you want to have a portfolio site that pulls in a lot of search traffic. Here are some things you can do to get links from other sites.

Start a blog – Putting a blog on your domain is a very effective way to start getting links. Bloggers link to other bloggers quite frequently, so blogging and getting connected will certainly help here.

Market your site and blog via social media – SMM is a great way to get links. Articles that draw a lot of attention from social media users will generally get a lot of links.

Exchange links – You can make an agreement with other website owners and bloggers to link to each other.

Web design galleries – There are tons of sites out there that exist for the purpose of displaying the best web design work from various designers. If your site is good enough you can get featured in a lot of galleries and build links this way.

5. Design a Beautiful Site

In order to get your portfolio site accepted at design galleries it will need to be of very high quality. When designing and developing your portfolio site don’t rush and lose quality. Take the time to make it the best that you are capable of.

6. Consider Giving Away Freebies

One popular way for designers and design bloggers to gain exposure and links is to give things away for free. You could give away a free template or theme that you designed, an icon pack, Photoshop brushes, or just about anything thing else that will be useful to others.

Steven Snell is a web designer and freelance blogger. He maintains a gallery of designer portfolio sites and a gallery of e-commerce web design.

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