Creating a portfolio website is easier today than it was not too long ago. Once upon a time, you had to learn HTML and CSS to build an online portfolio that was more than above average. You had to put a lot of effort in the way you wanted to present yourself or your business.
If you relied on a theme, you might have been able to avoid coding. But you still had constraints of one type or another to deal with. Some of them you could work around, and some of them you couldn’t. In any event, creating a portfolio that told a story could be a difficult task.
The portfolio-building tools described here make it almost ridiculously easy to showcase yourself. You can present your business, or some other undertaking in a way that will capture and captivate a user.
1. Elementor Page Builder
Elementor is the modern way to envision your design into any kind of website.
Designing on WordPress can be difficult, and Getting “stuck” in a theme is a designer worst nightmare. When that happens, you can still get passable results, but not as good as you’d hoped for. The options generally are (1) accept the constraints a theme is placing on you and do the best you can, or (2) resort to coding in an attempt to work around those constraints.
An online portfolio can be a powerful marketing tool. As such, any limitations in the web-building tool you’re using can have a negative effect on the effectiveness of the portfolio.
That won’t happen with Elementor. If you can envision what you want a portfolio to look like this free open-source page builder can handle it – down to the tiniest detail. You’re given 130 designer-made templates to work with, plus you can always import templates or use your own.
Elementor also works with any theme, it’s developer friendly, it requires no coding, and it’s sneaky fast. A Pro version featuring advanced workflows, integrations, and features is also available.
2. Mobirise Website Builder
Mobirise is another free page builder that has much to offer portfolio website designers. Mobirise has plenty of cool features as you might expect, but its key selling points are that it’s offline so you’re not tied to a specific platform, it can be hosted anywhere, and you’ll have 100% complete control over how you use it to design a captivating, attention-getting portfolio website.
Since it’s all drag and drop, and you’re provided with 1200+ trendy website blocks and templates to work with, you can save whatever coding expertise you may have for other ventures, and its Google AMP/Bootstrap 4 framework ensures your portfolio website will be 100% mobile friendly and its performance will be crazy fast.
Mobirise is free to use for both personal and commercial purposes and to date has contributed to the building of more than 1.5 million site applications.
3. Portfoliobox
Portfoliobox is another website building tool that’s not theme based, so you have total, unconstrained control over your online portfolio design. Portfoliobox was designed with creative professionals in mind, but whether you’re an artist, photographer, business owner, entrepreneur, or looking to build an awesome portfolio that will help you land a job, Portfoliobox will be an excellent choice.
Portfoliobox offers both a free and a pro plan. Either way it comes with web hosting and a free domain and you can build a professional-looking portfolio right on your browser.
The free plan will be a good choice for first time users or those who can live within a limit of 30 images in their portfolio. The pro plan provides hosting for up to 1,000 images, provides a personalized domain, and has a number of additional useful features.
4. SITE123
SITE123’s popularity is due in large part to its rich assortment of responsive thematic designs, its modular approach to portfolio website building, and its WYSIWYG editor. The fact that it’s totally free may be a factor as well, but it’s the features that SITE123 offers that count.
They include a built-in app market that can be put to good use to boost website usability and a multilingual tool that will enable you to share your message to a larger audience.
5. Pixpa
Pixpa may not be totally free, but it’s an affordable solution if you’ll settle for nothing less than a pixel-perfect, professional-looking, and all-around awesome looking online portfolio. eCommerce, blog, and client gallery building tools are a part of the package, and you’ll be ready to showcase your work, skills, or talents in a few hours, if not minutes.
Why You Need a Professional Portfolio
Not long ago, those who made use of portfolios consisted mostly of artists. Photographers and other creative types used them, too. Other professionals eventually took the hint. They began creating online portfolios of their own.
The reason why having a portfolio is so important is quite simple. Its purpose is to provide tangible evidence of your value in the workplace. It can also represent a value of your business in the marketplace.
Job seekers will find being able to produce a professional-looking online portfolio. A good portfolio should tell a story invaluable in landing a good job or position.
Three reasons why that is the case:
1.0 Increased Visibility
A resume, a cover letter, and networking are three ways to make yourself known. But they don’t always do a complete job of marketing yourself, your skills, and your talents. In a competitive job market, like we are experiencing today, an online portfolio is a must. It is the tool that more often than not can seal the deal.
2.0 Organization
You have to organize your professional documents in a single place. A prospective employer will appreciate the time it can save. He or she will also likely see you as being capable and efficient in the way you would approach your work. Placing those documents online, where they are easily accessed, will save tons of time.
3. Added Value
Recognize your online portfolio for what it does for you. It adds value to all of the other job application materials that might be requested of you.
Conclusion
There’s a wide variety of website-building tools on the market you can use to create a portfolio website. But, do you really want to settle for “decent”?
Creating a captivating and engaging online portfolio can be difficult enough. Especially so if you do not have the tool you need. This can add constraints that force you to settle for something “decent”.
These five tools let you enjoy the amazing experience of building a portfolio. You can do so with minimal effort! This is partly because you’re always in complete control over the entire process.
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