A web developer's portfolio site is, perhaps, the single most important tool for acquiring new clients.
A good portfolio site engages prospects, points them to your projects, and encourages them to trust your work. A bad portfolio site can be a deal killer, turning away would-be clients even before they make contact.
Below you'll find a list of five items or ideas you can include in your professional portfolio to make it more functional and more appealing to potential clients and employers.
1: Include Some Brand-Specific Bling
Bling is the hip-hop term for large or extravagant jewelry, and while, you probably don't want to run out and get a gold grill for your front teeth, you do want your design or development portfolio to call attention to your skills and establish a brand.
Web developers and designers, particularly freelancers, should have a personal brand that reflects their work. If a designer works with a lot of illustrations, that designer will want to use illustrations in a portfolio site.
By contrast, if most of your projects have a corporate feel, you don't want a wild portfolio site.
Consider applying bling in your logo, on a contact page, or as an overall theme.
2: Provide Good Contact Information
If you portfolio is your Internet billboard designed to attract potential clients, you need to provide a way for those clients to get in touch with you.
Generally, you want to provide prospects with at least an email address. But if you're really hungry for new opportunities consider adding a contact phone number too.
If you are going to include a contact form, consider adding AJAX or HTML5 form validation so that potential customers can see firsthand how you might code a form for them.
3: Show Your Work
This may sound obvious, but your portfolio site should actually show examples of your work. You should include on-site images of the work, an explanation of what you did, and a link to a live version of the site or application (not having the link is a huge let down for potential clients).
How you present your work is important, too. You will almost certainly want to include some form of interactivity, like a content slider, lightbox, or even Flash.
4: Be Social
Social media marketing has become so important that some clients will actually judge you based on your LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook presence.
This means that you cannot overlook having social media content and links on your portfolio site. Whenever possible, integrate links directly into the site design, since this can also demonstrate some of your web prowess.
5: Be Personal
Finally, be sure to include something about your personal work history, habits, and experience. Ultimately, clients hire freelancers they like and can connect with. By sharing something of your personal interests and experience, you give prospects an opportunity to get to know you as an individual.
