When I was wrapping up my graphic design studies program, I remember my professor encouraging us to think of ourselves as “professionals”. I had no idea what he meant by that. I now know he was trying to motivate us to polish our portfolios before being thrown into an increasingly competitive job market. He knew it was happening with more than just his classroom full of students, too. We had been studying techniques toward self-promotion, and one thing that stuck out in my mind was the idea of an online portfolio.
By this point in my education, I had been through all of one (1) class that even hinted at how I might get a portfolio online. I could build a web site, or at the very least modify a template, but beyond building the thing, I had no clue how to actually get it up and running. I also didn’t want to spend money on hosting space, although I did, eventually.
So, about 5 years later, thinking back on how big of a hassle that was I had one of those “if I knew then what I know now” moments. And with that moment came an idea for a professional-looking, low-cost portfolio website for those willing to invest the time. I’ll also share with you how to use it as a marketing tool and how to integrate some cool social media techniques. Let’s get started.
Building a website.
I’m going to go ahead a assume you’ve taken a class or poked around enough on the web to know how to build a website. If you really have no clue, keep reading, it’s easier than you think. If you are getting ready to graduate, you’ve probably even been assigned to build a portfolio site of some kind already. If you like what you have, you’ve got all the HTML written and images sized properly then you can just skip over this next section. For everyone else that’s had a rough time of this, try something like this:
Using Flickr or Picasa as a Content Management System.
This is really an article unto itself, but the idea here is simple. There are several Flash and javascript galleries that are available online that can pull the information out of a photo sharing site like Flickr into a script that will build a gallery for you. Google a few keywords like “Flash Flickr gallery” or “javascript Picasa gallery” and you’ll find “How-to” blogs that will give examples and go into more detail about how to install them into your site. Most of these are free to use, so don’t stop at the first one you come across if you see a price tag, just keep looking.
Most of what you’ll find is a bunch of code that links to other files you have to download, so just make sure you link properly. Then all you need to do is upload images to your Flickr account, tag with descriptions and publish. Then after you add your account name to your script, it will pull that information out of Flickr into the gallery on your site. Neat, huh?
Finding a domain name.
Next, you’re going to need a domain name. Try to find something short and catchy, like your name. No hyphens. Try really hard to shoot for a ‘.com’ extension, too. It’s a lot easier for people to remember when you slip it into conversations when you’re rubbing elbows at AD2 Roanoke events (wink, wink). You can go back to Google and search around for cheap domain name hosts. You should expect to pay about $10 with a trusted registrar. There are free solutions, but typically, you have to be listed as what looks like a sub-domain of another site (i.e. yourname.freehostingsite.com) and that just looks clunky.
Finding web hosting.
You’ve probably noticed that with some of these places, you can get ‘discounted web hosting’ or ‘free domain name with web hosting’ deals. If you find one of those that sounds too good to pass up, feel free to get on it. You’re looking to pay about $60 – $80. If you only want to pay half that, let AD2 Roanoke host your site for you.
AD2 Hosting.
We’re now offering to host your site for as low as $2 a month. There is a full list of features listed here. We recognize that for a few dollars more a month, you can have WAY more space, but unless you’re moving huge files or need the space for something else, you would just be wasting your money. For $2/month AD2 Roanoke members get 500Mb to play with. Plus, you help support AD2 Roanoke continue to offer more specials and events.
More to help you promote.
After you have made your big domain and hosting purchases, used the File Manager or FTP to upload your site from your local computer to the web host and you take the time to test that everything works, you’ll be up and running.
Congratulations, you have a website. Now what?
It’s time to promote. As you begin to look for a job or find freelance work, the website becomes your go-to 24/7 account executive. Invite people to view your work online by putting your URL on your business card along with your custom email address (one of the benefits of having your own domain). Remind people that you provide samples of your work “upon request or at my website” on your resume. Attach it alongside your Twitter account profile and in your Facebook info page. Use your Flickr RSS feed along with your blog RSS feed on your social media to keep people apprised of what you’ve done lately. Use Linked In to help you connect with the people you meet out at AD2 events. And, as a last piece of advice, as you go into the marketplace, be nice and be yourself. People appreciate sincerity and that will get people to come back for more.
All of this is just my suggestion to you. It’s not a proven method of getting you a job, but it will make you competitive as you and hundreds of other young professionals are vying for the same positions.