Online Portfolio Exposure: 8 Effective SEO Tips for Portfolio Websites

Intro

Search engine optimization (SEO) is necessary for any type of online business that wants to grow. However, not all SEO strategies are created equally. Keeping on top of search engine optimization best practices and ever-changing algorithms is hard enough for marketing professionals, never mind the average SME or freelancer.

Portfolio sites are mainly owned by creatives who prefer to concentrate on their art rather than counting how many backlinks it takes to rank higher.

They need an effective strategy that supports brand awareness without pulling focus from growth, output, and client service.

What is a Portfolio Website?

Portfolio websites are online forums that showcase your work for prospective clients. Artists and writers use them to sell their works, agencies, and freelancers to get more clients, and workers use them to cast a wide net when they're looking for full-time employment.

Think of it as a digital CV or an extension of your resumé.

According to statistics, there are more than 600 million blogs and 1.9 billion websites active online in 2022. Approximately six million new blog posts appear each day.

Even in a narrowly defined niche, that's a lot of competition.

In order to grow your audience, you need to raise awareness, get traffic to your page, and provide content that keeps them coming back.

(Image source: www.freshbooks.com)

Every portfolio website should contain 10 essential elements if they want to showcase their talents and grow their audience.

1. Design that's uncluttered and pleasing to the eye, with adequate white space and colors that are on-brand
2. Brand logo and a tagline that transfers well to business cards, business listings, and social media platforms
3. High-quality images
4. Detailed services pages
5. Information about you and your work. Passion is contagious. Explain how you got into your line of work and tell them about your goals, values, and mission.
6. High-quality image of you. It doesn't need to be a professional headshot. It could be photos of you in action. They just need to be clear and
7. Call to action. This should be clearly defined and placed on every page.
8. Contact information. How can potential clients or employers get ahold of you? Try to provide multiple points of contact, list your business hours, and place this information on every page.
9. Client testimonials. Prospects want to know what you're like to work with and the quality of the work.
10. Content. It's no longer adequate to just make a website. You need compelling content that adds value to the visitor. Consider an expanded knowledge base, industry-related articles, and images or videos.

On top of all that, you need to optimize the whole site with actionable SEO.

How Search Engine Optimization Helps Your Brand

No matter how great your work or web design, no one outside of your immediate circle will see it unless you build a sustainable online presence. In order to do that, you need to make sure that you connect with prospects who are searching for what you have to offer.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of practices and strategies that are meant to align with what your audience wants in a way that makes sense for web crawlers who evaluate your page.

In the bad old days of the internet, SEO usually meant finding the words people use to search for web content and then cramming them into your content. The result was usually unnatural and the content irrelevant to most users.

Google and other search engines caught on to black hat practices like keyword stuffing, spamming, and buying backlinks. If they direct users to irrelevant or dodgy content, they aren't serving their purpose and people will stop using them.

In an effort to combat these problems and fulfill their intended purpose, search engine algorithms are constantly changing to meet user demand and provide better service through insightful results.

For example, most people access the internet via mobile device, so Google prioritized mobile-first indexing. That means one of the first criteria they evaluate when ranking a website is mobile responsiveness.

They also increasingly favor websites that provide a superior user experience (UX). If traffic leaves your website soon after visiting, doesn't click through to other pages, or abandoned shopping carts mid-purchase, search engines will be able to tell by your site metrics and rank your content very low.

Rather than ranking for a specific search term, algorithms favor long-rail keywords and key phrases that provide more relevant results. Google recently updated its Hummingbird algorithm in an effort to drill down even further into user intent.

They want to better understand how people search for content rather than focusing only on what they're searching for. The point is to reduce the need for search refinement and get people to the content they need faster.

Your job is to do whatever you can to get them to your page and keep them there longer.

In order to cut through the digital clutter and get your content seen, you need an effective SEO marketing strategy.

8 SEO Tips and Best Practices for Portfolio Websites

(Image source: webdesigndegreecenter.org)

1. Start DNS Optimization

The best place to begin your SEO is with your domain. Never use a free domain registration service. For a small investment, you can register a custom domain that contains a keyphrase and/or your name or the name of your company. Try to register your domain as .com. .net, and as many other suffixes as you can afford.

For example, a local photographer in New Orleans might consider using NewOrleansPhotographer.com. Be aware that this domain might be taken if you live in someplace like New York or LA. Search for variations that are available and meet these criteria as close as possible.

2. Choose the Right Hosting Plan

Steer clear of free hosting services, which may not have the security or resources a growing business needs. Using a website builder for SEO can make this process easier. Many hosting services offer managed hosting and tools that will monitor SEO and site performance.

Many hosting providers and site builders provide you with plugins and other tools that will evaluate your site for SEO and offer suggestions to improve optimization. The best part is, that tools and plugins from reputable developers are automatically updated for the latest SEO best practices and search engine algorithms.

I use managed WP hosting that provides everything I need. It takes the guesswork out of SEO so that I can focus on creating.

3. Create High-Value Content

Portfolios are all about the content, such as a photo gallery, video clips, and work samples. In addition to showcasing your work, make sure that your other content is optimized for SEO.

Use:

• Optimzed images with alt-tags. This will ensure that your pages load fast and search engines know how to evaluate the. Web crawlers can "see" photos, but they can read tags that say outdoor-beach-scene. This lets them and potential clients know that your site contains an image and what it is.

• Long-tail keywords that are high-volume/low competition in headlines, tags, subheads, and in the body of your text. Supplement with related keywords and phrases sprinkled throughout. Use keywords in each piece of your portfolio as well, such as in titles, captions, and product descriptions.

• A content schedule so that your audience will know when you're posting new content. A flowchart maker can help you map out a strategy and functional posting calendar.

4. Create an Effective Link-Building Strategy

One of the main elements of branding is establishing trust and authority. One of the fastest ways to accomplish this is through backlinks to and from high-authority, relevant content.

For example, how much more trust would a visitor have in your site if a heavy-hitter like the BBC or New York Times links to your latest post? By linking facts and statistics in your content to authoritative case studies, research, or academic sites, people learn to trust what you tell them.

5. Don't Forget About Your Own Pages

In addition to linking outside of your content, you should include internal links to other pages within your website. Internal links increase user activity, click-through rates, time on page, and other metrics that are used to evaluate and rank your site.

Internal links will also increase conversion rates and revenues.

For example, your homepage could link directly to your blog during the introduction. Blog articles could link to relevant product pages and convert awareness into consideration.

6. Add Value to the Customer Experience

Anything you can do to improve the customer experience will boost SEO. Even if you merely add coupons to an email, social media offer, or shopping cart, it will add value to the purchasing process. This translates into higher customer retention rates, lowers cart abandonment and bounce rates, and improves site quality.

That means higher traffic and a more favorable place in the SERPs for your website.

7. Optimize Social Media

It's no secret that the freelancer's best friend is a solid online community. Search engine optimization applies to social media. It's one of the best ways to generate enthusiasm and social proof that drives traffic back to your site.

Your social media posts, profiles, and ads should include keywords and phrases that rank with your audience. For example, your bio and captions could contain the words "Graphic designer in [YOUR LOCATION]. This will help with internal search within the social platform as well as major search engines like Google and Bing.

8. Know Your Audience to Grow Your Audience

SEO is all about constructing content in a manner that drives traffic to your page and compels them to act. Your whole strategy depends on knowing your audience and anticipating how they will respond.

Search engines focus on two things: detecting user intent from search activity and providing users with relevant results.

The better you know your audience, the better you'll be positioned to create SEO-oriented content that also adds value.

Who is your core audience, where do they congregate online, what devices are they using for search, and how does your content provide value?

Final Thoughts

Whether you're entering the job market, launching your freelance career, or expanding your brand, SEO for portfolio websites is the first step to growth.

Knowing SEO best practices and what to avoid will get your website in front of more eyes and grow your audience.

Our tips are geared toward portfolio-heavy startups and brands that are poised to grow. What you do with them could make or break your branding strategy.