Web designers and web developers can benefit greatly from having an outstanding portfolio site. The portfolio is often a primary method of finding new business (or maybe more accurately, letting new business find you). Additionally, it is the best way for potential clients to observe your work and see what you have to offer.

Although online portfolios are critical to the success of designers and developers, getting exposure for a portfolio site is difficult because there are simply so many of them. With so much competition it is critical that you consider how you will market your portfolio, rather than simply putting it up and waiting for people to come see it.

Here we will go over several tips that can help you to get more out of your portfolio site by increasing its exposure to potential clients.

1. Build a Search Engine-Friendly Site
There are almost infinite topics that we could discuss about Search Engine Optimization, but one of the most important is simply building a search-friendly site. This doesn't mean that your site will rank high, but it does mean that search engines will have no problems crawling your site to find all of you pages and to know what phrases it is targeting.
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
Page titles are critical for search engine rankings, more so than any other on-page factor. Give lots of thought to the titles that you choose for your pages and try to match them up with the same words and phrases that people are likely to use in a search to find that page.
There are already millions of sites and pages that cover topics related to web design, so going after general keywords like "website design" is not likely to result in high search engine rankings. Instead, focus of phrases that are more specific and likely to have less competition, that will give you a better chance to earn high rankings.
Try using a specific phrase like "custom WordPress themes." This will be highly relevant to the services that you offer, plus it will give you a better chance of actually getting search engine traffic since there will be less competition for your keywords.

3. Localization is an Option
Optimizing a site for local traffic is a great way to cut out a lot of competition and prepare your site in a way that targets a specific audience. Most designers do not target a locality with their portfolio, so doing so can put you way ahead of the competition in searches like "Texas web designer."

4. Link Building
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.
Submit to galleries - If your site has a high-quality design you may be able to get a lot of traffic and links from web design and CSS galleries that showcase sites.

5. Create Something Amazing
One of the best things you can do to promote your site is to simply make it special. A great portfolio design will market itself quite well. Take your time and make something that is reflective of your best work.

6. Use Freebies to Draw People In
Giving to get is a popular method of promoting a website. People love free stuff, so if you can give something of quality that people will want, you will increase the number of people that come to your portfolio site. You could give away free website templates, code snippets, or anything else that will attract links and visitors.

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Article Submitted By: Steven Snell
This Article Has Been Read 250 Times

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