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Having a blog or website either as a journal or an online portfolio can benefit a person, brand or business and it is an emerging trend that many now prefer to CVs.
Whether you start a blog as a hobby, to showcase your skills and knowledge, or to promote a product or service, a website offers multiple avenues for online exposure, monetization, and success. It can also be beneficial to boost an existing business website.
However, there are certain strategies to consider when building a blog as an online portfolio that will eventually turn into an online business, generating an income via the Web and as a digital entrepreneur you should build an online portfolio applying all expert strategies outlined in this article to successfully boost and support other business websites, just as I do with my blog fernandoraymond.com, cross-referencing my business websites clickdo.co.uk and seekahost.com.
A few Easy Steps to Build an Online Portfolio first
According to an Optinmonster study, blogs are deemed the fifth-most trustworthy source of information online, and about 77 per cent of the world’s Internet users read blogs. And over 35 per cent of all webmasters use WordPress as their preferred blogging platform.
This article focuses therefore on strategies for WordPress websites and portfolios as it is also very SEO-friendly and the preferred platform by many including me, as I build all my blogs and websites with WordPress.
Creating a WordPress blog is easy, and you can read the SeekaHost’s extensive website creation guide on the blog, if you need step by step guidance. However, with the innovative SeekaPanel, a new Web hosting control panel, it is easier than ever to set up an online portfolio with these simple steps:
- Think of a domain name for your portfolio, which could obviously be your name/brand name, and see if it is available when you register a domain inside the seekahost.app (you need to register in the SeekaHost App portal first).
- Purchase your dream domain and web hosting to host your domain, for WordPress sites the most suitable hosting is WordPress Hosting.
- Install WordPress and get your domain live in less than 60 seconds inside the app.
- Log into your WordPress account and start creating your portfolio with the WP Portfolio Theme, your info and relevant content, e.g., blog articles about your work, experience, skills etc.
Now it is time to carefully consider the following 5 strategies for your online portfolio to ensure it benefits either your other business websites or blogs or your start-up and new brand or freelancing business.
Research your Blog Audience & Keywords
Your career or work should be reflected in your online portfolio; however, it should not just be about you. People search the internet for information to have their questions answered. Narrow down a genre you have a passion for or even a specific topic, focusing on quality blog content that is unique and not quantity content.
Try and develop a genuine voice in your writing to convey your unique personality to other people. If you want to establish yourself as an expert in your field of work or if you are blogging about topics related to your business website or brand, then use SEO analytics tools like Google’s Keyword planner to narrow down your target audience and the searches they conduct on search engines. This will help you cover their questions on your portfolio so that they will find your content effectively.
You can see how blog articles on fernandoraymond.com answer questions like “how to become an internet entrepreneur” or “how to make money blogging” to get an idea.
Customize your portfolio
The beauty of the WordPress blogging platform is that it is easy to customize and set up. It is therefore great for beginners as well. You can create a successful blog with all the features you like such as contact forms, pop-ups, videos, a photo gallery – WordPress provides endless options through its themes and plugins.
The advantage of building and customizing a website with a self-hosted platform is that you own it as you purchase the domain and web hosting. You can even have it custom-built with the help of a web designer or developer to give it your own look. On the fernandoraymond.com homepage you can see that it features published eBooks, videos from the YouTube channel and the story as an SEO expert building digital marketing agency ClickDo Ltd. and web hosting company SeekaHost Ltd.
You should add elements of your own journey and expertise to your portfolio homepage so that your visitors know exactly what they can find here and what you offer. Customization will help you make your brand or business be distinguishable from your competitors with your own logo for example.
Share high quality content via an appealing blog design
In all aspects of life, quality is key, and you should not compromise it on your portfolio as it will be the gateway to anything else people can find about you online.
The blog design you choose for your online portfolio should be simple and clean, well-organized, and appealing to your readers. Depending on your work sector the theme can have a specific look, e.g., if you work in tech, it could have a very formal and structural look, whereas an education background could be highlighted through a rather playful look. However, it is advisable to try not to use dark, pale or neon colour combinations and to employ basic fonts that are easily readable. Featuring a mobile-friendly design will increase the number of views and visitors to your portfolio since a massive number of individuals tend to use mobile phones and tablets compared to their computers nowadays.
But apart from the first impression, your readers will only be loyal to you if each post contains engaging and informative copy that they are happy to return to. Before you post something, make sure it is worth reading and relevant to your readers by again conducting keyword research in your niche about relevant topics, news, and developments. Blog post writing differs from email writing or journaling and online readers prefer rather short and compact content with a clear structure through headers and images. You can learn how to create SEO-friendly content through online courses on the eLearning platform SeekaHost University and find some useful blogging and SEO tips via fernandoraymond.com.
Research and reach out
Conducting research and outreach is a primary factor for building a successful online portfolio that will stand out. You should know that creating high-quality content for an online audience is different from any other form of distribution.
Research and learn the basics of SEO; employing search engine optimization (SEO) will enable your blog to be found for keywords that are in high demand in your work sector. Conduct thorough research on other publications covering your topics and reach out to other bloggers or authors in your niche for a possible collaboration. Being mentioned also with a backlink to your website will boost your blog and any other business websites you interlink with too via your portfolio and they may rank higher on search engines while gaining authority.
Do not give up
Being patient is the key ingredient to building a successful website. Nobody starts a blog and becomes successful immediately. It entails a lot of hard and consistent work including updating blog posts, blog pages, images, videos, and any other content featured on the portfolio website. Your readers are looking for regularly updated and new content that provides them with valuable insights. To curate and manage this is not an easy task, but with the SeekaPanel, where you can not only host your blog, but also track its performance via Google Analytics and Clicky, you will be able to access live data from your website that will help you make decisions about your content.
As an SEO expert I often use Clicky via the seekahost.app to check which of the blog posts are viewed the most and which countries most readers are from. Based on such information the next articles are curated to ensure the content remains relevant and popular to attract several thousand visitors per month.
Final Thoughts
In the digital era every person should have their own online portfolio as an online presentation of themselves in their domain that is exactly as they wish to be portrayed. A WordPress website or blog can exactly offer this plus support with additional business websites. The portfolio in the form of a blog where you share your insights, knowledge and skills can link to content on your other related websites and give it a boost while the portfolio may lead even more potential clients to your brand. Utilize your persona and establish yourself as an expert in your arena to gain credibility and your business can only benefit from it, online as well as offline.
