Freelance Web Design Portfolio: your guide from a former Lead Designer

if you're a web designer and you think you need a website for your portfolio and it's just taking you forever the bottom line is I think you're wasting your time and in this video I will tell you exactly why I think that and what is the most effective way to Market yourself in my humble opinion so you can stop procrastinating and finally get your portfolio out let's go [Music] hello my friends if you're new to this channel my name is Adrian Samosa nice to meet you I focus on teaching Advanced web design and business skills so if you want to stay up to date with my latest videos remember to subscribe and enable notifications so like I said I don't think you need a website now I get it right you're a web designer so you're trying to create a website to show that you can do websites right it does make sense but I have talked to so many designers that have spent money time and energy right hundreds to thousands of dollars late nights weekends holidays Sweat and Tears trying to create their own portfolio and then perfectionism kicks in right and so now you see the website again after a couple of days and you feel insecure about what you've created it doesn't make sense there's problems coming up and you're realizing that it's not at the level that it should be right and so now you're not posting it and you're postponing your decision forever so what if I told you is that there's a more efficient way to do this and it's so simple that you're gonna just laugh probably and it's post your work to social media and I don't have one reason for this I have six so let me give you those six reasons so number one clients use social media so it's very unlikely that clients are gonna land on your website through as a Google search let's face it right and it's very likely that on the other hand that clients are going to be able to find you through behan's dribble Instagram or LinkedIn right social networks now behance and dribble are Niche social networks and it's gonna be much easier for clients to find you there because it's more likely that clients are going to be looking for web designers in Niche social medias then it than it is for clients to look for web designers in generic social medias like for example Instagram one proof of this is a guy that has like 30k thousand like 30k followers on Instagram and just 12K followers on behance right less than half but he's still getting more leads from big hands why because again like I told you clients are more active on Niche social networks like behance and dribble number two number two clients know how to consume content on social media so your website has a different interface most likely you're just adding noise to the process of the client having to consume your content in a different way from what they are used to right they are used to browsing through just clicking on a project having a pop-up and scrolling right and that's a very easy interaction they just close with an escape button and they go to the next project or the next profile so they're used to do that and you're just taking them out of that context and having them use a very different interface so it doesn't make sense for them number four it's easy to show you can design websites with just a simple image right you just upload an image with your presentation of the the website you know if you did animations if there's a typical typographic system if you know there's a color system grids whatever you want to show that you did it's very easy to just post images and show that you can do a voice website you don't have to create a website to show that you can do it number five it's free right at least behance is it's free to post on on behance number six it's easy to update so there's no limitations right you you think of something you prepare the presentation boom you you post it there's no friction between creating the the presentation and just posting and updating the website granted you know there's templates and things like that that you can use for your website but it's much easier to use a platform that is created for that purpose okay so now you might say right but Adrian you have a website yourself like how can you tell us that you that we don't need a website right and I have two reasons why I have a website first of all I didn't have a website for the first 12 years of my career and all my you know web design career in just digital design career I used social networks and I have like 9k that you know the numbers show I have 9k followers on on B hands I have 14k followers on YouTube 13k on dribble and you get the point right like I've been very active on social network up until last year the second thing is my clients are web designers so they care a lot about websites right and so it does make sense to create a website for on the other hand I have a business I'm not a web designer anymore who offers services to clients I have a business that is mentoring designers right and so it does make sense for me as a business to have a website so having said that how can you prepare your portfolio so let's say that I convinced you and now you're ready to take action so here are five tips to prepare your portfolio jam-packed with action so make sure you take notes and there's also going to be a resource so stay tuned for that okay so number one be present on all social networks right but focus on growing on behance at least to 5K followers before moving to a new Social Network so that's really important because if you're spreading thing and creating content for different social networks it's going to be much more difficult for you to update each time that you create a project the idea is that it's as easy as possible for you to create a project and you just post post post okay so remove the friction remove the friction post as often as possible number two update your profiles so that means behance triple Instagram and Linkedin okay you should be present at least on those four so they also match between each other and that brings more credibility to your online presence now I'm gonna tell you how you can add like how you should update your profiles there's three things okay when updating your profiles number one and this is so important have one clear offer so your offer should be crystal clear cut through the Noise Okay empathize with a client that is scouring through thousands dozens of profiles and it's landing on yours and and they are asking right can they help me or can they not help you right and so that answer should be very clear it should be yes or no so just put web design in your services okay this will also help you position yourself as an expert okay so the rule is that experts are not generalists to be a generalist is contradicting from being an expert Okay the reason is that it takes 10 000 hours to be a pro at something 10 000 hours means five years full time so by definition if you say you're an expert in three or more Fields you're just most likely it's exaggerating but if you say you're an expert on one thing that's much easier to believe okay so there are a few exceptions right but the exception proves a rule there's some people that have done have mastered two three things right those little exceptions prove that there's a rule and the rule is that most likely you're not going to be able to become an expert in three things when you someone lands on your website and the answer of like is this the person I can work with that can solve my problems should be Crystal Clear should be yes or no if it's a fussy answer you lost the battle if you say I do SEO copywriting brand strategy and web design this and blah blah blah blah right you lost me I'm just covering through the internet look looking at profiles all the time and I need to know very fast if you're going to be a fit for my search or not okay so answer the most important question as fast as possible just put web design on the services listed and remove product design branding UI ux SEO copywriting web development all that just remove it leave web design okay now the second thing I want you to do is hide archive or delete any old work that doesn't represent your level anymore or is not web design work okay I know this hurts a lot and it's going to be difficult but you're gonna see the results number two be transparent so that means upload a profile picture of yourself with clean background so let me show you what I mean with that right and also let me show you what I mean with the previous one so here you can see my profile right and you see my profile picture it's a very clean photo you see my face right I don't have a hat I don't have it like it's a very transparent photo and I also have web designer here right and here you should have linked your other social medias right it should be properly linked here so that if a client right they prefer to connect on LinkedIn and DM you there they can do that or if they can they prefer to use Instagram for the MS they can do that as well right make it easy for your clients to find you and to connect with you business is and will always be about relationships so showing your face builds connection and the other thing is make it makes you look more trustworthy if you just have a caller right or a letter or just a logo right or something that doesn't show your face because your face is covered right don't get too artistic that's my personal opinion like don't get too artistic be transparent and show your face number three add a description of yourself so the goal of this is to respond proactively to comment to common questions like are you a freelancer do you work at an agency or not do you have a specific Niche you're interested in and also don't make your clients ask you this common questions right if you don't answer these questions up front you risk looking like an amateur so those are some of the things you can do to update your profiles now let's move on to the third tip to create your portfolios which is your portfolio is your steering wheel so post what you want to get hired for and don't post what you don't want to get hired for it's a very simple formula right but it works super super well so do you want to get hired for immersive websites then post immersive websites and don't post cookie cutter websites right even if you you pour your sweat and tears into this three-month project that is just looks like a cookie cutter website just don't post it it's better to post an exercise of something that is super immersive and the type of project that you want to get hired for than to just post something because you did it and you know you just want to post something right so make sure that you're posting the type of work that you want to get hired for if you want to get hired for Museum websites then post those type of projects don't post architectural websites so make sure that you use your steering wheel which is the type of work you post very wisely tip number four just post exercises you don't need client work so I don't have any client work like if you take a look at my portfolio you will see that all of this work is just Concepts Concepts Concepts and exercise okay if you have client work of course it's better right but it's not a must your exercise work is gonna like I said attract the type of projects that you want to get hired for right clients hire you for the things that you show you can do so if you show you can do an architecture website clients who are architectures are gonna hire you if you don't show that you're an arc that you can do an architecture website clients are going to wonder if you can do it even though it's obvious that you could do it right but clients are going to wonder if you can do it or not okay and tip number five just do it just do it right put a timeline to create the first post okay and then keep posting keep a schedule and keep posting put progress over your perfectionism right it's more important to show your progress than to down to show the perfect design that you did right it's nobody cares if it's perfect or not because it's never going to be perfect okay so you will never be satisfied with your work that's something you gotta live with you gotta get used to posting with a feeling of unsatisfaction with the feeling of like oh I could have done that better because you know what this that work is out there and it's working for you and now you can concentrate on the next one and the next one and the next one and you're gonna be improving each design as you progress and as you post but you will realize that at the same time you you're gonna be reaping the rewards of posting okay so just post your work in progress and start reaping the rewards and last but not least right I wanted to show you an example of a great behance portfolio so take a look at this right clean profile picture clean name very clear what he does he's a digital designer it's a little bit different I would personally think he would benefit from saying he's just a web designer because if you take a look at his his portfolio is basically a web designer right so his focus is on websites he's not doing web apps for example product design but he can get away with digital designer he has like 12 000 followers here and of course his work is Just Killer and it's been featured in so many um galleries right in inside of big hands he has all his social media connected right and if you go for example to any other office you know social media accounts you will also see right that he's using the same profile picture and that gives a lot of credibility this is a great example of a very effective portfolio he's a friend of mine and shout out to you man Ron for the great work that you're doing and you know I wanted to show you this as an example you know just by landing on this portfolio you just realize this is a top-notch designer he has a lot of social proof there's really no risk right it's very difficult for you to go wrong with a profile like this okay so if you want to go much much deeper with the process of preparing your portfolio what I prepare is a free course called the web design booster to teach you the strategy that helped me get my first job and that I kept applying to get hired at mediamonks RGA and get offered jobs at Apple in Microsoft as well as get great freelance clients so the course also has a checklist with a step-by-step strategy so make sure to check it out in the link below and if you're ready to pick your web design skills and learn how to monetize and so you can have more freedom to do things that you love then click the link below to apply to my signature mentorship program the web design masterclass if you're qualified I will schedule a call with you so we can chat and decide if it's the right fit for you we connect weekly we have group coaching calls with me and I give feedback on their design work and you know I respond to every question and it's just a beautiful Community with like-minded designers so that you don't feel alone anymore in this process of becoming an award-winning level web designer and being profitable in your career so I look forward to seeing you there and that's it for today's video hope you found it valuable and as always let's Bridge the cap one pixel at a time take a look at this video next to learn how to get more web design clients

Channel: BONT

Views: 14,613

Keywords: BONT, web design, Web Design Portfolio: Complete guide, Create a Winning UI/UX Design Portfolio: Step-by-Step strategy guide, PRO Vs AMATEUR Design Portfolios (With Examples), portfolio tips to get clients as a web designer, Make A KILLER PORTFOLIO In 2023! (Don't Fall Behind), best web design portfolio, web design portfolio for beginners, create web design portfolio, web design portfolio examples, freelance web designer, web design freelance, web design freelancer, Adrian Somoza

Id: fos1H0TDoVM

Length: 17min 34sec (1054 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2023