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The online portfolio is one of the most important assets for any web designer or web developer (not to mention other professions like photographers). A good portfolio site is capable of being the leading source of new clients, which is the lifeblood of any service-related business.

Although the importance of the portfolio site is obvious, having an effective one requires that people actually see it. Having a great portfolio is one thing, but getting it seen is another. There are so many designers out there that competition is very stiff and without marketing your site it is likely to get very little attention.

This article will cover some basic things that you can do to market your online portfolio and make a bigger impact on a higher number of potential clients.

1. Make it Search Engine Friendly

Search engine optimization is a very large topic that involves a lot of different aspects. The structure of the site itself is just one aspect, but it is an important foundation. You can give your portfolio site a chance to get decent rankings by making it easy for search engines to crawl the site and determine what it is about.

Making a site search engine friendly involves using clean, valid coding, proper use of heading tags, and avoiding practices that can make it difficult for search engines to crawl your site.

2. Optimize Your Page Titles

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.

Consider specific words and phrases such as “e-commerce web design.” This is descriptive of the services provided but will eliminate a lot of competition as compared to more general keywords, meaning you will have a better chance for a good ranking.

3. Consider Localization

One method of significantly narrowing down the competition is to optimize your site for local searches. For example, if your page title is “Miami web design” you will have a much better chance of ranking high for similar searches, and the amount of competition will be far less than with a term like “web design.”

4. Build Links

Probably the single-most important factor for achieving great search engine rankings is getting links from other websites. Getting links is like getting votes from other sites. As more sites (and high-quality sites) link to you, the search engines will give more authority to your site and ranking well should not be a problem.

Link building is critical if you want to have a portfolio site that pulls in a lot of search traffic. Here are some things you can do to get links from other sites.

Add a blog – Blogging is a great way to attract links as bloggers often link out to other blogs. Of course, it will also take work to write the content.

Social media marketing – social media sites provide outstanding opportunities for exposure to large audiences and link building. Articles that “go viral” will draw a ton of in-bound links for your site.

Reciprocal links – You can exchange links with other websites, just don’t go overboard and do this with hundreds of sites or it will put up red flags for search engines.

Web design galleries – There are tons of sites out there that exist for the purpose of displaying the best web design work from various designers. If your site is good enough you can get featured in a lot of galleries and build links this way.

5. Make it Attractive

If you want your site to be featured in the best website galleries you will need to design something that is truly special. Be sure not to rush, give yourself enough time to do the very best work that you can. If it is good enough it will make the rounds through design galleries and bring a lot of exposure for you and your portfolio.

6. Use Freebies to Draw People In

People like to get things for free, so if you can give something away from your website (i.e. icons, stock photos, blog themes, etc.) you may be able to attract a lot of links and new visitors.