As a brand new freelancer, are you questioning the right way to create a web-based writing portfolio to point out potential purchasers? Hold studying; we’ve got 5 straightforward methods so that you can create knowledgeable on-line writing portfolio.
One of many largest hurdles I confronted attempting to carve out a full-time freelance writing profession was discovering a technique to exhibit high quality work to potential purchasers. It’s a catch-22: Most purchasers or media corporations wish to see writing samples that showcase your greatest work, but it surely’s laborious to get these if nobody will rent you till they’ve seen your author’s portfolio.
The excellent news is that sturdy writing samples result in work that, in flip, results in extra printed writing samples. To kick issues off so you can begin getting paid what you’re value, you could simply should get a bit of inventive and create your personal alternatives. To get the ball rolling, I’m sharing 5 on-line platforms my author associates and colleagues have used to construct their author portfolios.
Why You Want an On-line Writing Portfolio
Put merely, a web-based writing portfolio is a devoted net web page the place anybody concerned about hiring you’ll be able to see your experience on full show. Take into consideration your freelance author portfolio as a beefed-up resume designed to land your supreme shopper.
Whereas starting writers typically query why they will’t merely submit writing samples by way of Google Docs or Phrase paperwork when making use of for freelance jobs, submitting hyperlinks to printed content material is the trade customary.
Most purchasers and media corporations wish to see a author’s expertise in motion, and people expertise go far past the power to show phrase. Relying on a author’s area of interest, printed samples can showcase a author’s understanding of trade fundamentals like website positioning and function proof that they wrote their very own content material, one thing that’s more and more extra necessary in right now’s world of content material mills and AI.
Author Web sites for Constructing or Internet hosting On-line Writing Portfolios
For writers who know they will do the job however have to create samples, many platforms supply an area to self-publish content material. This may be so simple as selecting a subject that aligns with the kind of jobs you’re in search of after which shopping web sites with related content material to study what purchasers are in search of.
Since you’ll be able to all the time change content material as you develop your expertise, crucial factor is selecting a portfolio web site and getting began.
Listed below are just a few of the perfect platforms to construct yours:
1. Medium
Medium is likely one of the best locations for brand new freelance writers to share their work or create new content material, to not point out a low-pressure venue to hone your craft and polish your finer freelance author expertise. A self-publishing web site, Medium provides an easy content-uploading interface and a easy template to which writers can add photographs and different media.
It’s free to publish on Medium, and I’ve had just a few author associates use the platform to create writing samples they used to land gigs at fairly massive content material websites. Medium additionally provides a Accomplice Program that offers writers the prospect to learn content material that might in any other case be behind a paywall and probably receives a commission for his or her content material.
2. Substack
Like Medium, Substack is a platform the place writers can self-publish their content material. Nevertheless, whereas Medium capabilities extra like a social media web site with a deal with writers sharing and exploring different creators’ content material, Substack’s platform focuses extra on constructing an viewers of subscribers and permitting customers to monetize their content material with a publication membership.
Even if you happen to aren’t significantly concerned about making a following, a Substack account could be a good technique to showcase your writing expertise and exhibit that you simply’re up to the mark on the intersection of the content material and tech worlds. It’s extremely straightforward so as to add content material, and the location even permits customers to create podcasts, which might be useful for these of us trying to break into the scriptwriting world.
3. Wix
When you’d want to have your personal portfolio web site however you’re not but tech-savvy sufficient for HTML or constructing content material with WordPress, Wix is a unbelievable various. Totally different subscription ranges and a excessive diploma of customizability additionally make Wix a wonderful possibility for writers trying to share various kinds of content material like weblog posts, essays, or inventive writing.
With a great deal of templates and instance pages, Wix has all the time provided a reasonably simple-to-use web site. However the integration of AI, together with the platform’s step-by-step information, has made making a portfolio web site even simpler. When you’ve designed your homepage, you’ll be able to simply arrange a weblog to self-publish content material or create pages to hyperlink your different printed work.
4. LinkedIn
Whilst you’re in all probability accustomed to LinkedIn as a technique to share your skilled portfolio or add your resume, not everybody realizes that customers can publish content material on the platform. As soon as logged in, customers can entry the choice from the highest middle of their touchdown web page, the place they’re given the choice to “Begin a submit, strive writing with AI.” Right here, customers can add media, add an occasion, or write an article.
Like Medium, LinkedIn’s “Write article” function permits customers to add photographs and add H2 subheaders, which provides job-seeking freelancers a technique to present they perceive website positioning greatest practices. When you’ve printed your content material, it’s straightforward to share together with your skilled community or LinkedIn’s skilled teams.
5. Authory
Authory is much like LinkedIn in that customers can create a profile with a customized header and tagline beneath their identify. However as a substitute of making a resume, customers add hyperlinks to their printed content material that show with a preview picture, title, publication date, and writer identify. The paid subscription worth is cheap, and there’s a free model for writers who aren’t able to put money into paid skilled subscriptions.
Authory customers can create a customized URL that includes their identify or enterprise identify to share on their resume or social media. The platform will even mechanically add newly printed work to subscribed customers’ portfolios and offer you analytics on linked content material that inform you, for instance, what number of Fb feedback a weblog submit acquired.
Whilst you can’t publish writing samples immediately on Authory, the platform provides writers an area to tug collectively content material they’ve printed on different websites in a clear, engaging structure. That is particularly useful for writers with content material that doesn’t have a byline (like enterprise blogs) or share weblog content material in a extra professional-looking house.
Making a Killer On-line Writing Portfolio Web page
Even when they’ve racked up just a few writing samples, writers can exhibit their versatility by sharing the various kinds of writing they’re able to on their portfolio. A web-based writing portfolio web site may embrace issues like social media hyperlinks and testimonials from earlier purchasers.
To create the very best on-line writing profile and begin filling it with sturdy writing samples, strive drawing inspiration from the websites you hope will rent you or different writing portfolio examples. Most significantly, proceed to construct out your writing portfolio each time you add a brand new ability or achieve a brand new publishing credit score. Lastly, don’t neglect to take away older, lower-quality content material as you develop professionally.
Listed below are just a few extra issues to think about:
- Be certain your content material displays trade requirements.
- Showcase the kind of work you’re hoping to get employed for.
- Proofread your work, learn it out loud, after which proofread it once more.
Creating an On-line Writing Portfolio Wrapup
It doesn’t matter what sort of author you’re, a fiction author, an online content material author, or somebody who produces technical writing resembling case research, having knowledgeable on-line writing portfolio can result in higher (and extra) jobs. When you don’t have one, creating one needs to be on the high of your to-do checklist.
When you’ve actually began to construct out your portfolio, a paid subscription for a web site like Authory or Medium could be a invaluable funding by way of serving to you land higher alternatives and join with different purchasers and trade professionals.
Do you will have a favourite platform for sharing your on-line writing portfolio, or are you aware of any good self-publishing websites we’ve neglected? Tell us within the feedback!
