How to make a portfolio website

A portfolio website has one job: show your work well enough that the right person gets in touch. It does not need many pages. It needs good pictures, a few clear words and an easy way to hire you.

1. Choose less work, and your best

Four to eight strong pieces beat thirty average ones. Pick work that looks like the work you want more of. If you do two very different things, such as weddings and product photos, decide which one the site is for, or give each its own page.

2. Say what you do in one sentence

At the top of the home page: what you make, for whom, and where. For example: "Interior photography for architects and hotels in Lisbon." Visitors decide in seconds whether they are in the right place.

3. Show how working with you goes

• The services you offer, in a short list.
• The steps of a project: first call, proposal, the work, delivery.
• Who you usually work with: brands, studios, private clients.

Prices are optional. A line such as "projects usually start from" helps some people decide, but leave it out if every project is different.

4. Put a person behind the work

A portrait and a few honest lines about you. People hire people, especially for creative work.

5. Make contact easy

A contact page with a short form, your email and, if you use them for work, your Instagram or Behance. Put a "get in touch" link at the end of the home page too.

6. Use your own domain

yourname.com looks more professional than a profile on someone else's platform, and it stays yours if that platform changes its rules. See domain name vs web hosting for how the two fit together.

Photos: big, but not heavy

Large images are the point of a portfolio, but very large files make the site slow on a phone. Export at around 2000 pixels on the long side. Keep the originals for clients.

On Almulx

The Studio design is made for portfolios: a full-width photo at the top, up to four pieces shown large as "Selected work", your services as a numbered list with the steps of a project, and a portrait with a short introduction. The setup wizard asks what kind of work you make, who you usually work with and how people hire you, and writes the first draft from your answers. You can replace any photo later from your dashboard. See the Studio design.