I have been doing extensive research on portfolio sites lately and what I’ve noticed and I’m sure a lot of you have noticed is the growing popularity of one page portfolio websites. I know some of you might be “anti trends”, but I think this portfolio website format is great for several reasons and I will give you tips on how to create your own one page graphic design portfolio and how you can market it for free.

Benefits of a One Page Graphic Design Portfolio

• Easy to code since it is usually minimalistic in appearance
• Simplicity of the graphic design portfolio allows your designs to shine
• Very easy and quick for potential employers to navigate

Tips for Creating a One Page Graphic Design Portfolio

1. Register your own domain and get a paid hosting plan, don’t try and use any free services

2. Keep the layout of the site simple, but don’t be afraid to let some of your personal design style out

3. Find the right balance between low file size and quality for your images

4. Make your contact information easy to find at the top of the site

5. Write a brief 2-3 sentence bio about yourself to personalize the site

6. Link to a downloadable PDF version of your resume that is under 2mb in size

7. Don’t add an excessive number of items to your graphic design portfolios, twelve or so pieces should be fine, but you could go a little higher or lower

8. Add a case study (brief description) under each project

9. Validate your websites CSS and XHTML

10. Do not put any Google ads or other advertisements on your portfolio site

Tips for Promoting Your One Page Graphic Design Portfolio

1. Submit your portfolio to design inspiration sites. This can result in tons of traffic if you design is top notch and gets rated well by people on the site. So make sure your website is in perfect shape before submitting.

2. If you participate in graphic design forums, showcase your site in threads dedicated to showing portfolio work and you can also add a link to your portfolio in your signature. If you are an active member people will be more likely to visit the links in your signature

3. Tell all your friends about your site. Word of mouth is an underestimated method of website promotion

4. Read this book on search engine optimization. It is a priceless investment and will help you get tons of natural and free traffic to your website by tweaking minor things on your site

5. Exchange links with other designer’s sites

6. Create and attach a blog to your website so you can post articles related to design on your site. This will help bring in traffic and will help establish you as a knowledgeable professional in your field.

Submit your portfolio to onepagefolios.com

7. Submit your website to quality business directories

8. Submit your website to logo design inspiration sites mentioned in our article Design a Logo – The Ultimate Guide

Graphic Design Portfolio Resources

Wordpress – Can work as a great CMS (Content Management System) for your graphic design portfolio.

One Page Folios - Nice collection of over 800 one page folios that you can browse through for inspiration.

Most Inspired – A collection of all the popular CSS and design gallery website that you can submit your portfolio site too.

SEO Book – The best search engine optimization book on the market. It will teach you everything you need to know about getting natural free search engine traffic to your website.

See original post at: youthedesigner.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 6:01 am and is filed under design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.