What is important in your personal portfolio website?

A personal portfolio website is all about promoting you. You are a brand, and your name is a brand name. No one is going to know about your brand unless you get it out there; and if you’re a Web designer, developer, writer, gamer or any other type of creative, then it’s essential that you have a good portfolio website.

LOGOTYPE

Logo on your site is the first thing visitors see.
Usually read from top to bottom, left to right, so it makes sense to put your logo in the upper left corner of the web site so that users can immediately identify who is on this site.
It is also good practice to keep your logo link to home page of your site.

If you imagine a personal site, blog or portfolio site, it is desirable to logos with your name. However you advertise yourself.

HOME PAGE

After the user has seen who holds the ownership of this website, he or she will definitely want to find out what the website offers.
On the home page you need to explain in a concise and general manner to whoever visits the website what you would offer to him or her:
It is highly recommended that you show the following:
- Who you are? (A designer? A developer? An author?)
- What you do? (Design websites? Develop aplication?)
- Place of residence? (What country? What city/town?)
- Are you a freelancer or do you work for a studio? Are you looking for work?

PORTFOLIO

You are expected to present your portfolio in such a way that the section with your projects determines whether the website would be interesting or not.
The website visitors will be willing to see your work in order to decide whether your are good or not within a particular scope of study/work. They will be happy to see how you progress in time, how you develop your designing skills.

Presenting your projects in full detail and mentioning what technologies you used, what part you took in them (if in collaboration with another executive or a firm) as well as what time they were launched, would be highly appreciated.
The website visitors could be interested in the exact stages of development of your projects, i.e. how the ultimate goal was reached.
If possible, you could take references from customers. Thus you could show us some evaluation of your work.

SERVICES

Your advertisement on the home page is supposed to present what you offer and do.
You could add a link to more pages and describe in a separate one every single service you offer.
You should not expect from your potential customers to guess what you do, what you can do, and what you offer.
Therefore, describe your services precisely and clearly, for example, web design, developing, video, texts, trade marks, etc., or in detail: Corporative trade mark, Flash, etc.

ABOUT

This is the page that would describe anything about you. Show its visitors that behind the website stands a man or a woman.
If you are a team, introduce its members, people should know who they are going to deal with and who is going to make their project.
Share your preparation, skills and experience in certain programme products or technologies.
What is your age and how long have you been working in a certain occupation. The more information you give, the more trustuworthy you will be for your current and future customers.

It is preferable that you enclose a photo. Letting your potential customers see who they are going to deal with would give them a sense of security.
Do not avoid showing your awards, people want to know how skillful in your profession you are.

CONTACT

This is one of the most important elements of a portfolio website but is often hidden or even neglected. A potential client has browsed your website, is impressed with your portfolio and can see who you are. Now they want to hire you.

Contacting you should be made visible and easily accessible. Have a ready-made form to fill in by potential clients asking them for concrete information such as:
Name, E-mail, Website and a Detailed description of what they would like you to do.

CALL TO ACTION

Ask yourself the following question: what do I want to gain with my website.
You want to be employed?
To attract more readership?
Perhaps you would like to show somebody who you are and what you can do?

On each page there should be a link inviting for some action:
Contact me, An Offer Request, An Overview of My Portfolio.
The link should be clear and it should stand out from the main content of the website, you could make it directly to your blog, portfolio or contact page.