You’ve probably heard it said a million times, “Your portfolio is your best marketing tool.” Your portfolio includes your work samples, services, testimonials, and recommendations. In short, it’s what lands you the job. However, creating a portfolio can be hard. And, not just because of the work involved.

It's also because there are many mistakes you can make when building your own portfolio. This is especially true if you are a designer or developer building an online portfolio for the first time. To assemble an online portfolio that professionals will admire, avoid these eight pitfalls.

1. Providing No Context or Backstory

stories matter typed on a typewriter

One of the most common mistakes people make is when they don’t give any explanations of the art or the piece of work they created in their online portfolio. Your portfolio is an online representation of yourself. Even though you showcase your best work, it leaves your portfolio half-empty without a proper explanation.

Explaining your work can be a little tricky. It’s easy to go overboard and overwhelm your visitors, though. Hence, exercise caution. But unless your work is self-explanatory, you should give users enough background to make sense of it.

You may want to include information about the process you used in completing the project, including the roles other people played. If your project was a collaboration, what was your contribution? How were tasks assigned? And did you meet your client's expectations?

2. Missing Out on Personal Information

Building an online portfolio is about more than just the work you’re displaying. It should tell the full story of who you are, what you do, and why people should care. Besides, it’s a poor idea to add a snappy tagline under your name unless you are extremely well known, and this will not stop you from getting clients.

A further offense involves failing to include a contact email address or phone number in your portfolio. You can make your portfolio stronger by adding an “About Us” or “About Me” page to the website. Most potential employers and clients look there to learn more about you.

If you're worried that sharing your email address would be marked as spam, you can consider writing it in code. For example, instead of writing johndoe01@gmail.com, try writing johndoe01 [at] gmail [dot com].

3. Not Making It Mobile Responsive

Although the best way for someone to view your portfolio is on a large, high resolution widescreen monitor, you can’t guarantee that people will view your portfolio site on a big screen. With the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, it’s likely that many people viewing your portfolio will do so on a mobile device.

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To make your online portfolio stand out, you should ensure that it doesn’t change drastically in appearance or functionality on those screens. For a website to be truly mobile-friendly, its images must not shrink as they are viewed on smaller screens. To make your online portfolio accessible to the widest possible audience, it must be clear, readable, and responsive.

4. Not Updating It Frequently

As you might expect, potential clients and employers often visit your portfolio multiple times before they decide that they want to work with you. If your portfolio can't provide a steady stream of new content, it could send clients the signal that you're unprofessional and unreliable—even if that isn't true.

So consider how you can keep it fresh. Could you add new work samples or update the design? In any case, keep updating your online portfolio frequently.

If your online portfolio is a website, it is also a good idea to sign up with Google Analytics so that you can find out how many people are visiting the site and which bits they are most interested in. You can use this information to improve your site and its content over time.

5. Making It Disorganized

You should follow a logical structure in your portfolio. Your portfolio should give an overall, well-organized impression that leaves an impact on other employers and clients.

If people can't find what they're looking for when they browse through your portfolio, you're going to leave them confused about who you are as an artist.

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Properly structuring your portfolio will create a more professional appearance and compile the information in a way that will make it easier for potential employers or clients to navigate.

6. Providing Confusing Navigation

To create a successful portfolio, it is important to structure your information in a way that facilitates easy navigation.

design advice on laptop screen

Simplicity is a critical consideration in web design. Web hosts set up a simple organizational structure, but it is your responsibility to keep the navigation of your online portfolio free of clutter and confusion.

The primary purpose of a website's design is to support its content. It is no different for the website that serves as your online portfolio. Navigation should be unobtrusive and always available. You should avoid the temptation to overload a page with too many navigational elements or links.

7. Considering Them Unsuitable for Technical Industries

Most people consider online portfolios to be a creative marketing tool. That's far from the truth. In fact, they’re useful for almost any industry you can think of.

Building an online portfolio is a great way to showcase your capabilities and demonstrate your expertise in a visual format to potential employers.

Moreover, creating an online portfolio conveys to potential employers or clients that you care about your professional development and have invested in showcasing your skills. Hence, you should choose a style that works for your content and your industry.

Your Online Portfolio Is the New Resume

To land your dream job, you need a professional-level portfolio that will blow the competition out of the water. A good portfolio will display your skills, show off your personality, and give you an edge in getting that next opportunity. Just make sure that you know what to avoid before you begin building.

In the end, your portfolio site is only as good as the work you put into it. So make sure you're always avoiding the mistakes mentioned above, and you’re putting your best foot forward.