As a web designer, you want visitors to your website to like what they see and if they don’t initiate contact on that particular occasion, will hopefully return to do so later, but what else can you do to in an attempt to keep them looking?
One area to think about is a portfolio page; a place to blow your own trumpet and show off your dazzling design skills and expertise, but more especially, a place to wow your visitors.
The majority of web design businesses do indeed have a portfolio page but strangely there are many that don’t and this could perhaps be one reason why some visitors fail to be converted into paying customers.
Customer testimonials are fine and often work well but if an interested visitor is inclined to check them out they can’t do it through your website but a portfolio page is instant.
However, a portfolio page is far more than just examples of your past work: it should serve to give visitors ideas and inspiration for their own websites particularly if they are unsure of what they want.
It’s a good idea to be varied with your choices when deciding which sites to show and not restrict those choices to just the all-singing all-dancing sites because simple brochure sites still have their place on the internet and your portfolio page should reflect that and appeal to a wide range of tastes.
It’s also worth noting that whatever websites you decide to display on your portfolio have clickable links, either next to or underneath the image or within the image itself so that visitors can go directly to a live example of your work. Images with no links will only frustrate and annoy them and make them unlikely to visit your site again.
Many potential customers know they want a website but have a hard job envisaging how that site should look and perform. Others may have a half-formed idea in their heads but need to see other examples that may help to make that idea complete – a portfolio page could help them to achieve this and more importantly, commission you to do it.
Until next time.
