Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Whether you’re a UX designer, freelance writer, or photographer, an impressive online portfolio is critical for impressing potential clients, and landing future jobs.
But crafting a good digital portfolio can feel like a daunting task, especially when you aren’t even sure which website you should use to create one. Here, we’ve created a list of the nine best portfolio websites for designers, freelancers, and photographers, to ensure you’re able to showcase your best work in any industry.

What is an online portfolio?
An online portfolio is a collection of your work that showcases your skills and abilities. A portfolio should include your past work experiences, qualifications and skills, degrees or certifications you’ve completed, any awards or accolades you’ve earned, as well as some examples of your work. Examples of your work might be photographs, writing samples, case studies, spreadsheets, or lesson plans, depending on your field.
Best Free Portfolio Websites for Freelance Writers
1. Journo Portfolio

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On Journo Portfolio you can create a sleek, modern digital portfolio easily. The site offers nine distinct themes, and adding an article is as easy as pasting a URL and clicking add — the site takes care of incorporating the title, publication, date, content, and image. Features include the ability to integrate with Google Analytics or use Journo’s built-in analytics tools to measure visitors. Additionally, your site is automatically mobile-ready.
You can also blog straight from the platform, which could be useful if you want to showcase freelance work and your current blog in one place. Journo lets you create multiple pages, so you can have a Contact Me or About Me page, as well as your freelance portfolio.
Pros

Live preview editor
Built-in analytics plus Google Analytics integration
Pre-built themes
Subscribe and contact forms
Mobile-friendly

Cons

Free plan limits you to 10 articles max
For unlimited articles, you’ll need to pay $5-$10 per month

2. Muck Rack

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Muck Rack is a free media database that helps connect journalists with PR professionals, so if you use the site, you’ll have good opportunities to network and receive PR pitches. You can even include specific topics you don’t want to cover, which will filter out unfit pitches.
Additionally, for true ease-of-use, Muck Rack creates and maintains your portfolio for you by automatically compiling articles and social media profiles. Once it’s finished, you have the option to customize your bio, or choose to spotlight certain pieces.
Muck Rack also offers a news alerts system, which enables you to track stories or tweets about a company, brand, or specific story angle. With their news alerts system, you can see when other journalists share information or publish stories related to your work, which will help you stay on-top of trends.
Pros

Ideal for journalists
Auto-updates profile
News alerts system for tracking stories and trends
Allows you to easily build media lists

Cons

Some formatting issues when uploading content from Excel
Does not integrate with other reporting and monitoring tools

3. WordPress.com

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WordPress, a major content management platform, lets you create a blog with a separate portfolio page for free. While not specifically geared towards freelance writers, WordPress offers over 100 free themes to craft a unique blog and showcase your work. If you want complete creative control over your portfolio, this is a good option for you.
Additionally, you might choose to use WordPress if you want to showcase your writing along with other skills — if you want a page for writing and a page for your photography, for instance, WordPress offers a variety of themes and is flexible enough to enable you to demonstrate various pieces of creative work.
Pros

Ideal for bloggers
Can create portfolio page separate from blog
100+ free themes available
Comes with SSL certificate and JetPack features for improving website performance

Cons

Free plan shows ads
Limited storage at 3 GB

Best Free Portfolio Websites for Designers
4. Behance

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With millions of UX/UI designers, artists, and photographers on the site, Behance is one of the most widely-used online portfolio websites. It’s also extremely simple and easy to use — you can organize your work based on project, list projects under construction, and ask followers for feedback. Additionally, the site allows you to link your portfolio to your social media accounts.
Behance’s massive digital community makes it a good option to get your name out there, particularly since recruiters and interviewers peruse the site to find talent, as well. However, Behance displays the number of people who have viewed your work and liked it, which can be more advantageous — but riskier — than a more straightforward website portfolio.
Pros

Ideal for creatives who don’t have time to create their own standalone portfolio site
Can get feedback from followers
Includes social proof in terms of views and likes on portfolio site

Cons

Limited design and feature options on free plan
The display of views and likes can be risky if not enough people see or appreciate a project 

5. Adobe Portfolio

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If you already have a Creative Cloud membership, then Adobe Portfolio is an excellent option to create a single-page website, or a full gallery of your work. With Adobe Portfolio you’re able to set up a sleek and customized portfolio in minutes, and each of the platform’s themes are automatically optimized for any device.
Additionally, Adobe Portfolio offers the ability to integrate with Behance and Adobe Lightroom to import your projects for greater visibility. 
Pros

Option to create multi- or single-page website
Offers 18 responsive themes
Integrations with Behance and Adobe Lightroom

Cons

Only free if have Creative Cloud membership

6. Crevado

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One of the easiest free portfolio websites, Crevado lets you use a simple drag-and-drop tool to upload your projects and rearrange on the screen for true ease-of-use. The site is also automatically optimized for any device, so your portfolio can be viewed on a smartphone or tablet as well as a desktop.
Crevado also comes with secure hosting and SSL certification so your portfolio site remains secure. You can customize your design to suit your preferences without writing any code. Best of all, you can sell your work online thanks to the platform’s integrations with PayPal and Fotomoto.  
The only downside is that free users can’t remove the link to Crevado in their website footer. You’ll have to upgrade to a pro account to do so.
Pros

Drag-and-drop interface 
Responsive designs
Secure hosting and SSL certification
PayPal and Fotomoto integrations allow you to sell work

Cons

Free plan shows Crevado link in website footer 

Best Free Portfolio Websites for Photographers
7. Flickr

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Undoubtedly one of the most well-known portfolio sites with billions of photos and millions of members, Flickr is a good site to share your own work, connect with other photographers, and find inspiration for future projects.
However, Flickr’s community-oriented platform can make it difficult to showcase your best work and appear professional — particularly since the site is typically used to share images with friends and family. For this reason, many designers also suggest creating a more polished portfolio website, and then linking to that website from Flickr. 
Pros

Ideal for photographers just starting out
Great to connect with others and find inspiration

Cons

Limited to GIF, PNG, and JPEG photo formats 

Limited to 1,000 photos on free plan
Will likely outgrow the site as you advance

8. Portfoliobox

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Portfoliobox is a website builder specifically designed for photographers, and it’s a good option for crafting a professional-looking responsive gallery of your best work. Additionally, Portfoliobox offers an ecommerce link that allows you to sell your prints or other artwork directly from the site (without paying any commission). With the free plan, you can create a blog to further attract visitors and potential customers to your site.
Best of all, Portfoliobox doesn’t make you use a standard theme — instead, you can integrate any style for any page to cultivate a unique, one-of-a-kind website. With more than one million users, it’s a good option for both professional and novice photographers.
Pros

Ideal for photographers at any skill level
Can sell prints on this site commission-free
Can use different style for every page

Cons

No drag-and-drop functionality
Limited customization options for ecommerce

9. YouPic

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YouPic’s users include famous photographers like Joel Meyerowitz and Julia Fullerton-Batten. Another site specifically designed for photographers, YouPic enables you to craft a free stunning portfolio to showcase your work. It also allows you to buy prints from other photographers or sell your own to make some additional income.
Additionally, the site offers interactive courses to improve your photography skills, as well as a Pinterest-style “Explore” page that lets you check out popular photographs, new artwork, and stories to inspire your own gallery. And, most interesting to note, YouPic allows users the opportunity to copyright their photos on the blockchain, and is the first decentralized photography platform. That means YouPic is one of the few platforms that won’t take any rights or ownership of your work. 
Pros

Can sell prints on this site commission-free
Can copyright photos on blockchain
Doesn’t take any rights or ownership of your work

Cons

Have to upgrade to premium membership for YouPic to promote your work

For further inspiration, check out 21 Memorable Photography Portfolio Websites to Inspire You or The 12 Best Graphic Design Portfolios We’ve Ever Seen, & How to Start Your Own.
Creating Your Online Portfolio
An online portfolio provides evidence of your work and skills, which can set you apart from other candidates or professionals in your field. Using any of the tools above, you can create a free portfolio in no time. What are you waiting for?
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Facebook Groups are nothing new to the marketing world, but they present a variety of interesting business opportunities.
They’re an excellent place for two-way communication between businesses and customers. And if a Group is public, it’s a great place for prospects to learn about your brand, products, mission, and current customers as well.

Ultimately, Facebook Groups give businesses the chance to engage with their audience in a more meaningful and authentic way than they ever could using their Page.

Here are eigth Facebook Groups that are crushing it to help inspire your future Facebook marketing strategy.
The purpose of this list is to provide you with the business and marketing inspiration you need to create, maintain, and manage a Group that your prospects and customers love.
1.HubSpot Academy Content Marketing Pros

Members: 27.1K

HubSpot Academy’s Content Marketing Pros Group is a private group — meaning, members need to request to be a part of it. Once in the group, members can share ideas about content challenges and projects they’re working on as well as how they’re using or plan to use HubSpot in order to help them with those challenges and/or projects.
Members can share details about courses they’ve taken and how they’ve applied the lessons learned to their content marketing roles. They can also list ideas for courses they would like to see HubSpot Academy produce in the future.
The way that this Group is set up encourages a sense of community among customers and users as well as offers a space for them to provide actionable feedback and insights about the Group and/or product in discussion.
2. Instant Pot

Members: 3M

This popular electric cooker brand uses its Group to create a space where the international community of Instant Pot users can ask questions, post unique recipes, and share the joy of cooking with their products.
They also offer limited trouble-shooting in the case that any customers experience any issues or have product-specific questions. They rarely ever promote their products within the Group, outside of the occasional giveaway where members can enter to win prizes to use with their Instant Pot.
3. Women of Impact by National Geographic

Members: 71.8K

When it comes to the art of inspiring and being a voice for change, there are very few who do it quite as well as National Geographic. This group, Women of Impact, focuses on “celebrating world-shaping powerhouses” and encourages anyone who’s passionate about women breaking barriers in their fields to join.
The publication uses Facebook Groups to connect with their audience members in a way that aligns with issues and initiatives that they, and those audience members, care deeply about.
4. Elementor

Members: 115K

Elementor, a WordPress page builder plugin, has a private Facebook Group that, on average, sees over 4,400 posts every month. The Group exists to serve as a place where Elementor users can help each other learn how to use the page builder and answer any questions or resolve any challenges they may be experiencing.
The group is managed by volunteers which just highlights the fact that Elementor isn’t using the community for promotional reasons but rather as a place where community members can communicate, collaborate, and encourage each other, as well as self educate.‏‏‎ ‎
5. Official Peloton Member Page

Members:430.2K

The Official Peloton Member Page is a private Group where customers and users can come together to discuss Peloton products including Bike, Tread, and Digital. It also serves a hub where those customers and users can learn about Peloton’s latest announcements, feature roll outs, and product updates.
And when it comes to exercise, this type of network or group provides value to its members as they’re able to share exercise plans, techniques, schedules, and training methods with one another.
6. MobileMonkey

Members:44.0K

MobileMonkey’s Group is product-specific and provides an environment where members can ask questions and share knowledge about MobileMonkey’s Instagram and Facebook Messenger, SMS & Chatbot Marketing products.
In this group, social media marketers, inbound marketers, PPC marketers, advertisers, entrepreneurs, and more can turn to each other and the resources available in the Group to determine the best ways to use and resolve challenges around MobileMonkey’s main products (including multi-channel chat marketing for Messenger, native web chat, Facebook ad platform, and SMS marketing).
7. Canva Design Circle

Members: 145.1K

Canva Design Circle is where members can learn how to take advantage of the product and its many features and functions through their Design School. Within the Group, Canva users are notified of the most recent product updates and tips and can discuss any topic related to design.
Canva encourages new members of the Group to introduce themselves upon entry. This fosters a sense of community, trust, and belonging the moment one enters. That warm welcome leads to more introductions among other members in the Group and conversations about design work, projects, jobs, challenges, etc.
8. Tasty

Members: 89.8K

Tasty Facebook Group Members share recipes, ideas for substitutes, and cooking tips. The group drives engagement by encouraging members to share their recipes in order to stand a chance of having that recipe featured on their website. They also run polls related to cooking and baking based on trends, season, holidays, and more.
By creating these competitions, incentives, and group activities, the company drives engagement on the page — they encourage members to interact and connect with one another which fosters a sense of community and camaraderie among Tasty fans.
Get the Facebook Group Inspiration You Need
A Facebook Group can be a powerful way to create a community around your brand and product or service. It’s where your prospects and customers can come to connect with one another and your business — this community, support, access to self-education, and brand awareness is an effective way to foster loyalty and delightful customer experiences that keep people coming back.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Email Marketing does not mean hundreds of unread messages. It means real profits. Every $1 marketers spent on EM provided $42 in return (Litmus). New Privacy Protection updates could drastically lower the OR of marketing emails and influence the profit of a company. The eCommerce industry must be aware of the upcoming changes and ready to adjust to a new, inevitable reality.

 

The steps taken by the major browser makers

 

A change is coming and no one can escape it. For Apple, privacy has always been one of the priorities, but their latest update raised a lot of uncertainty in the advertising and marketing world. Three sentences in respect of the iOS 15 aroused the most concerns. Apple claims that their new function:

 

hides your IP address,
hides your location,
hides if you open emails.

 

With their latest update, Apple introduces new features “Privacy Relay” and “Hide My Emails”. IOS users will be offered a “Protect Your Mail Activity” option, which means that now the company will block tracking pixels that are included in most marketing emails as a method of measuring open ratio, and mask IP address and location of a receiver. They have already introduced the capability to block third-party data to their Safari browser. Intelligent Tracking Prevention limits the trackability within the period of 24 hours after the customer’s first interaction with the website.  It is worth mentioning that Apple is not the first and probably not the last to make such changes.

 

Mozilla has been working on eliminating third-party cookies from Firefox for several years. In 2015, they had offered their users basic Tracking Protection, which turned into Enhanced Tracking Protection over the next four years. The function is a default feature that blocks third-party data, giving customers the ability to disable the blocking for a particular website. 

 

Google does not fall behind, however, they took a different approach. In the interest of advertisers and marketers the company is preparing their users for the entire phase-out of third-party data by the end of 2022. That means that Chome, Google’s browser, will completely transition to using only first-party and zero-party data. This move will affect customers significantly, since almost 70% of the global desktop internet users, and 39% of mobile users currently operate on Chrome (Statista).

 

Do you want to learn more about first-party and zero-party data? Check this article!

 

Email Marketing in light of changes

 

What distinguishes a good marketer is not the technology they use, but their ability to adapt to circumstances. In the light of upcoming changes, this ability will be put to the test. Here are some aspects to which marketers will have to adapt to:

 

lower OR, depleted by the majority of iOS users,
unconventional deliverability tracking to make sure that emails are received,
CTR (clickthrough rate) as a new way of measuring engagement,
limited segmentation, since engagement and location of users will not be shown,
statistics such as ‘last open date’ won’t be accurate,
limitations on A/B tests,
deleting inactive subscribers will be more challenging.

 

The reason behind third-party cookies death

 

The entire eCommerce industry is probably wonderingif such a transition is necessary. Whether anyone agrees with the occuring changes, or not, that is apparently what customers want. People appreciate personalization, but they are worried about their privacy. They do not feel comfortable with the way their data is shared and distributed, and they demand a choice. Consequently, we can observe an increase in data privacy laws, to which the limitation of third-party data is a direct response. Some companies offer permission-based options, and others block it entirely. However, the purpose of all these steps is to ultimately eliminate third-party data.

 

What does it mean for eCommerce

 

As we can already assume, the steps made by the major browser makers also mean changes for eCommerce. To adjust to the new reality and be fully prepared for the future, advertisers and marketers need to be aware of:

 

limitations – that concerns mainly businesses that base on Email Marketing, since they might experience harder acquisition of new clients. Difficulties in performing effective A/B tests might be also noticed,

loyal base – as the occuring changes mean a switch from traditional to subscription-based marketing, marketers will be able to mainly reach their already existing loyal base,

CDP database – to target a client directly a CDP (Customer Data Platform) database collects first-party and zero-party data about them, namely the date of the latest interaction, source of lead, engagement with other websites, etc.,

contextual advertising – in the light of recent updates this old and simple strategy might be worth considering again. Contextual advertising analyzes keywords of websites, compares them, and displays ads on those pages that are most similar to each other,

new solutions – the development of new technologies that will satisfy customers but also support marketers has been a work in progress for some time. Google’s The Privacy Sandbox, and LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution will collect real-time, consented data without using third-party data,

new goals – since a significant part of customers will now become untraceable it is crucial to adjust open-rate goals. Gathering the current data of OR from iOS users and determining new high, average, and low OR  might turn out to be a priority, 

leaving OR behind – instead of OR it is worth to focus on more accurate metrics, such as click rates, recency of sign up, or email engagement. Also, text messages shouldn’t be disregarded. This method of communication is incredibly engaging. 90% of marketing text messages get read within 3 minutes since they are delivered (Forbes). 

 

A brief summary

 

Nowadays, customers are demanding both personalization and privacy. As a consequence, the world’s largest companies are introducing privacy protection updates, preparing the world for the fact that we will soon completely forget about third-party data. Some have already taken these steps, while others are slowly making advertisers and marketers ready while looking for a solution that will not harm online advertising. It is crucial for the eCommerce industry to get acquainted with the changes and be ready to adjust to an upcoming future of online marketing.