A few years ago, I made the decision to create a digital footprint, to have it act as my digital portfolio and supplement my resume. Even though it took a few years, making a conscious choice to do a portfolio project re-design was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done professionally, even though I did it just for me.
The issue was that my site never actually…looked good. I’d been updating websites for years, changing content of all kinds. One day, I’d re-write an intro, crop some photos, troubleshoot a form – all of it easy peasy. But the site that was supposed to represent me…never clicked together.
What was my Site Missing?
At first, creating a site from scratch was…daunting. To be worthwhile, this site needed to be my best representation.
Arriving somewhere that spoke to my abilities required me to face several hard truths:
- I needed to slow down, and really think through who I was as a professional
- My portfolio was in desperate need of well….anything to flesh it out – my work focused on sustaining, not creating
- I needed a personal brand (I thought we were past this as a society, and I was WRONG)- cobbling together things I liked wasn’t enough to show my skills. Consistency in my U/X.
What was the Site’s Purpose?
Thinking through, who I was professionally took years to ideate. At the core, what was my focus? Was it SEO? What about Content? What even is content? Is content copy? Can I list that when I haven’t been paid to write since college?
I had no idea what to set myself up for.
Across most disciplines (SEO and Content included), that’s the first step. Because I was unfocused, so was my site. After that clicked, I had the clarity to adapt. While my formal background was in content, my professional time was all about the user. I can call them a customer, guest, reader, but it’s all the same – the end user.
When I returned to that lens, focusing my site was a snap. Across both CMS and content, the work I do (and will continue to do) boils down to one thing: can my user/audience use it in one try?
Most importantly:
- Does the copy tell you who I am?
- Do the links take you where you need to be?
- Have I explained the concept and process of my projects clearly?
- Is my site user friendly?
These are my success metrics, and while this exercise was for my personal use, the questions remain true to all my work.
Building a Working Portfolio
With a decreased team size during Covid-19, my role inherited management of a copywriter and took up a copy mantle.
Working in tandem with a creative team to ideate, build and execute emails, promotions and internal messaging allowed me to build this portfolio and increase my toolkit. This process also gave me the time to think through my personal brand and connect it to the work I actually did – not simply aspirational work.
To do this, I had to move beyond a single platform, like I mentioned earlier. Web is multi-dimensional and rich, with a foundation in copy. Starting at my core competency of content, I brought in copy and function to start populating samples.
Creating portfolio pieces that collaborated across teams was like coming home. At the core, anyone who works in web is a communicator, which meant that I could tap into my undergrad days as well as my travel and hospitality career. Copy brought me back to that mindset to streamline and communicate. A return to storyboarding, conceptualizing and creating reinforced the mindset I try to apply to all platforms: how does this benefit the end user as well as the messenger?
Building a Portfolio Site
Oof. Building a site was a trial.
I hosted my site on WordPress.com, which was fine, until I needed more. I had a custom url, no SEO tools, no Google Analytics tracking and…my biggest concern: no control over my site colors. This site was mine, but it wasn’t me. I had to figure out how to change that.
To me, the benefit for the .com version was that the hosting, tools etc. were housed in a single interface. Migrating to the .org instance required more overall spend (please, learn from my mistakes!), but granted the flexibility I craved.
To arrive here, I needed a few essential services:
- WP Bakery Page Builder (my latest purchase, but most essential) – $45
- Hosting (I went through BlueHost through a promo on WordPress Beginner‘s comparison guide)
- $12.99 for a domain transfer
- $13.76 for domain privacy and protection
- $106.20 for three years of hosting
Tapping into these services gave me what I wanted. The site you see now is clean, it’s logical and…it looks how I want it to look.
I can chat deeper about what this all means, but let’s save the tech for when we know each other better. Investing in these changes forced me to commit and solidify. I also had to learn how to use these new interfaces to create the experience I wanted.
I also had to design my (temporary) logo using design tools (which I don’t really want to talk about – I’m still hurting from that exercise).
The Takeaway
Yeah….and?
You’re right. What’s in it for you now that you’ve read all of this?
To be blunt – I wanted to share that your CV/Portfolio/Resume/overall presence is a constant work in progress, and you’re doing great – even if you pivot a few times.
Right now, there’s a deluge of Covid Productivity Guilt and I’m not sharing to be part of that. 2020 started off with a change in my title and responsibility at work that brought clarity and new experiences under high pressure. It took me nine months to organize that clarity and update an ongoing project.
There’s value in taking a step back to understand the the skills you have (and learning to appreciate them) as well as identifying the instruments that can bridge what you lack.