Wednesday

Creating your online writing portfolio

Blogs are a viable portfolio option

Freelance writers often write at numerous sites. For many, having their work in one easy to navigate location can be critical. Having a freelance writing portfolio on one site can help a freelance writer when they need to apply for new writing assignments for clients or for review when they apply to new writing sites.
Why blogs work
One of the best things about using blog platforms is the flexibility they offer. Both Blogger and Wordpress offer free versions of their platforms that can be very beneficial when creating a portfolio. Keep in mind, the idea behind a portfolio is to put the "body" of your work into one easy location for others to view. When used properly, your blog can be marketed on social networking sites which could help attract additional clients.
By Lisa Risager from Denmark (WordPress 10th anniversary  Uploaded by palnatoke) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Using WordPress for your portfolio

There are two versions of Wordpress, one that is perfectly free and one that you can self-host or pay for hosting by WordPress. The primary difference between the two is whether you wish to put advertising on the blog you create. However, both are great tools for writers who are interested in creating an online writing portfolio.
Writers should make a decision regarding how they want their portfolio to look to potential readers before they begin creating their blog. While the blog layout can be changed at any time, it is usually helpful to decide up front what message you wish to send to visitors. While there are some plug-ins available for WordPress that allow writers to set up a "slide-show", there are more convenient ways to create a portfolio. Writers need not create hundreds of pages to display their work.

Building A WordPress Portfolio

It is not that difficult to build a portfolio using WordPress, here are the basic steps:
Step 1: Getting started
The very first step to setting up your writing portfolio with WordPress is to decide what type of layout you wish to use. WordPress templates can be customized in a variety of ways. The WordPress theme selector allows the user to customize their selection.
Step 2: Creating portfolio posts
When creating a blog post for a writing portfolio using WordPress, it is generally a good idea to create the post using the first paragraph of your online work. Once you have recreated the first paragraph add "Read and the name of the article" and hyperlink the article title to the
online article.
Step 3: Categorize post for maximum searchability
Categorizing portfolio items allows the readers to determine which online writing site the articles are displayed on. Using categories and subcategories will also help the writer categorize their writing better and allows potential clients to look at specific areas of expertise rather than sorting through all articles to figure out what categories are applicable. For example, if you have a large number of "finance" articles, you should have a finance category. Any category where you have 10 or more articles should be included.
Step 4: Selecting the right tags
When posting tags in WordPress, it is helpful to use tags that will not only help the blog be found by search engines, but also add to the writer's online credibility. Writers should include their name, the writing site name and the title of the post.
Once these have been completed, writers can simply save the post and it will be posted immediately. It may take only a few minutes or may take several hours or days before Google and other search engines capture the post and include it in searches. Examples of good tags are "yourname, legal writer" or "your name, freelancer".
Important notes: Keep in mind, you can garner additional page views to your online work by including a link to the specific article. In some instances, you can also gain higher search engine placement because you have developed your own, credible backlinks as well.


Building a Blogger portfolio

In addition to being free, Blogger offers some additional benefits that freelance writers may find helpful including:
A) Customized templates - Blogger is simple to use even for those who are not technically capable of setting up their own website. There are several templates that may be selected and for those who have more technical skills, they can customize their own template;
B) Ability to set up pages - Setting up additional pages on Blogger is fairly straightforward and allows for terms of service pages, resume pages, etc.
C) Monetization options - Freelancers can integrate AdSense, InfoLinks or other monetization options at no cost.
Here is how to create a writing portfolio using Blogger.

Building a Blogger portfolio

Step 1: Getting started
If you do not have an existing Google account, you will need to create one. Keep in mind, you should use your pen name if appropriate. Once you have your account, log into Blogger from your dashboard.
Check out the templates available and if desired, customize the template to suit your individual needs. Select the appropriate widgets for monetization purposes if you plan to monetize your blog. If you do not have an existing AdSense account, wait until you have populated your portfolio.
Step 2: Moving your work in
Open up whatever document you are using to keep track of your titles. From the Blogger dashboard, select "New Post". Copy and paste the article title into the blog post title.
There are two options for tagging you work which are:
  1. Article title - You may use the article title as a tag or you may use other tags. Keep in mind, Blogger restricts you to 200 characters in tags
  2. Keywords - Select relevant keywords and include in the tags field. You may also want to consider tagging the site where your original work is located such as "HubPages" and include "writing portfolio" or "portfolio"
Step 3: Creating your post body
The next step is to create the body of the blog post. In most cases it is appropriate to use the first paragraph of an article for the post. If the first paragraph is too short, it is recommended that all or part of the second paragraph be included. If you so desire, you can rewrite the first paragraph to make it a bit more enticing to readers; something that will encourage them to read further.
Step 4: Create your clickable link
After creating the post body, type "Read More" and the name of the original article. Highlight the name of the article and hyperlink it to your original work. Keep in mind, that while this will send readers away from your portfolio, they will also be increasing your potential revenue on whatever site your original work appears on.
Step 5: Finishing touches
Finally, select "publish" or select "other options" and schedule the post for a later date. For those who are using social media programs, copy the name of the post and the hyperlinked location and post it to your social networks. Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can all drive traffic and create a buzz. If you use Google's link shortening system, you can also get detailed traffic analysis on each post.