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This Is How You Fix These Common Web Design Portfolio Mistakes

Talking about your portfolio, you need to have a strong portfolio for your webpage. It creates your first impression as a website in the eyes of your audience. And it is a common trait seen in many website owners that they seem to ignore the fact that your website portfolio matters a lot. And hence, the probability of making web design portfolio mistakes becomes even higher. So today, we are here to explain to you some of the most common web design portfolio mistakes with their solutions. But first, let us understand the significance of a Web Design Portfolio. 

web design portfolio mistakes

Importance Of Web Design Portfolio

The first question that arises in the minds of the audience is that What Is Web Design Portfolio? And why is it important? Well, allow us to explain that to you. A well-organized and efficient web design portfolio is nothing but a sample of your service. This portfolio helps you in generating more traffic and needless to say, this leads to an increase in your profits. You might have heard the famous expression that The First Impression Is The Last Impression. A web design portfolio is the “first impression” of your webpage. It improves the fundamental branding and image of your business in the market. 

But, as mentioned earlier, people don’t consider this factor important and end up making blunders that impact their business on a large scale. And to make sure that you don’t make these mistakes, let’s take a look at the list of the most common web design portfolio mistakes and how to solve them. 

1. Not Being Up To Date 

So we all know that if you have to survive in a market you have to be with the trend. In this era of social media and the virtual world, we get to see new trends almost every day. And this is a boon as well as a curse for every business owner. You can either make it your weapon to create a connection with the audience or make this your enemy by posting and keeping irrelevant and outdated content on your page. If your portfolio involves old-fashioned content or your website highlights impertinent samples, it creates a bad impression about your site. And even if the content on your site is good enough, the first impression thing works, and your visitor automatically presumes many negative ideas about your site. 

The visitor is forced to think that your website does not deal with advanced services and products making your website look dumb. And this affects your website negatively. Now, that we have understood the problem, let us talk about the solution. 

The Solution:

The most effective solution to this problem is to observe your website’s portfolio every once in a while. You will also see some redundant stuff while you do so. Simply replace that useless stuff with new, fresh, and up-to-date content. You should also observe your competitors and some of the best portfolio websites to take and an idea about how they are operating and designing their portfolio as well as service-related content. Moreover, if your recently completed projects are not good enough, substitute them with the newer ones.  

2. Absence of ‘About Us’ Section On Your Website

The About Us section on your site is a really important factor when we see it from the customer’s perspective. Many people ignore this factor. But a basic human psyche demands some sort of security. If a customer needs assistance or some information about your site, they need to know your contact details as well as your business details.

The reason we are addressing this problem is that there is a mile of difference between the online store and an offline store. On the web, you don’t exchange words with the customers personally. Where in an offline store, your body language matters a lot to create an impression on the client, you don’t get that experience online. Hence, it becomes a must for you to provide the necessary details about you and your business. 

The Solution:

All you need to do to solve the problem is to scribble some sentences with an interesting choice of words describing your business. And by doing this, your customer and visitor will have some sense of security within, and hence the chances of conversion will increase. 

The ‘About Us’ section must include every single detail about your business that is important. Remember to keep it simple and precise, 250-300 words will work. Now, to add more glory and credibility, you should add your formal photograph near the about us section. This will be the cherry on the cake. When you do this, your prospects will get to know about you and their faith in you will increase. 

If you would like to, you can also hire professional writers to write this content and professional photographers to click some nice pictures of you.  

3. Not Showing Variety While Designing The Portfolio

Now, this is a common trait found in the website holders that most of them ignore the importance of including popular web design tools such as sliders and similar ones. It is fine if you don’t want to use such tools. But, to be in the market and rocket your sales, you need to understand what your customer wants and how can you fulfill his needs. Because, if you focus only on your profit and don’t align your site with your customer’s preference, your business can get affected terribly. 

The Solution

Now people the solution here is really simple. You need to find out the needs of your customers and understand the type of service that you are offering. This will give you an idea of which designing element should you choose. Select the favorable one keeping those two factors in mind. This will make your sample more reliable and diverse leading to a satisfied and happy customer. 

4. Not Including Your Achievements 

This mistake can cause you the loss of many potential clients. If you are running a business and you don’t mention the reviews of your previous clients, you are missing an opportunity! As a business owner, your core focus will be on generating more profit and getting more customers, right? So, why don’t you put proof of your success? 

 Social proof is a great way to showcase your talent and the nature of your services. You can use them as a weapon to convince your client that you are fit for the services they are looking for. This is what author Austin Kleon writes in his book Show Your Work. You need to show them, that you are worthy enough. This will attract more visitors to your site as well as more clients to your business. 

The Solution:

And as far as implementing social proof in your portfolio is concerned, you can consider Case Studies as an excellent start. Case Studies give the client an overview of various aspects of your work. From your day-to-day processes and how you tackle a project, to the care and attention you give to a project. 

Talking about case studies, this is what a standard case study format looks like:

  • Problem
  • Solution
  • Result

In your case study, clearly state the problem you were asked to solve and define how you solved that problem. Make sure you mention the problems, your reaction and how you solved them, and the key results. This will allow you to help you in adding a lot of context to your work and showcasing your design thinking.

The aforementioned format can be particularly handy and attractive for clients who are facing similar problems as mentioned in the case study. It will highlight your willingness to not just make beautiful things but also solve the problems of your clients and the most important, delivering desirable results.

Also, Testimonials are quite handy. However, they are considered as a marketing ploy. Both of these tools will help your visitors and clients to know about the pros and cons of your business. Which, in turn, will increase the probability of getting more clients. This is because your gesture highlights Trust and Transparency. 

5. Offering Broken Navigation

Let’s explore a technical mistake of the most common web design portfolio mistakes. It is needless to state the importance of strong navigation for any website. If your visitor comes across the 404 links under the sea, they will regret visiting your site. Even after knowing this fact, people tend to repeat this mistake. If you observe the best portfolio websites across the globe, you will see many factors that make them the best. And one of those is Strong Navigation. 

This fact evinces the importance of strong navigation. If you don’t have strong navigation, the visitors won’t be happy to give you their businesses. Now that we have understood the problem, let’s talk about the solution. 

The Solution:

In order to solve this problem, you need to use the Broken Link Checker plugin every month. This plugin will help you in identifying the barriers and getting rid of them in no time. This will lead to a hassle-free website leading to an enhanced and premium user experience. 

6. Lack of Purpose

Even if you have understood the above mistakes and will not commit them in the future. You still need to define your primary goal as to why you are doing it. You cannot build a website just because of the Fear Of Missing Out. You need to have a certain goal and make efforts to achieve that goal. Besides, if you don’t even know what you want to achieve, how will you know when you have achieved it. This creates a sense of dissatisfaction because we don’t have clear goals and are just shooting in the dark just because everyone is doing so. 

The Solution:

The solution is here is simple. You need to calm your mind and sit down first. Now write down on a piece of paper the reasons you are doing this. Also, make sure to write down your predominant thoughts about the same. Now, you have to define your goals both short term, as well as, long term. Prioritize them and ask yourself a question every once in a while, ‘ Am I doing what I need to do to achieve those goals?’ If the answer within is a yes, then you are on the right track. If the answer is no, try to improve yourself. 

By the way, this is not a motivational article. But honestly, you need to make sure that your sole purpose is defined so that you can give your 100% to achieve that. 

So this was it for today. I hope this article on web design portfolio mistakes provided you some value and if it did, consider sharing it. Also, let us know your opinions in the comment section. Thank You!  

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