Want to have an online presence but don’t want the expense of paying for your own website? While we’d suggest having your own website as you’ll have the ability to add your own URL, add personality and decide how things are displayed on screen, there are lots of options for people starting out, or wanting to grow their following.
We’re going to take you through the best options below – and if you want to read what we think are the best sites to build your own portfolio on, you can find it here.
Behance
It’s the world’s largest creative network for showcasing and discovering creative work – and owned by Adobe. Simply create a profile and start uploading projects. They can contain images, videos, GIFs and copy blocks. You can also add tags and rearrange them by changing their dates.
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Dribbble
Definitely geared more towards designers and illustrators this one. You can only upload individual ‘shots’ on the free version. You’ll have to go Pro to have multiple images grouped together. You’ll find quite a few people upload a lot of work in progress (WIP) designs asking for feedback, or will upload individual elements that were part of a bigger piece. Good sharing WIP designs or getting feedback, maybe not so perfect for housing your whole portfolio without paying for the Pro version.
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The Dots
A creative community similar to LinkedIn but geared specifically towards creatives. There’s a project page section where you can upload your work and tag people in. It allows for images, video and text. You can apply for jobs on there and also submit your projects, which is handy too.
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Wix
The only website to appear in both paid and free portfolio building articles. On the free version you can still pick themes and use the drag and drop page builder, but with less options available. The free version also has a really annoying banner across the top and you’ll have a Wix URL, rather than a custom domain, but that’s the same for all the options. If you want to upgrade later, it’s £3pm for custom domain and £6pm to remove the Wix banner.
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Tumblr
Know more as a blogging or site to host random images and quotes, they actually offer a couple of free portfolio themes, or you can build/customise your own. The slightly annoying thing is every time you enter a Tumblr site for the first time is that you get a full page ‘Tumblr Cookies’ screen which you have to agree too. Not the best start for someone wanting to view your work, but then again you’re not paying for anything. You can also add a custom domain if you want, which you buy separately. One quick watch out is that a few years ago, some firewalls blocked Tumblr (parental guidance shizz), but that may have changed recently. WFH stops us checking that fact.
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