How I Designed My Freelance Portfolio Website in 10 Minutes (Portfolio Examples + Live Video)
Updated: Dec 12, 2023
How do I create a freelance portfolio website?
Do you want to learn how to design a freelance portfolio for your new freelance business?
This guide shows you how to start your freelance website in 10 minutes or less (without having to join Fiverr, Freelancer.com, Upwork, or any Job boards...).
My name is Simon Zaku and I've been able to start a freelance writing service business and grow it to $2,500 monthly with no clients from Freelance sites like Fiverr, Upwork, or Peopleperhour.
As a freelance writer today, you need to find a way to attract clients rather than go after them.
What's the easiest way?
A freelance portfolio website!
To attract freelance clients, build a freelance portfolio website that showcases your freelance skills and expertise to prospective clients.
I started with a “portfolio” site but realized I needed to present myself more as a business owner and niche expert and less like a "freelancer".
I wanted to be able to attract huge freelance clients so I took the time to build a personal brand. And about 2 months in, I landed a $500 per month client.
In this tutorial blog post, I will teach you how to set up a high-converting portfolio website that attracts clients for your freelance writing business.
When I started, I stayed up all night on Fiverr and Freelancer.com (Peopleperhour was my next favorite) hoping for the next writing client to contact me.
I was always editing my freelancer profile hoping it would send clients - it never did!
After about 2 years, I only got a few clients that paid me less than $50 for my writing services.
Feels like you?
This could be because I didn’t know how these platforms operated but think about it:
Fiverr has over 830 active freelancers, Upwork also has 18 million while Freelancer.com has about 12 million registered freelancers.
That's a lot of competition!
You can simply, set up your freelance portfolio website for a freelance business.
Getting started with a website is quite easy. The first step is to select a web hosting company.
I use and recommend Wix, Hostgator, and Bluehost for my web hosting services.
What is a web host and what do I need it for as a freelance writer?
A Webhost is a service or system that allows businesses, individuals, and freelancers to create and manage a website or web page on the Internet.
What hosting service do I recommend?
I use Wix for this blog but Bluehost is one powerful option I've used and recommend as well.
Websites need a web host to go live.
There are a bunch of hosting service providers online.
Click here to see the top hosting sites I recommend.
With Wix, setting up a website is as easy as setting up a Facebook or LinkedIn account.
Here’s how to create a freelance portfolio website with Bluehost:
To register your hosting plan, head over to Bluehost.com click on the Get Started button, and select your preferred plan.
The “Hatching Plan” at 1 year is the recommended choice for beginners, but if you have the budget and you want to get your hosting once and forget, then selecting 3 years will reduce your fee rate per month.
Most people stay with Bluehost long-term as they grow their business, so a longer option (if you can afford it up-front) is what I recommend.
Are you still confused about what hosting plan to pick? Feel free to shoot me an email and I’ll personally help you out.
Next, type in your domain name of choice.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser URL bar to visit your website.
In simple terms, if your website was a house, then your domain name would be its address.
simonzaku.com is my domain.
I also use simonzaku.com
Get an idea?
You can either register a new domain name right there on Hostgator, or input a domain name you’ve registered elsewhere but, I highly recommend you register a new domain since it’s free and you’re not paying for it.
Create your Username and Security PIN (these don’t have to be fancy because you can always change them later on)
Next, I want you to pay attention to the “Add Additional Services” section.
As a beginner, I recommend that you uncheck all the boxes as you will not be needing any of these extra services.
Enter your billing info (as you would for any other online purchase like at Amazon or on Netflix), and ensure you’ve read and agreed to Hostgator’s terms of use, then, you can check out your order.
Congratulations, you’re already well ahead of other freelance writers.
Next, we’ll install a fresh copy of WordPress.org – known as the most easy-to-use and elegant software for blogging and simple websites powering all of my websites including my main website, simonzaku.com.
After making your order, it is time to check your inbox for an email with the subject line: “HostGator.com Your Account Info” which contains three vital pieces of information:
- Username
- Password (can change this later on if you want)
- Control Panel Link
Once you’ve read this over briefly, just click on the Control Panel link right in the email, and you’ll be taken to the HostGator control panel, which is commonly called cPanel but before we move on, I want to take a few seconds to CONGRATULATE YOU ON YOUR BIG MOVES!
You’re making great, great, progress!
The next thing is to install WordPress.
Installing WordPress to Your Bluehost
Remember the email you got from Bluehost?
You want to keep that email open because you will need to enter your username and password to install WordPress.
Bluehost offers various ways by which you can install WordPress on their server. But here’s the simplest way I’ve found:
On your control panel, scroll down and choose “Quick Install”.
Click on the cPanel login link to log in and access your HostGator portal.
On your portal dashboard, click on “Install WordPress”. And you should see a page like this:
Select your domain (the address you initially picked during setup) and click NEXT.
On the next page, fill in your website details and finally click the INSTALL button.
You want to pick a theme for your new freelance website.
Your theme is the design of your website - it is what determines how a website looks.
You should receive an email with your login details (just like Bluehost). And your website should be live at thedomainyoupicked/wp-admin/].
You want to bookmark this link because it is your main administrator login link and that’s exactly what you’ll use whenever you want to log in to your website dashboard to create & upload content, make edits, and change design.
Mine is simonzaku.com/wp-admin/.
To access your WordPress dashboard, go to your unique WordPress link and log in.
The sidebar displays a list of features, plugins, and customizations that you can do with your newly created website.
On the menu, you’ll see an option called “Appearance” - Hover over it and select “Themes”.
You’ll be taken to your unique Themes page where you can search, find, activate, and customize all of your themes.
And since we’re here to change your theme so that it is fully ready to convert visitors into people who pay you, simply click on the “Add New” button.
You can either upload themes (zip file) or search for templates right in your WordPress dashboard.
Scroll down to find the template that best suits your brand and then you can customize it to suit your specific needs.
Your WordPress website should be live when you go to yourdomain.com. And now you are almost ready to start taking in writing clients for your business.
Are you excited to start getting people to email you to work with you?
That is cool but before you get too excited about attracting clients and demanding your rightful cash, let me ask you a question:
How Do You Attract Traffic and Clients to Your New Freelance Portfolio Website?
After building a solid portfolio website, the next (and most interesting) step to take is to get the first person or business to pay you at least 4 figures for your services (I mean content writing, videography, consultation, coaching, etc), through the very website you’ve just created.
Here’s the bitter truth:
“Except you have a proven system on the ground, you WILL NEVER GET ANY CLIENTS”
And you might probably end up giving up!
You see when I began as a new freelancer, my idea was that I had to design my website and keep tweaking it until it luckily charms a potential client.
I tried tweaking my design…
Asked for referrals from literally everyone I could get in contact with (on my Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook pages)…
AND even sent paid traffic to my website!!!
Yet no one EVER contacted me! I NEVER got any clients until I figured I needed to have a system that would bring in clients on autopilot.
Sounds like a better plan to execute, right?
Well, in the next (and final) training lesson, I’ll be discussing the 2 unique systems that 5,6, and 7-figure freelancers make use of to get high-end clients in 2024.
With these, you will not have to learn difficult sales skills like having to do cold calls, cold emails, and send random messages or DMs that get ignored or even deleted.
And I’m not even kidding when I say:
“You can’t survive as a service business online without a proven system or blueprint!”
Your website can only work when there’s a laid-down system that works.
And I mean every word I’ve said!
For now, remember to stay safe. And NEVER forget that YOU are just 1 client away from turning your life around!
