Overview
Your Contently portfolio is your gateway to securing exciting opportunities with clients. To increase your chances of being selected for assignments, it's crucial to fine-tune your portfolio. This guide outlines key recommendations to help you maximize your portfolio, enhancing your visibility and appeal to clients and the Creative Marketplace team.
Information
Add a profile photo
A profile photo adds a personal touch, helping clients and the Creative Marketplace team put a face to your name. It enhances your professionalism and makes your portfolio more welcoming. Moreover, our algorithm favors portfolios with profile photos. If privacy is a concern, consider creative alternatives like using images of your dog, a favorite cartoon, or your logo.
Add both your first and last name
Your name is the first thing clients and the Creative Marketplace team see. Using standard sentence case for your name makes your profile appear professional and approachable. It's advisable to ensure that the name in your portfolio matches the name in your clips to validate your work's authenticity.
Add a bio
Your bio is your opportunity to summarize your expertise. It offers clients and the Creative Marketplace team a quick snapshot of your skills and areas of specialization. Treat it as a core competencies section on a résumé, providing insights into your writing background, verticals you specialize in, and any relevant job titles.
Example:
"Former journalist at NYT with expertise in fintech, healthcare tech, and B2B SaaS. Skilled in helping clients develop content strategies."
Include links to your social network accounts
Incorporating links to at least two social network accounts, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, demonstrates your influence and showcases your professional network. It provides insights into your ongoing projects and collaborations, boosting your credibility.
Add your location
Clients are scattered globally; knowing your location helps with scheduling and coordination.
Include a link to your personal website
Why it's important: A robust personal website reflects your marketing acumen and tech-savviness, qualities highly valued by clients. This is particularly relevant for Multimedia freelancers, as it can showcase your unique experiences and prior projects.
Upload at least 7 projects from multiple publications
Demonstrating a diverse portfolio with multiple projects enhances your credibility and showcases your versatility as a contributor.
Include photos and text previews for each project
Adding visuals to your projects makes your portfolio visually engaging. Ensure photos are included, and if they don't upload automatically, consider manual uploads. Well-curated photos enhance the professionalism and legitimacy of your portfolio.
Keep text previews clean and concise. Choose to display the first few sentences of your project or provide a one- or two-sentence summary of the clips. Maintain consistency by selecting one approach.
Writing your own descriptions is recommended as it allows you to include keywords not present in the initial sentences of your project. This improves searchability and aligns with SEO best practices.
Include your skills and topics
When adding a new project, select relevant skills and topics. This helps Contently understand your capabilities and expertise. Additionally, to be considered for opportunities through Contently, existing projects must have skills and topics assigned. The more a skill or topic is listed, the higher your ranking for that skill or topic.
If a particular skill or topic is not listed in the dropdown menu, you can request its addition. In the meantime, select the closest related skill or topic available.
Why it’s important: When you add a new project to your portfolio, you'll be asked to select relevant skills and topics. This helps Contently better understand what you're able to do for our clients.
In fact, for a freelancer to be considered for an opportunity through Contently, you'll need to add skills and topics to any existing projects as well. Although you can list each skill or topic once, the more the skill or topic is listed, the higher you are ranked for that particular skill or topic.
If your skill or topic isn't listed in the drop-down menu, pleae create a support ticket so we can help you with your request. In the meantime, please use your best judgment to pick a related skill or topics that is already listed.
A few more suggestions:
- If you are the ghostwriter for a project, mention this in the description to expedite the verification process.
- To ensure a seamless experience for clients, double-check all links in your portfolio, especially if you have multiple publications. This prevents the inconvenience of encountering broken or incorrect links.