How to Build a Winning Portfolio Website for Free

Your professional design experience tells other people who you are and what it is that you've been doing, so the more interesting your portfolio, the better the odds of it drawing attention and landing clients. I searched the web far and wide, and finally decided on three portfolio builders with good results: IM Creator, Portfoliobox.net, and Crevado.com are worth considering for those of you who plan on (re)making an online website to showcase your work.

IM Creator

What does everyone really hope for when they want to set up a portfolio? - That it should be free, easy to create and, of course, come across as appealing in the eyes of the beholders. Looking at sites launched through IM Creator, this platform seems to meet all of the above-mentioned expectations. All it takes is a few minutes, and no programming skills, to complete your goal. Use the drag-and-drop editor to add anything from text, images, videos, and maps. Your site would be cross-browser and cross-device compatible, so you can feel free to pitch clients anytime, using your tablet or smart phone. 

You'd have to choose to either make a whole new design, or select a template from the shelves. I know that the mere mention of the word 'template' makes some of you cringe, because most tools acting as 'designer crutches' are infested with horrid specimens, which you'd like to steer clear of when you're about to make your very own portfolio. However, I must confess that IM Creator has impressive templates that I wouldn't mind using. Besides, there is an astronomical and free collection of neat stock photos that you may use to highlight your own works. 

Portfoliobox.net

Portfoliobox is, as you can tell, a specialized platform for online portfolios. But it's a tad more complex to work with than IM Creator. The first thing that you need to know is that Portfoliobox isn't based on the principle of picking a theme and then adapting your vision to it. On the contrary, you can use the advanced studio to come up with a one-of-a-kind model by piecing together many page layouts, like lego blocks. Users are at liberty to create a start page and any kind of category pages, especially galleries, which can be showcased in various ways. In addition, the Portfoliobox text editor is cutting-edge, and will make sure that you have no trouble sharing information about yourself and your past projects. 

Crevado.com

Crevado is the simplest option. With this portfolio maker, it takes little more than a minute to sign up for a free account and get started. Users waste no time uploading their photos, videos, and Shockwave Flash files, which can then be dragged-and-dropped according to their wish. If you believe that some of your projects have a place in your portfolio, but should stay off the public grid, you can just password-protect them. Finally, you can also put your works up for sale, as this tool allows purchasing via Paypal. All in all, Crevado is a good choice for passionate creatives, because the speedy process means that they can allot more time to their work, and spend less energy on striking up an online presence. 

All three builders helped create some very satisfactory portfolios. Nevertheless, some are easier to use than others, and they offer different features. IM Creator champions this list for three reasons - it's simple yet surprisingly versatile, and gives away free stock photos. 

Showcase

IM Creator

Portfoliobox

Crevado