
When you decided to become a freelance blogger and work via the internet, you probably never thought your looks would matter.
But they do. Potential clients judge you on appearance, and some of them are backing off because they don’t like what they see. Gods, it’s like being back in high school.
So why is freelance blogging such a beauty pageant? Because, duh, you’re selling something. People buy with their senses and emotions, so when you’re selling, visuals are just as important as words.
Before you get all uppity: I’m not saying you’re ugly.
Your “freelancing face” might benefit from a makeover, though. I’m talking about your portfolio site, and at the end of this post I’m giving away a premium website facelift to help yours look gorgeous.
Yes, You Need a Professional Website
You can get started without an online portfolio, but you’ll need one sooner or later. The sooner the better, really, because it’ll help you get off the starting line.
To clarify why it’s worth investing time and money into your freelancer website even when you haven’t earned a ton of blogging cash yet, imagine two new freelance bloggers: Angelina and Brad. They’re both gorgeous, but it’s their websites we’re worried about.
Angelina and Brad both responded to the same job ad on Problogger last week. Neither of them has any paid blogging experience, but they’ve both got years of experience in the industry this blog covers.
Today, the guy who posted that ad is going through the applications.
He needs a blogger who knows the industry inside out, so Angelina and Brad both have the background to do a good job despite their lack of freelance experience.
So he visits Angelina’s website. It looks polished and professionally designed, with a homepage layout that draws attention to her best work and testimonials. The portfolio page shows small images of Angelina’s few clips from unpaid writing work, laid out neatly along with a headline and a paragraph of description for each item.
Then Hiring Guy goes to Brad’s site. The first thing he notices is a large, not particularly relevant header image that he recognises: it’s the one that comes included with the blog theme Brad’s using.
Brad’s homepage is a blog-style page of posts. Each post describes and links to one of Brad’s unpaid writing clips. Hiring Guy can’t see a “Portfolio” link anywhere, but he sure as hell wishes he could look through Brad’s samples without clicking in and out of each post. His eyes keep getting drawn to an ad in the sidebar that blinks different colours with epilepsy-inducing frequency.
Hiring Guy can’t take any more. He hits backspace and hires Angelina. And you would’ve done the same.
Look Good to Get Hired
The slicker the appearance and user experience of your website, the better your chance of being chosen over other bloggers with similar skills and knowledge.
Your website’s design, layout, and other visual cues help potential clients decide that yes, this looks like a professional blogger who can handle an important project:
- Don’t clutter your site with endless advertising, low-quality clips, or random stock images of “business-y stuff”.
- Laser-focus your homepage to show off your best testimonials and most lucrative services.
- Create a one-stop portfolio where potential clients can get a swift overview of your clips, with links to the full-length posts.
- Use colour selectively to draw attention to the things you want people to notice.
- Be readable. Choose a font that’s clear and large enough to read from a distance without squinting.
Even if your website looks slick, a potential client still wants to see your human face as well. They need to feel like they know you at least a little bit, and your mugshot helps to give them a sense of your personality. So…
Show Yourself

Obvious: add at least one clear, well-lit photo of yourself to your professional website.
Put it in the header, in the sidebar, or somewhere else that’s visible on every page. If that seems like overkill to you, then at least make sure there’s a photo of you on your About page.
Less obvious: consider the background and props in your photo.
When clients see you with added context—holding a dainty teacup, say, or standing in front of a giant world map—they subconsciously trust you more. They feel those little clues to your personality and interests make you no longer a total stranger.
As the saying goes, people buy from people. Give your website visitors a sense of who you are and a user experience that shows you mean business.
Yes, you have to spend a small amount of money to set up web hosting and your own domain name registration (affiliate links). You might even decide to pay someone to get everything looking good. But it doesn’t have to cost a huge amount to maximise your chances of getting hired via your website.

To make it cost even less, the good people at Elegant Themes have donated 2 one-year Developer subscriptions, which normally cost $89, for me to give away to Be a Freelance Blogger readers. π You’ll have access to 85 premium WordPress.org themes as well as updates and support throughout your subscription.
For your chance to win, leave a comment explaining which of Elegant Themes’ 13 portfolio WordPress themes is your favourite and why. The 2 most thoughtful explanations win the prize on June 27th.
Sorry this contest is closed.
Images: MyTudut, ginnerobot
Hi Sophie,
This is great advice, but requires making some decisions when you have more than one niche as I do.
As an author I want to promote my book(s), but I also want to attract clients for my book coaching, freelance writing and products/classes. I recognize that these are different clients, but for the purposes of promoting myself in different places do you advise a separate URL for each niche? Do you favor sending inquirers to specific URL or a single portal page that gives a separate link to the URL for each niche?
If you favor a separate URL, do you also advise a separate biz card for networking, a separate LinkedIn and FB identify, etc.?
Thanks.
That would take a whole lot of effort to maintain, Flora. If it were me, I’d do my best to keep everything under one personal brand umbrella, using separate landing pages all on the same domain. Check out this post for more info about how to handle multiple ideal clients: Multi-Passionate Customer Profiles. Hope it helps!
Hi Sophie,
Thanks for your advice.
Do you have another link for the post on handling multiple ideal clients? It is no longer at the link you gave me.
Dammit! I screwed up the html in my comment. Link fixed. π
No worries. We all do that from time to time.
Thank you.
In Pakistan time is 12 hours behind America’s, that means just after you upload your post I read it here in midnight; my curiosity forces me to stay wake up to see the topic of your each newly uploaded post; the subject amazed me a lot especailly its uniqueness and then how you handle it till the end without loosing your grip on it nor letting readers to lose their interest that is amazing.
Now I come to the topic; looks, appearance and personality counts a lot in every field of business and especially of marketing then why don’t online marketing; you are very right that before clicking our profile photo we must do makeover to look what we actually are; but our makeover should not be much sharper to hide our real face; secondly props can do wonders if we use them in our profile photo but we should avoid clicking our photo with laptop or ipad sort of thing to show how much net savvy we are; that must reflect in our work.
Once again thank you very much for introducing such a wonderful topic that was rarely covered before.
Please spare some moments to read my new post; I also tried to pick a unique topic Future of green blogging is lush green
Hi, Sophie:
So glad you wrote on this topic, as I too have across sites by fellow bloggers who obviously dont want to be hired – as theres no trace of an easy contact page, portfolio, rates or a AVP.
This may be a dumb question, but what’s an AVP? I Googled, but to no avail.
AVP is added value proposition, Sophie.
I think it might also be labeled something else, but can’t recall at the moment. Lol.
Ah, got it! π
Sorry, I was on my Kindle at the time and my comment got caught off.
This post brings up a series of good points, but one I agree 100% with is about creating a portfolio page. This is so important guys, you NEVER KNOW who is visiting your site and who is looking to hire exactly what you offer; but they wouldn’t know to hire you – cause you haven’t noted your services (or expertise) prominently on your site.
Great post, Sophie. Love your blog!
p.s. I love all the templates from Elegant, but have a special fondness for: Boutique.
p.s.s. I also offer a blog set up service, if anyone would like to chat with me about their portfolio needs, go here: http://g34media.com/free-company-blog
Thanks Missy!
After looking through the 13 WordPress portfolio themes, two jumped out at me for different reasons.
Overall, I think Nimble would be most useful for a freelance writer. It’s a nice clean design–a potential client can clearly see where each page of the website is located without any searching or confusion. It’s nice that text descriptions can be used below the images on the portfolio pages. It would be nice if there were more than five color theme options, but that’s not a huge problem.
The Flexible theme has unlimited color options, which is nice, and the sortable gallery adds a lot of potential for your portfolio. Clips could be organized and sorted by types of writing or niches, making it easier for clients to see examples of your writing according to the type of work they need completed.
In regards to the comment above, I couldn’t get the link in your reply to work, Sophie. Thanks!
Thanks Wendy. Yeah, I think Nimble looks clear and fresh. And those text descriptions are vital if you’re a blogger!
Hi Sophie,
My pick for this contest is the Modest theme. It’s tagline speaks to the soul of who I am, both personally and professionally. I’m a new freelance writer in a humble place in life, currently managing humble earnings. However, I honestly believe that my work will lead me to bigger and brighter places in life. At the very least, my short-term earnings will become much bigger and brighter after I complete my freelance writing training and spruce up my online appearance.
Thanks for another pragmatic post!
I like that one too, Terr. It’s so simple that your site’s content will get full attention. Good luck!
Great post Sophie, and it ties into just what I’m preparing to do now. Three-months ago I started out with the (free) “The Columnist Theme”, but have quickly realized it’s not going to be very useful for my plans. I want to specialize in magazine article writing as well as paid blog posts. I need a theme and a design with exactly the things you’ve mentioned. Also, I found in life, as a union official, that how you present yourself initially, has a lot to do with if you are taken seriously or not. If you want to be regarded as professional, you have to play the part. Just being a great writer isn’t enough, it’s the total, overall package that sells you as a brand people want to keep coming back to.
Exactly, Joseph. Presenting yourself as a pro freelancer is just as important as actually *being* one!
Sophie, this is all great advice and I know I need a better looking website, but I never seem to have enough time to invest in trying to find someone to help. Any advice on how to get started with improving a website and making time to do it? (I feel like I already spend so much time working!)
Hi MaryBeth! Take it all in baby steps. I plan in the back of my mind while I’m doing other stuff like shopping or laundry, and figure out one thing to change. Then another day, I learn how to change it. Then another ‘nother day, I change it. Then I leave it a while and come back to find out if it made any difference to my clients. Even half an hour a week will make gradual improvements.
The benefit of going slow if that if any single change turns out to be detrimental to your income, you’ll know what happened so you can reverse it and try a different approach.
Great what you say in the article. I will go see if anything needs fixing back at my place. But hey, for that subscription, I liked Origin and Nimble – these two are great for my taste plus they load up fast. They kickass
Thanks Freddie!
I’ve been a blogger for more than two years, taken a webdesign-related course, and have redone layouts for a local business. But for some reason, I suck at finding the right layout to show off my schtuff. I’m that dummy Brad, using a free layout that looks okay but isn’t helping me as much as I liked to.
I’m really glad I read your post, though. I think my many passions come together nicely in my head, but on page, I probably seem like a crazed multitasker with no business sense.
As for which Elegant Theme I would choose, it would have to be the Nimble Theme. I see landing pages like this one all the time. I love them! And my blog section would look so much sweeter if I had a layout like this one. Though, I can’t afford a gorgeous layout like that one…
Thanks for your advice and for your blog!
Thanks for your comments, Keisha. Looks like Nimble’s pretty popular!
Hey Sophie! First off, thanks for the awesome post and even more awesome give away.
My favorite theme had to be the “envisioned” theme. Why did I like it?
1. Its an absolutely gorgeous theme. Its almost got be convinced to give up my lifelong pursuit of marrying Kate Upton to settle for it. The nice gray background and the front that just POPS out and grabs your attention are all amazing.
2. This theme really speaks to the image I want to convey as a writer: Elegant, refined and professional.
3. The theme shows all of my portfolio pieces on the front, so people can see instantly why they should hire me.
Thanks again for doing this Sophie!
You’re welcome, Chris. I hope Kate isn’t too upset with you. π
Great advice. I’ve been working on my website lately and it seems like every time I turn around, I learn something new to do.
Yeah, that keeps happening your whole life no matter what! Websites are so important for online freelancers, anything we can do to make them good *and* easy to manage is worth it.
To grow my business I need to develop a website and begin blogging. I went through the options for web designs and found that several that are appropriate for what I do. I chose “flexible” and “nibble” as the two that seemed to be the most flexible for my multifaceted business. I am a freelance writer with business and agriculture as my focus and I help agricultural organizations organize and promote their special events. There is so much to learn but these clean, creative designs are a great place to start.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Carol Ann. Sounds like you’ve got a great niche there!
My freelance site is currently running off the standard WordPress theme. I know it’s time to update but I’ve struggled to find a theme that I felt captured my personality.
Then I saw the Flexible theme from Elegant Themes and wow, it’s beautiful. It’s exactly what I need to spruce up my site. I love the fact that the portfolio can be sorted by category.
I’ve seen other Elegant Themes designs and I’m always so impressed and inspired by their craftsmanship. I’m definitely a fan!
It’s far too easy to spend hours browsing through theme demos and still have nothing to show for it! I actually want to update my own portfolio site, too, but I’ve been so busy lately I haven’t even added my recent clips to my portfolio, let alone gone looking for a new theme. Some of these Elegant Themes ones are pretty tempting, though. π
I like PureType. I would like to have a more professional website to promote the fact that I am for hire. Currently, I have nothing on my website informing potential clients, but it is in my plans. I do have contact info, a customized unique header, and have a decent photo, but as you pointed out in my consultation session, I need a few other boosts. I am currently in Blogger, but have long thought a WordPress site might give me a little more credibility somehow.
Yeah, I’m a WordPress fan. Never used Blogger unless it was for a client who was already on there. So many of the available tools are WordPress-focused, it could be worth making the switch before you get into any more customisation on your site.
Fantastic article, Sophie! It’s really got me thinking…
The photos of myself on my website don’t have a whole lot of context to them. In the main “every page” one, I’m standing in front of a closet. In the one on my About page, I’m standing in front of a door. And they’re both from 2009. I’ve been wanting to update them (I have better glasses now!), but I keep waiting until I lose some weight and/or get a decent haircut. Hah!
The section on color also caught my attention. Made me put on my “hmmm” face.
You’ve got me thinking…
You don’t need a decent haircut, you need a decent photographer and good lighting. Any photography students in your area you could hire for a few bucks?
Spectacular post Sophie!
It made me realize I have tons of work to do–my picture, my portfolio and how to present it well, the color of my theme, and so on… and much more!:)
Thanks for covering this topic. I understand a freelancing site is a vital part of being a pro blogger.
Love it!
Thanks, Anthony. π
Looking good is equally important along with doing good and this becomes more important in the field of online marketing where appearance sell and quality supports it
You’ve made some solid points here Sophie. I believe though, that the best way for writers to really drive home these ideas is by means of actual experience on the ‘other side’, in the hiring shoes. Whether you are a full time, professional writer who outsources content or you simply hire people on Fiverr to complete simple tasks for your website, the hiring process will give you the best insight into the importance of organizing your website/portfolio well. This has been my main reason for working assiduously at creating my own online space.
Writers should also ensure that they optimize all aspects of their online presence, not just their website. Choose a few platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Quora and work assiduously at making them stand out.
Browsing through the templates from Elegant, the Nimble theme really spoke to me. I believe it drives into clear focus the proper look and feel of a writer’s website. I truly admire this theme because:
1. Its simplicity with a stroke of elegance, creating a stylish advantage that makes it unique and appealing. Its clean, lightweight, and seamlessly minimal touch further facilitates proper management and structuring which will render an attractive manifestation for your site, a site that can lure in and inspire readers.
2. It offers a strong and wholesome layout that enhances visibility by allotting an attractive base for content to be presented to prospective clients.
3. Technicalities such as control, flexibility and adaptability are ensured.
Overall, Nimbleβs completely charming visual impact and functionality satisfies all requirements of a writer to create a beautiful and effective blog. This exceptionally amiable theme is set to drag audienceβs attention, lure in clients and thus facilitates success through all its aspects.
Elgant. Professional. Effective
Thanks, Navito, that’s an excellent tip! I agree, once you’ve spent time recruiting freelancers, even on a very small scale, you have a much better idea of what hirers are looking for.
Another timely post: I’m going to be working on a new layout/theme for my writer’s site today! I already have one in mind but if I had to choose one of Elegant’s portfolio themes, I think it’d have to be “Nimble.”
As much as I loved “Vertex,” it’s definitely more suited for a web design company (sweet scrolling and all that jazz). Nimble, on the other hand, has some character to it while at the same time screams professional with the layout, menu, and page options. Yes, it’s actually a very typical site layout, but you don’t want your theme distracting from the works you have for display! And if you stuck with just another portfolio theme like “Deep Focus,” your site wouldn’t look that different compared to many other freelancers’. “Nimble” is the only good combination of “fun” and “professional” that I would feel comfortable using.
So if you want to be known as a freelancer who’s not afraid to have fun sometimes but also wants to showcase your work and not your theme, “Nimble” really helps with this (the color in the demo works, too, but if you know HTML or CSS you can change this to anything you want).
What an awesome contest, Sophie! Thank you so much. My favorite portfolio is Deep Focus, and here are a couple of reasons why:
1) Design – Although I love portfolio-style home pages, I’ve never really thought about it when it comes to doing a writing web page. In fact, I may end up using this for my virtual assistant side of my business as well. This design actually has a lot of text-friendly pages as well, which I think is important especially if you are doing a blog. It’s also extremely simple and clean.
It also utilizes the best place for navigation – top left and sides, whereas a lot of the other themes focus on footers.
2) Colors – I think out of all the portfolio themes, this one uses what would normally be considered a “bland” color the best – grey. There’s a few spots of color to grab attention to certain elements, however.
The Deep Focus theme grabbed my attention right away with the photo of the dock, gazebo, and lake. It looks so peaceful and a place I’d like to spend some time. The tabs at the top left are just the right amount and watching the demonstration shows Deep Focus has all the features I’d want to have in a web page.
I still haven’t set up a web page. Lack of technical abilities is my stumbling block. I did start a WordPress blog a couple of years ago because my publisher said we should all have blogs. Everyone says WordPress is easy and I’ve struggled with it. I’ve gone to the help forums and asked questions and I still don’t get it. I can write a blog post and get it up but I can’t figure out how to get those tabs set at the top even though my theme says I have them and others have given me suggestions, I can’t get categories to work. I did set up Linked In earlier this year and my portfolio is up there. I noticed you had a link up there to Hostgator and I’ve looked at them to set up a webpage.
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from a media firm who represent a theme park among many other clients. I’d contacted them for use of a photo and let them know when the blog was live on my client’s site. A couple of days later they emailed asking for a rate card and my web page so I gave them my blog rate and directed them to Linked In but now I’m thinking that’s my wake up call that I really should figure out how to get a web page put together.
I like the Pure Type because I believe the best blogging theme is the minimalist 2-column. I don’t believe in loud colors too.
Absolutely great contest, Sophie!
The Glider theme is the best. Why? It’s simplistic.
We sometimes forget that simple is better. Clutter on a landing page often has the result of turning visitors away and that’s the last thing bloggers want.
More reasons the Glider theme is my choice? Easy to find navigation. Nice eye-catching header on the landing that doesn’t take attention from the all important content. The blog section looks simple and easy to navigate, seemingly showing several blog posts on a page at once to make it easier for readers to skim and find the info they’re looking for.
The blog layout entices you to click on the full post by displaying the featured post image, a snippet of the content, and a “read more” button. Perfect for showing more samples. And I love the custom colors.
Content is what’s important for bloggers, and that’s what sets us apart. So instead of focusing on if the blog looks like another’s, the actual blog section engages readers by displaying what’s truly important–the content–and making it easily accessible and attractive with the layout.
Overall, the Glider theme gives the impression of simple, professional, customizable, easy, elegant, fast, and to the point. Very, very attractive.
Hi Sophie,
Thanks for the very informative post. I’m in the process of updating my writer website and am looking for tips on how to improve it, so the timing of your blog couldn’t have been better. I’m hesitating about going down the ‘portfolio’ route, however, because of the type of content I write (no graphics involved – just plain headlines & text). Do you think it’s worth having a portfolio to showcase my samples if my clips are from only a handful of publication and none of them contain any graphics/images? Right now I just have a list of the article titles & publication names, and they are hyperlinked to the PDF. For what it’s worth, I prefer the ‘Modest’ theme as I’m a minimalist at heart.
Vertex is clear, clean, and modern without being trendy. The design has staying power. It’s versatile enough to be useful to almost any field (photography, cooking, crafts) and to suit professionals and dedicated hobbyists. That said, it doesn’t have that muddled “all things to all people” look that weaken many multipurpose themes. It begs to be played with. Building a site with Vertex would be less work and more fun. Thinking long-term, that means it will also be a pleasure to update — and that would make life (and blogging) easier for years to come.
My favourite Elegant Themes them is Origin – it is memorizing! I love it.
The way that each page picks up the graphic as a top header (resembling the current facebook layout which I find very visually appealing as well) gives it not only the potential to be something very beautiful (a work of art in itself) but something familiar that can be themed to match with that as well (with a multitude of variety and the sky is the limit creativity)
As I have two sites, one is a shopping cart, I must also place a vote for Boutique, it is so cute!! Very functional, clean and pretty – I can see the customer experience being both enjoyable and productive (no one likes to spend time looking for things when shopping – this one puts all option in clear site and gives some great selling opportunities as well.
Very impressed!!
I absolutely love love love Lucid in Elegant themes! Elegant themes take so many blogging thoughts into consideration, and responsive websites are crucial for 2013. I’ve seen much of my traffic coming from mobile now, and I’m sure that number will continue to increase. Plus, ensuring your blog stays consistent across browsers is crucial for your web presence and can be a huge struggle as a non-designer.
Besides mobility, I love how Elegant themes (and lucid) take different colors and modifications into consideration so customers can each have unique looking websites, regardless of using a shared theme.
I’ve been considering purchasing the theme package for a little bit of time, but have so many costs related to blogging so was holding it off. This prize would be much appreciated for 2 of my websites!
I rather like the Feather theme for several reasons.
Firstly, the idea of a care-free vibe is perfect for a website that promotes happiness. It lets me promote my site message not just in words, but in the actual design of the site theme itself.
The theme has a simple layout that promotes fantastically easy readability, but at the same time, the small details and textures involved show that the simplicity isn’t due to lack of attention – rather it’s a theme that looks simple AND visually pleasing. This complements the writing and photos on any website rather than detracting from them. My strength is in my writing, and site design is an area that I need a lot of work on. So, a design that highlights, and doesn’t distract from, the words I write and photos I take lets me play to my strengths. Also, a theme design like this is classic – it won’t go out of style any time in the future.
The presentation of comments is done beautifully in Feather as well, so I can entice my readers into joining and continuing the conversations that start in response to my posts.
This is a great post and reinforces that one of these days I need to put some money into my website!
The two that really caught my eye are Nimble and Lucid.
I’m a big fan of simple and clean and they both fall under that category.
With Nimble I like that everything is right there. You have your homepage description right there with all your links up top and a potential client can find exactly what they’re looking for in a matter of seconds.
However, Lucid has the picture, which, since I’m also interested in photography, would mean that I would have that show up right away. The one thing I’m not entirely sure on is the doubling of the links? There’s a set on top and then another under ‘Lucid’. However, I do also like that there’s the networking links right up top for Twitter, Facebook, etc., something that Nimble doesn’t have right off the bat.
They’d both be hard to choose from for me, because their simplicity and straightforwardness is so well done.
Great post, Sophie! I really like the “Sky” theme. It reminds me a lot of my dreams, which inspire me to write.
This is a fantastic post and the comments are also super helpful. I have the same issue as the first commenter. I have several niches and need to represent them all, but I’m not quite sure how to do it. I know I need a website, but I’ve been procrastinating for this reason. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants I need to get me going. Thanks!
Hi Sophie,
Everything you talk about here is absolutely correct, I know, but I’m spinning my wheels with the “1&1 website”. Don’t really like it, and should have done a WordPress site to match my WordPress blog site.
I really liked the “Gleam” layout, probably because the chick is so hot!
Just being honest:-)
As my business model is travel and photography, I can use this site to promote both.
I can really use the prize here that would springboard my ass into gear or needed motivation.
Love your blog!
Gary
I like Modest the best. Cute, but simple too (hence the name).
Great post Sophie. You are the queen of blogging π
PS.
Still waiting for that review π
Hi Sophie,
Great post. I also liked your tip in the comments to go slow and do one or two steps a day instead of being overwhelmed. I’m in a full-time job so that’s what I do. One step a day.
I’ve started with a free theme but have advised to choose a custom theme and Nick Roach’s Elegant themes are high on my list both for their range of features and affordability. I checked out the Elegant themes website and was greatly impressed.
However, I would choose “Flexible” (http://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/flexible/) for its minimalist homepage design and multi-media gallery. Portfolio elements on the home page can be filtered in animated transition style simply by clicking on the category. How cool is that! Flexible also gives me the option of displaying all work in the portfolio page using different media such as text, images and video at the same location. So I would choose Flexible above all else.
Rohi, I can see you’ve fallen in love with the Flexible theme. Congratulations–you win a year’s free subscriotion. π
Hi Sophie,
Whoa!
This is incredible.
Thanks a ton.
What I feel right now is gratitude to you for providing this opportunityβ¦
Life moves in wondrous ways its miracles to perform…
This post really rocks – great insight and advice into both the why and the how. Why is it important to have a portfolio and a professional page. How you should incorporate small props into your profile pic to encourage a more trustworthy image. Love it!
I find the Modest theme to be sleek, ultra-stylish, and uber-minimalistic. Talk about focusing with laser accuracy on the topic at hand – your (or mine, hopefully!) writing services, professional bio, and portfolio samples. A theme such as the Modest theme would enhance the professional appearance of one’s portfolio and one’s image!
Here’s wishing everyone luck in the contest, and thank you Sophie for giving back to your community in so many ways!
Thanks Lisa. Let’s get that laser accuracy working for you. You win a year’s free subscription–congrats!
WOW!! OMG!! And all that jazz!!!
Thank you so much – now…I better do something with it π
Thanks again for being so amazing and awesome and helpful to your community – you totally rock!!
Sophie, I enjoyed checking out all the WordPress themes. As I looked at them I tried to envision each as the homepage for my site. The one that would suit me best is DeepFocus. That one would illustrate what my site is all about and what people could expect to find there. That way, people who feel invited to look inside. I think the proper picture and quote in DeepFocus would be a big draw for people who happened to discover the site.
I desire the Flexible Theme!
Here are my ‘Whys’…
1. The visual element manifests immediately so the moment you’re Home, Flexible drives the point that you’re really home. Primarily, for the obvious reasons that it looks homey, exudes the homey feel, and makes you feel at home. π Secondarily, the incorporated pastel colors relaxes a condition I fancily call ‘bloggers’ eyes'(super tired eyes of bloggers); making this way ahead of the rest, since bloggers like us burn the web endlessly. Consequently, our eyes are overworked(all the time), so the calming effect of the colors work wonders; almost instantly.
2. The layout serves the reader, in this case, the client, your portfolio in a smoking hot style (Yes, you can set this theme up that way). Just what in the world do I mean by that? Your portfolio zooms into the scene pronto! There’s no missing it ‘cuz it’s there in the middle of the screen with a size almost 85% of the whole computer monitor, your portfolio sits there like a queen.
Clients want to scrutinize your work right away and this theme sashays ’em into your work without delay.
Then… magic happens. your portfolio is presented in a way that your client can sort through your goodies in a categorized manner.
Nothing more impressive than that. It emphasizes the fact that you’re an organized blogger, able to deliver a variety of tasks, and desirable to work with. Flexible is wonderfully built this way.
After your customers are done sampling your ware, they’re prompted to scroll down and, there… they can see your blog, with the posts unwrapped with sleekness in a tiled packaging. Your client can browse through your posts all gathered up in one page; the posts’ titles all beaming with pride.
In this way the client can choose what piece he fancies; giving him the message: this blogger knows what he’s doing. He knows how to take care of clients. Superb customer service goes a long, promise. Once you got that message across, your way ahead of the pack. Flexible helps you to achieve that.
3. Now, as a pro blogger you want to impress clients even with the tiny details. If you look at the left side of your screen, you’ll the see 3 groupings: 1) color schemes 2) texture overlays and 3) fonts. With flexible, this one, I LIKE, whether you scroll up or down, the nab for this feature doesn’t disappear. It’s omnipresent:). This gives you the freedom to tweak the groupings mentioned above, whatever your position is (scrolled up or down).
So, as an example, if you’re scrolled down, you don’t need to scroll up again to hit the nab which allows you to make tweaks. Right where you’re at, you’re given the prerogative to make changes. Just amazing!
4. Navigation is enhanced ‘cuz Flexible is ‘Hover Responsive’. When you hover over an item, the programming shows you drop-down choices. This sleek feature, impresses and makes the clients’ browsing experience a joy. Delivering the message: this blogger treats me, the client, like a queen. I’d love to come here again, and heck, perhaps even hire this blogger.:)
5. Clicking the portfolio page nab will give you a single page view of all the categories associated with your portfolio. This one is also presented in a tiled format, making it even more attractive. And ohh… the colors are just eye-popping. With this experience, your client, will have a user-friendly-experience, driving the point; you, the blogger, is here to help.
The subconscious plays a BIG part here. Your client feels great browsing around your site, so there’s a big chance he will stay longer, and perhaps even buy from you in the first visit. It’s like a mall-store-experience–the longer the customer stays, the bigger the chance he buys.
5. Last point… the texture overlays. This one greatly enhances the look of your site. Texture for me is big, and I think you’ll agree. The greatest paintings in the world have beautiful texture. Giving your site texture, a well defined one, will hint the point that you pay attention to even the tiniest details. Clients love bloggers who are detailed.
This trait signifies your desire to deliver excellent work all the time.
So there… a description of my love affair with Flexible Theme. My heart is still swelling with lovey-dovey overtones up to this point.:)
OK people, this content is now closed to entries.
The winners of a year’s subscription with Elegant Themes are: Lisa Landtroop and Rohi Shetty. I’ll be emailing you both later. π Congratulations!
This post is awesome…I always neglect a picture and I feel like it impacts me negatively. What an awesome resource!! Thanks a ton
Glad you enjoyed the post, Calvin!
Adding an image to your blog posts definitely helps. If you can’t afford to buy any, there are plenty of free options out there as well (stock photos, creative commons…).
On my own website, I started out drawing illustrations as the accompanying images for all of my posts. This was mainly because I couldn’t afford anything else when I was first starting out…but then it became what I was “known” for. Haha. I ended up keeping the illustrations, but now “outsource” them to my hubby (a comic book artist).
Best of luck! Thanks for commenting. π