How to make a free portfolio website, with no sign-up

Choose the work to show

A portfolio is judged by its weakest piece, so the hardest and most useful step comes before any website: choosing. Lay out everything you’re proud of and keep only what you’d be happy to be hired to do again.

• Eight to twelve pieces is enough for most people. Someone deciding whether to hire you looks at a handful and moves on.
• Lead with your best two. Put the work closest to the jobs you want first, not the oldest or the biggest name.
• Show range only if you want range. An illustrator who wants book covers should show book covers, not every logo they’ve ever drawn.
• Include personal projects if they show the work you want to be paid for. Clients hire from what they can see.
• Check you may show it. Some client work is under a confidentiality agreement; ask, or show it without the client’s name.

The three pages a portfolio needs

That’s exactly what the Portfolio template starts with, and three pages fit in Website Maker’s free plan. Photographers and designers who want a page per project can add more pages with Website Maker Pro (up to twenty), but most portfolios work better short.

Build it, step by step

1. Open the Portfolio template. There’s nothing to sign up for, and the preview is the real page.
2. Rewrite the welcome. Replace the sample headline with what you do in plain words: “Wedding photographer in Bristol” beats “Capturing moments”. Keep the Hire me button.
3. Fill the gallery. Add up to twelve pictures, each with a short caption. Put your strongest first.
4. Add proof. Swap the sample review for a real line from a client, with their name or company if they agree.
5. Write the About page in the first person, and list what you offer as features with an emoji each.
6. Set up Contact. Add your email (people can tap it), or a Form block that asks the questions you always need answered, such as the date, the budget and where they found you. Replies come to your email, WhatsApp or texts.
7. Pick a look. A calm theme with lots of white lets the work stand out; choose a colour that suits it and a font.
8. Tap Share for a link or a QR code, or download your site to put it online at your own address.

Captions that win work

A picture shows what you made. A caption says why it worked, and that’s what persuades a client. Captions in a gallery are short, so make every word count, and tell the longer stories on your About page.

Give each piece what it was, who it was for, and one result or detail you’re proud of. If you can’t name the client, say the kind of client: “a children’s publisher”.

Pictures that look sharp and load fast

Most people will see your portfolio on a phone, often on a slow connection, so a fast site matters more than a huge picture. Website Maker makes the pictures you add from your device smaller in your browser, so the site loads quickly and still fits inside its share link.

• Crop before you add. Fill the frame with the work, not the table it’s lying on.
• Keep a consistent shape in a gallery, all square or all landscape, so the grid looks tidy.
• Use a link for full-size pictures. Any picture can also come from an https address, such as one already on your own hosting, if you want it at full size.
• Caption or describe every picture. A gallery caption, or a single picture’s description, is read out to people who can’t see it, and search engines read it too.

Share it and keep it fresh

Your site travels inside its own link, so there’s nothing stored on a server and nothing to pay for. Put the link in your social bios, your email signature and your CV. For a printed card or a stand at a fair, use the QR code.

For an address that looks like yours, download the site (a folder of web pages and your pictures), drag it onto a free host such as Netlify Drop, and add a domain if you have one. A short link like yuzool.com/site/your-name, with visitor stats, comes with Website Maker Pro.

Update the portfolio whenever you finish something better than your weakest piece: swap it in and take the weakest one out. When you change the site, share again or download again, as a shared link always shows the version it was made from.

Common portfolio mistakes

• Showing everything. Forty pieces bury your ten best.
• A clever headline nobody understands. Say what you do and where.
• No way to hire you on the first screen. Keep a Hire me or Get in touch button at the top.
• Old work at the top. Lead with recent pieces that match the work you want now.
• No prices or starting points when you have them. “Portraits from £150” saves an email for both of you.