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Creating an Online Portfolio

A practical guide

by Aaron K. Redshaw aaronkredshaw.com

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Why you might want a portfolio

  • Trying to get into technical writing as a new career (most needed).
  • You are open to new opportunities (useful).
  • Just in case you need it-like having your resume and LinkedIn updated (good to have).

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Some considerations

  • How tech savvy are you with web hosting?
  • Are you willing to pay a small monthly fee or are you only open to something free?
  • Are you willing to put up with ads on your site?
  • Do you want your own domain? (What is a domain?)
  • It should be mobile friendly.

supercheaphosting.com/susangrace vs susangrace.com

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Mobile friendly vs not friendly

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Let’s try out three

Wix (wix.com)

  • The easiest for beginners (amazing WYSIWYG).
  • Free.
  • Thousands of templates.
  • Phone app-hard to navigate.
  • You can pay to have your own domain name ($13 per month).
  • It has ads unless you pay the $13 per month.

Weebly (weebly.com)

  • One of the easiest for beginners.
  • Free.
  • Excellent templates.
  • Phone app-easy, but buggy
  • 500 Megs of storage.
  • Get your own domain and host for $5 per month if paying for a year at a time.
  • For $12 per month, you can lose the ads.

WordPress (wordpress.com)

  • It is by far the most widely used platform.
  • Not hard to use, but not as easy as what’s above.
  • Free.
  • Lots of templates.
  • Very good phone app.
  • For more space, more templates, no ads, and a free domain name, it only costs $4 per month.

(source)

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What do I put on it?

  • Work previously done, even volunteer work �(if not a contract violation).
  • Coding skills (GitHub).
  • Tools used.
  • Demos you’ve made:
    • Writing a how-to article about something you already know, or research.
    • Video demo.
    • API document.
    • Technical blog post.

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Where do I display my new website URL?

  • At the top of your resume.
  • On LinkedIn.
  • On your business card (vistaprint-if you need one).

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Resources

At aaronkredshaw.com, you will find:

  1. These slides
  2. The handout
  3. Link to the best site I found on the easiest free web host to use.

https://www.hostingadvice.com/how-to/free-web-hosting/

The top part of the page goes over paid sites, whereas the bottom section compares free sites.

  • Link to my Google Sheet with research on what skills are most in demand using Indeed.com.
  • Advice to an Aspiring Technical Writer-Only useful if you are in that category.

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Got more questions?

Email: akredshaw@gmail.com