Online portfolio building tools for journalists

Portfolio, in its simplest definition, can be defined as the presentation of the work done in a certain professional field. This system, which is especially needed by creative professions, can also be thought of as an exhibition of one’s talents.

Today, when journalists do not present their news together for their professional stakeholders, it is like writing on water. In today’s world of diversifying news types and channels, an up-to-date portfolio can showcase your professional skills, make a professional impression and create new opportunities. Freelancing opportunities, which have become widespread especially in recent years, require keeping an up-to-date portfolio, while full-time employees can also benefit from portfolios as an archive and CV.

To showcase your work, you can create your own website or blog using infrastructures such as WordPress, Tumblr, Medium, Wix. However, this step may seem complicated if you are not technically proficient. You can quickly create a professional portfolio using websites that offer online portfolio services.

In this article, I have compiled a list of portfolio websites that journalists can use. If you have different resources that you use, we welcome your contributions in the comments.

Ginkio

Launched in 2018, the platform offers a free portfolio service to showcase the work of all information professionals such as journalists, videographers, photographers, writers, bloggers and podcasters.

When creating a profile on Ginkio, you can write a short text of a few lines that will help potential professional stakeholders recognize you, upload your social media accounts, indicate your work and education background, add links to your previous work, and upload your resume in PDF format to your profile. You can post job ads and create your own newsletter on Ginkio, where you can create a profile for free. Ginkio also has a podcast called “A Parte” where sectoral developments are explained. The company, which started as a start-up in France, works in partnership with Pôle emploi, the official employment agency of France, for job opportunities.

Journo Portfolio

Journo Portfolio started out as a portfolio service for journalists, but has since been redesigned for all creative professions. But it still offers a quick and easy experience for journalists.

After creating a profile, you can choose the theme, color and font of your portfolio, then upload your personal information and previous work. You can keep track of your profile data and edit category pages on Journo Portfolio, which looks like a website with this feature. Uploading your resume in PDF format and sharing your social media accounts are among the services offered by Journo Portfolio.

Clippings.me

Another portfolio service used by journalists and other creative content producers is Clippings.me. When you open an account on the site, you first see a warning. By following this warning, you can transfer your bio and profile settings from your Twitter profile to Clippings.me. Considering the fact that journalists use Twitter quite effectively both for networking and showcasing their news, this method does not seem unreasonable.

Clippings.me, which was founded to bring together written work, highlights journalists based on their areas of expertise, so it is useful to specify your area of specialization. Like other portfolio services, it is possible to share your short biography and social media accounts.

About.me

Another of the most common portfolio sites is About.me.

The free version of the site allows you to create a basic profile and allows you to use a custom domain name and email signature. If you want to create a complete profile on About.me, you need to upgrade to the paid version. In the paid version, you can share your references and portfolio, schedule meetings, integrate your Google Analytics account and remove the about.me extension.

Muckrack.com

Another useful portfolio site for journalists and other writers is Muckrack.com, which offers a standard profile view for all users, so you can stand out by customizing your profile content. At first glance, the profile gives the impression of an identity, but when you scroll down, the works you have uploaded to your portfolio appear first, followed by your Twitter feed. This is a very useful service for journalists who actively use Twitter. As with other sites, you can integrate your social media accounts into your profile on muckrack.com.

With these sites you can create a professional online portfolio even if you don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. Ginkio, Journo Portfolio, Clippings.me, About.me and MuckRack.com do not require coding skills for setup and use. If you are familiar with website development, you can also use infrastructures such as WordPress, Wix, Site123, Jimdo, Squarespace.

The article was originally published on https://www.newslabturkey.org/2022/07/24/gazeteciler-icin-cevrimici-portfolyo-olusturma-araclari/ by Seda Karatabanoğlu and translated verbatim into English by Kaan Göktaş.