What Is a Digital Portfolio, Why You Need It & How to Create One in Minutes

What is a digital portfolio? It’s the only kind of portfolio that matters in 2023 (and beyond).

Okay, that’s probably not true. There are certainly specific scenarios where you need a physical portfolio with hard copies of your work. But these scenarios are rare enough to be statistically insignificant (at least if you are working in any industry with a digital component… which is almost all of them).

In this article, I’ll take you through the essentials of what a digital portfolio is, what a great digital portfolio should include, and how to create one that updates itself AND backs up all your content.

What is a digital portfolio?

I’m about to turn 31, so I still remember the times when people carried physical CVs, resumes, and portfolios with them. Both my parents had one, and those things were (at least for those of us 90s-and-after kids who got laptops growing up) wildly inconvenient.

You had to print out all your work, staple/bind them together, and keep adding them to an increasingly thick tome that you had to lug around to every interview. Don’t forget the danger of the portfolio getting soiled or damaged while you were out and about, or even at home.

Needless to say, when computers and the digital world became mainstream, and you could send unlimited content across the internet, physical portfolios made a quick exit. Now, instead of carrying a hard-bound stack of papers, you can send the most detailed and comprehensive online portfolio website with a single click.

In other words, enter the digital portfolio.

In the digital format, a portfolio conveys all the relevant information your physical portfolio would but does so via transferrable computer files, folders, websites, file-sharing systems, etc.

However, in 2023, digital portfolios usually exist in the form of rich, layered websites showcasing an individual’s body of accomplishments and experience in the professional world. Certain digital portfolios, like those used by graphic designers and photographers, act as a display of the creator’s skill. Everything from animations to epilepsy-triggering flashes is now fair game for a professional website.

Elements of an impressive digital portfolio

Easy to read/view: Your prospective clients and employers are usually hard-pressed for time when looking at your digital portfolio during the hiring process. Hence, it needs to be as viewer-friendly as possible. So, make things obvious — use headers with self-explanatory text so that people know what they’ll get when they click on a link. Everything should be easily readable for interested parties; with no painfully tiny text.

Also, avoid using bright imagery that may aggravate viewers with visual conditions (or just people who don’t like being hit in the eyeball, metaphorically). Keep your website both functionally and aesthetically balanced.

Easily navigable & searchable: Clients should be able to type in a couple of keywords and find relevant information (articles, audio/video files, and/or social media posts) within your body of work. Portfolio websites should ideally have a search function, so a potential employer doesn’t have to scroll endlessly and hope something catches their eye.

Comprising work in different formats (if you have them): If you write articles and also create educational videos corresponding to those articles, your potential clients should know that. A multi-skilled employee is most recruiters’ dream.

Your digital portfolio should include content across different formats AND different platforms, including your social media posts. For example, if you’re a freelance content marketer and you post about industry topics on your LinkedIn, that reveals your expertise. Such posts should also be part of your portfolio.

Contains ALL your past work: Traditional portfolio-building wisdom tells us that you only include your best work in your portfolio. However, contemporary employers want quality with quantity. People want to see that you do good work consistently and that you’re prolific in creating great work (in any format) at a decent cadence.

By including all your previous projects, you convey that you are prolific, versatile (if you cover different topics in your work), and able to handle research and knowledge within multiple domains.

So, remember to choose a portfolio platform that supports multiple formats.

Caters to your niche: If you practice graphic design, you need a richly designed portfolio site with visual representation as its reason for being. So, you use something like Adobe Portfolio.

Writers, not so much. You can certainly put in the work to amp up your digital portfolio but bear in mind that clients from different industries value different things in your portfolio. In most cases, employers want to look directly at your previous projects, not your web design.

Look at portfolios of stalwarts within your industry, and you’ll know what to highlight in your portfolio.

A few types of digital portfolios

Writing portfolios

A writing portfolio includes everything you’ve ever authored or published professionally. However, if you’re truly proud of some of your unpublished work, throw that in. It reflects your conviction in your own writing.

Journalism portfolios

In a journalism portfolio, you include all the journalistic pieces you’ve written and/on covered on digital media.

Content marketing portfolios

A content marketing portfolio displays everything a content marketer might have created, contributed to, and published. Content marketers generally manage numerous layers of the process —  idea generation, creating/editing content, publication, social media, tracking analytics & more. So, their work samples can be website pages, blog content, audio-video content, audio content, social media content, entire campaigns, etc.

Social media portfolios

Largely used by social media marketers, a social media portfolio collates all of their work samples. This could range from creating, ideating, and managing social media content across multiple platforms. Social media content often varies across text, audio, video, design, and literally any creative format.

Thought leader portfolios

Thought leader portfolios showcase the work of industry experts who leverage their experience and knowledge to add valuable opinions and assessments for public knowledge. Their work samples are often spread across platforms in different formats like articles, talks on videos & podcasts, etc. The content in their portfolios can also include stuff about them (instead of work just by them).

Video/podcast portfolios

Video portfolios comprise samples of creative, design, and editing work related to video content. Videographers, directors, and creative agencies are its most common users, though, increasingly more folks in unrelated industries are adopting video as the centerpiece in their digital portfolios.

Podcast portfolios collect & display all podcasts you have appeared to talk about something related to your industry. For example, writers or journalists can showcase any podcast in which they’ve spoken about themselves, their work, or their area of expertise — helping prospective employers understand how they think and work.

How to create a digital portfolio with minimal effort

Authory is a dedicated portfolio-building platform, which allows users to create a professional, future-forward work portfolio in a few minutes.

Here’s the main reason you should sign up for Authory — the tool automatically finds and imports ALL your published, bylined work from the internet. All you have to do is enter the URL of every website where your work exists (with a byline), and Authory will extract a copy of every single piece (text, audio, video, social media posts) authored/created by you.

To create a portfolio with ALL your content (in different formats), follow the steps below:

• Sign up for Authory (for FREE) using this link.

Once I choose “Continue with Google” and enter my email ID, the tool automatically fills in the fields for my name (taken from my email data).

• I choose my profession as “Writer” and then click “Next Step.”

In the next screen, I see that Authory has already automatically found the “sources” — websites where my bylined articles are published (nytimes.com & washingtonpost.com, for example). Of course, if it has missed a source, I can add it manually (just the site URL), OR I can choose to add all my sources manually.

• Click “+Add.”

Authory will take up to 48 hours (often less) to import every bylined article to its database. Once the process is complete, you can segment your articles, videos, podcasts, audio files, and social media posts into relevant “Collections” — think of them as folders within your Authory database.

Creating a Collection on Authory

• Once all your work has been imported by Authory, go to the “Collections” tab on your Authory dashboard.

• Click “+Create Collection.” You’ll see that I already have a set of Collections in the mix.

• Add a name and description to your new Collection. Click “Add.”

• You’ll be taken inside your new Collection. Click “Go to Content” next to the “Manually” option.

• Once you click “Go to Content,” you’ll be taken back to your main content dashboard. Since Authory has already imported your pieces, you can select the ones you want to slot into this particular Collection.

• Select the relevant files (articles in my case), click “+Add to collection” to the bottom right (highlighted above), find the name of the Collection you created, and click on it.
• Go back to the “Collection” tab you clicked before on the dashboard. You’ll see your new Collection.

Adding your Collection to your Authory portfolio

• Now that you’re done creating a Collection(s), it’s time to add it to your portfolio. Go to the “Portfolio” option on your dashboard.

• Click the “Content” drop-down to the left. Click “Add collection.”

• Choose the Collection you just created — “New Collection,” in my case.

• And voila! Your new collection has been added to your portfolio.

• To check the final product, click “Go to portfolio” on the left.

• You’ll be taken to your portfolio in a separate window. This is what clients will see when you send them your Authory portfolio.

If you’d like to explore this example portfolio, feel free to do so: https://authory.com/shreya-bose

Why use Authory over other portfolio builders?

As demonstrated above, Authory doesn’t just give you the space to copy-paste links and assemble a digital portfolio. It literally does over half the work: finding all bylined content you’ve ever published, importing it automatically, saving it permanently (again, automatically), and enabling you to organize your pieces into different collections.

A self-updating portfolio (no need to keep adding new work manually)

Authory will AUTOMATICALLY import a copy of every bylined piece from every site into its own database.

These sites are called "sources." You add as many sources as you want, and every single bylined piece from every single source will be imported automatically.

You don't have to track down links to your published work (especially older pieces). As long as you remember the URL of the site where your work exists, Authory will collate all your content for you in one dashboard.

Authory can import content from behind most soft paywalls (as long as it is a bylined piece) and some hard paywalls. However, it cannot be used to import copies of articles, podcasts, and videos you haven’t created or featured in.

There isn’t any need to manually upload/copy-paste your content. That said, if you happen to have any non-bylined content, you can always do so manually in those cases.

Automated backups (never lose your content, ever)

All the content that Authory imports from different sources is saved permanently. You'll never have to worry about losing any of your published work. Even if the original website where it's published goes defunct for any reason, you'll always have a copy safely stored on Authory's server.

All backups are in the original format — text and/or media. No screenshots. This is super important because it lets you search through your content database, making it a valuable research tool.

Continued importing of past and future content (less effort for a 100% updated portfolio)

Once you enter a source, Authory won't just import your existing publications. Anything you publish on the same site (after you've fed its URL into Authory) in the future will also be imported automatically. In other words, Authory will import your past and future content.

Authory also sends email notifications for every new piece it imports, so you'll always know if something you submitted has been published.

Many Authory customers have also observed that Authory notifications reached their inboxes faster than Google Alerts.

Apart from these, you also get a slew of miscellaneous but necessary features:

• Ability to search through both your portfolio and your content database to find articles/audio/videos based on keywords. Prospective employers and hiring managers can use this to look for topics on your portfolio, and you can use it to find specific pieces within your Authory content bank.
• Ability to create a custom domain with a click.
• All imported content can be downloaded as high-res PDFs or exportable as HTML files — no lock-in period.
• Get a custom domain and personalize your portfolio even further.
• Multiple, low-effort options for customization to make your portfolio visually appealing and easy to navigate.
• In-built analytics that provides real numbers on content performance (engagement, readership) across the web and popular social media sites every 30 days. You get to see how your readers/viewers are responding to your work.
• Allows creation of newsletters with a couple of clicks. After setup, Authory will automatically send your newly published content to subscribers.
• Widgets to display your personal portfolio on other sites, such as your personal website (if you have one).
• All portfolios are responsive & SEO (search engine optimization)-aligned.

Authory has been chosen by quite a few well-known names in my domain, people who could have picked any tool in the world, but decided that Authory best met their needs. There's 6-time Emmy award winner David Pogue, Steven Levy, Editor at Large, WIRED, and Brian Fung, a Technology Reporter at CNN, to name a very few.

Get started with Authory for free and see for yourself what works for you!