In today’s world, the lines between work and play have blurred. Many of us use our spare time creatively, whether through sport, volunteering, or creative writing. But what happens when you have a passion for something creative and you want to put it to use?
If you’re looking to develop your creative writing skills or want to show your expertise, you’ve probably considered an online writing portfolio. What is an online writing portfolio you might ask? It’s simply a type of web-based creative portfolio that offers interactive features allowing for real-time revisions, along with the ability to showcase your work and receive constructive comments from potential employers or clients.
How to make an online writing portfolio that’s worth seeing? Let’s have a look.
Pick A Theme
Before you begin your creative writing journey, it’s important to establish what you’re trying to achieve. Do you want to become a published author? Do you want to find a novel publisher? Do you want to become a content creator for a major brand?
Each step along the way will be a little easier if you have a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve. When it comes to your creative writing blog, you have a couple of options. You can either choose a general theme such as lifestyle, sports, or literature, or you can choose an industry-related theme such as food, fashion, or travel.
It’s important to note that not all lifestyle blogs are made equal. If you’re looking to find a way to hone your creative writing skills and achieve a certain level of success, you might want to consider exploring the world of fiction. Within the realm of fiction, you can experiment with different characters, settings, and storylines. This affords you the chance of creating something new, while still pursuing your creative writing goals. You might also decide to write a short story, play, or novella and aim to have it published.
Find Your Voice
The second important question to ask yourself is: “What is my writing voice?”
You might be familiar with the term “brand voice” when talking about copywriting, but did you know that your writing voice is just as important?
While your brand voice will reflect your personality, it will also serve to establish your authority within the industry. Your writing voice should be a combination of several things, including:
- A unique perspective
- A fresh take on common topics
- Authentic language
- Interesting vocabulary
- Attention to detail
- Style
Once you have established your brand voice, you can begin to find your own style. Do you want to write in a very formal manner? Do you want to play it more creative and poetic? You can experiment with different styles and see which one resonates with your intended audience the most. If you’re struggling to find your voice, ask yourself questions about the kind of content you enjoy creating the most and aim to incorporate that into your work.
Make It Interactive
If you’re using WordPress, you can utilize several interactive features within the platform to make your creative writing blog stand out.
You can utilize several tools to grow your blog. From a complete e-commerce store or membership site to a fully fledged blogging platform, you can choose the one that resonates with you the most. When it comes to fashion, food, or lifestyle blogs, you’ll want to consider exploring the world of e-commerce. If you decide to go down the path of creating an online shop, you can use WordPress’s built-in tools to set it up in a matter of minutes.
If you decide to go down the path of creating a membership site, you can use a tool like Squarespace or Joomla to set it up in a matter of minutes. What’s more is you can use your membership site to charge members to access your platform. Should someone pay to read your content? Especially if this content is exclusive and behind a paywall, you might want to consider the monetization strategy of your membership site.
Make It Mobile-Friendly
If you don’t have a dedicated design team, you can hire freelance designers to help you make your blog look stunning. But even if you do, it’s important to consider the mobile friendliness of your blog before you launch.
According to HubSpot Blogs research, only 10% of consumers read blogs on their mobiles. So if your blog isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing out on an audience that could potentially subscribe to your content.
Thankfully, web design isn’t as complicated as you might think. There are several tools online that can help you make your blog mobile-friendly. From Onswipe, a drag-and-drop tool that lets you create mock-ups of your blog’s front page and posts in minutes, to Gurney, an intuitive tool that allows for anyone to create an amazing-looking, mobile-friendly blog in no time.
Gather Nontoxic, USA-made Content
It’s time to talk about the most important thing – content.
You might be getting tired of hearing me say this, but your content is what will make or break your blog. It’s crucial to find a way to generate content that’s both engaging and informative, but you must be careful about choosing which words to include. Not all low-quality content is created equal, and you don’t want to end up in a situation where you’re harming your own business by using sub-par products.
If you’re searching for fashion content, you’ll want to look into US-made clothing brands that sustain and promote fair working conditions. In order to avoid any ethical controversies, it’s essential that you ensure that the content you choose to feature is produced and manufactured in the United States. As much as possible, you want to play it safe by sticking with brands you know and love, but even then, you should still do your research.
Include Stats And Numbers
Let’s discuss numbers for a moment. If you decide to go down the path of monetizing your blog, it’s important to carefully consider the numbers behind your decision. What’s the approximate value of your blog to you? How big is your audience? What is your income per month? What’s your most lucrative day? Do you earn a higher profit from product sales or advertising?
With these questions in mind, you can begin to establish benchmarks for yourself. After you’ve reached a certain threshold, you can examine whether or not you should continue down the path of monetization. The key is to look at the big picture while still keeping your short-term goals in mind.
Make A Plan
Your blog and its content are only as good as your plan to drive traffic to it. Without a plan, your content may well be wasted, and so is your time.
As much as possible, you want to establish a series of goals that will help you track your progress. While some people prefer to keep their goals under wraps until they’ve mastered a particular skill or hobby, you can share your goals with the world. When it comes to your creative writing blog, you can set a goal to publish a book within a certain time frame. Should you decide to publish a novella or short story collection, you can establish a series of goals such as:
- To write a full-length novel by a certain date
- To publish an e-book every month
- To design and compile a compendium of creative writing exercises
- To conduct seminars on creative writing
- To visit at least two countries while on a personal travel adventure
To reiterate, none of this is to say that blogging is easy or that you’ll necessarily achieve instant success. It simply means that with a little bit of planning and research, you can greatly increase the chance of achieving your desired results.