Friday, 18 March 2016

"Critically analyse the online portfolio of an individual working in your chosen career"


What makes a good online portfolio?









  •  
  • (equalman, 2015)
  •  

    Technology and social media is constantly evolving at a rapid pace and has dominated most of the world. "More people own a mobile device than a toothbrush"(equalman, 2015). Social media has changed the way the world communicates (Edmiston, 2014) and employers are more frequently using online as a platform of recruitment (Schawbel, 2011).

    Therefore in this changing and evolving world of technology, an online presence is essential when establishing a brand. The creation of an online presence via a portfolio can enable employers to review your work or notice you and are able to value you as a reliable brand(Edmiston, 2014). 99% of employers trust online recommendations/ ratings /viewings (equalman, 2015) so a positive online presence is essential to building trust and credibility with  employers, clients and viewers. 

    The benefits of having an online portfolio are:

    • It can present you as a brand and your work as a professional with a working reliable online brand identity and presence in industry
    • It is a professional way to advertise and promote the brand
    • A professional method of showcasing ones work and achievements 
    • A useful way of keeping your brand up to date and relevant 
    • Increases brand visibility  making you more accessible and contactable (Huhman et al., 2016).



    A good online portfolio is one that successfully communicates your brand, exhibits a positive user experience and is complete with understandable, relatable and useful content (Ravenel et al., 2012)


    Online portfolio critical Analysis of television presenter: Laura Whitmore





    The URL of Laura's online portfolio is simply: : laurawhitmore.co.uk.
    The simplistic and obvious URL allows for easy search engine optimisation because it is straight to the point and does not have any clutter therefore easily searchable, which would enable the website to appear at the top of a search engine upon searching for her name. A simplistic URL is essential  to ensure visibility and presence is of its best ability (Ravenel et al., 2012).
    Secondly, the homepage in general regarding layout is also simple and minimalistic. This is beneficial to her brand because the viewer is able to take in all information without anything getting lost and unnoticed amongst cluttered busy content.
    As a viewer of the online portfolio, one aim or reason for viewing would be to find out who the person was. This is successfully conveyed straight away as the very top of the homepage consists of clear professional imagery of Laura Whitmore. One criticism could be that on the homepage there is no indication as to what occupation she has or what she does. However due to Laura being famous and already a recognised public broadcast figure, this is unnecessary for her online portfolio. It is recommended though, that for an individual starting out that a clear indication of brand identity should be viable from the very first page (Ravenel et al., 2012). Regarding appearance and design the website is simple, elegant and colourful which could be in reflection to her personality, it would be pointless to have the webpage filled with things unrelated to her and her personality because it would then provide a false representation of her brand. The simple layout and pastel colour scheme present her as a colourful yet classy and elegant character.
    The homepage contains links to social media which is good because it establishes her brand on a multi-platform scale presenting her with a wide social media presence. This is useful for a broadcasting figure such as a television presenter because it enhances user engagement,visibility and connectivity with her viewers (BBC, 2011).


    Navigation is a very important tool when enabling a positive user experience and easy accessibility around the site (AuthorCarrie, 2016). The navigation bar located at the top of Whitmore's website is successful because it has relevant and useful content such as "About me" "Broadcast" "Press" "Print" and "Contact". 
    These buttons are simplistic and without clicking on them it is obvious to the viewer what the page's use is. This is important because it enables quick and easy navigation if a viewer is in a rush to find specific information such as contact details. The pages are additionally target audience specific, which is important to engage the user and get across relevant information and content quickly and easily. 











    The online portfolio contains photos and videos which define her brand though show reels and press releases showing what she has done, which in addition to contributing by relevance to her target audience, they are successful in search engine optimisation because content such as this heightens the ranking of her site. Visual content allow search engines to collect data more effectively and is able to organise it within in algorithms to increase SEO, drive traffic and therefore heighten and online presence (Pros, 2016).


    Links to other websites are also available on the webpage,which is good because having the page connected to others can raise credibility, visability and SEO which would also drive traffic toward the webpage in addition to widening her brand.





    To conclude, the website is successful because it successfully fulfils its purpose by representing her as a brand on an online platform having a portfolio of work easily accessible for anyone to view or find more about her. The site has a simplistic layout with a smoothly running navigational system that is easy to operate and get around the site via which works well for a positive user experience. The user is able to find out information quickly and easily without having to work very hard to attain the information they desire. The navigation bar stays at the top as new pages are looked at which gives the user easy access to any other pages without having to sift through things they aren't interested in before finding another page. Users are additionally invited to explore more about her brand if they wish to by being linked to her social media networks and jewellery website, which as well as optimising SEO and credibility, the links also engage the user by having clickable re-directable links available on all pages of the website to allow for insight to greater understanding of her brand if the viewer wishes to do so.


    References

    AuthorCarrie, the (2016) Why does user experience matter? Available from: <http://designshack.net/articles/why-does-user-experience-matter/> [Accessed 19 March 2016].
    BBC (2011) The editors: How has social media changed the way newsrooms work? Available from: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/09/ibc_in_amsterdam.html> [Accessed 20 March 2016].
    Edmiston, D. (2014) Creating a personal competitive advantage by developing a professional online presence. Marketing Education Review, 24 (1) February, pp. 21–24.
    Huhman, H. manager, experienced hiring Recommended, founder of C. and consultancy, content marketing A. (2016) 5 benefits of creating an online portfolio. Resume, 19 March Available from: <http://www.careerealism.com/creating-online-portfolio/> [Accessed 20 March 2016].
    Pros, C.S. (2016) What is SMO? Social media optimization explainedSMO Pros. Available from: <http://smopros.com/what-is-social-media-optimization/> [Accessed 18 March 2016].
    Ravenel, M. McCue, M. Blanda, S. Rao, S. Kanokova, M. Saunders, E.G. and Behance, I. (2012) 6 steps to creating A knockout online portfolio99U by Behance. Available from: <http://99u.com/articles/7127/6-steps-to-creating-a-knockout-online-portfolio> [Accessed 20 March 2016].
    Schawbel, D. (2011) 5 reasons why your online presence will replace your resume in 10 years. Forbes, 21 February. Available from: <http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/02/21/5-reasons-why-your-online-presence-will-replace-your-resume-in-10-years/#2117b0022c65> [Accessed 20 March 2016].
    equalman (2015) Social media revolution 2015 #Socialnomics , 26 January. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jottDMuLesU> [Accessed 20 March 2016].


    No comments:

    Post a Comment