Whether you’re into interactive action or stick strictly to print, promoting your services online is an absolute must for designers. More than just a virtual portfolio, a website creates instant credibility and additional marketing opportunities. Recent graduates, freelancers, and design studios large and small have all found great success—and new work—using the web to sell themselves.

But even more important than presenting fabulous visuals on your site is understanding how to communicate with those using it, says Ilise Benun, author of the book Self Promotion Online. “Self promotion is not about you,” says Benun. “It’s about what clients need to see in your work. You have to help them understand how you can solve their problems.” Keeping your site simple, personal, and useful to those visiting it will help potential clients or employers keep you in mind.

Easy does it
Although it may be difficult for designers to hold back, an online portfolio is not the place for visual gymnastics. “You have to always be thinking and asking, ‘What would be easier?’” says Benun. “‘Don’t make me think’ is the key to anything online.” Also consider the mindset of visitors, says Louise Fletcher, president and co-founder of Blue Sky Resumes, a company specializing in online portfolio development. “Busy hiring managers, recruiters, or design directors just want to know if you’re the answer to their problems. This means they want to easily get to your site and quickly see what you can do for them.”

A few layout guidelines will help visitors stay focused. Keep the navigation bar present and in the same location on every page, ideally in the upper left-hand corner. Leave lots of white space. Don’t be afraid to use color, but make sure to give it purpose— for example, highlighting the icons that are clickable. And don’t get clever with excessive graphics or animation. It may turn people off.

Speak up
Don’t be afraid of words. “A lot of designers don’t use enough text,” says Benun. “It would be fine if they were marketing to a strictly visually oriented market of other artists, but many of their prospects are literally oriented marketing people.” For this reason, it’s a good idea to hire a copywriter to get an outsider’s perspective on what to say about what you have to offer.

Additional design, marketing, or programming input will also help you clarify your message. Either enlist another professional to assist or show a rough design around to see how your site is perceived. The overall look should refl ect your style, but when it comes to the content, it’s important to be objective, says Fletcher. “You have to step outside yourself and view your portfolio as an advertisement for a product,” she says. “Then make the product desirable and easy to buy.”

Make it scream “you”
A website sells your unique approach for solving a client’s problem. So include a mission statement explaining exactly what you do. This can be up to two paragraphs that Benun describes as “What you do, what you specialize in, what are the challenges, and what are the solutions that you offer your clients.” This will help visitors realize immediately if you’re right for them.

Brag about your clients. A lot of people will want to see a complete list to understand where they would fit in. If your clients can be categorized into several industries, divide them that way. You can use the same approach for your work samples, dividing them by industry, client, or project type. If a certain project needs an explanation, include your strategy or brief along with your work. This is a great option for more complex projects.

Be selective
Choosing samples of your work is probably the most difficult decision for designers due to the usual overwhelming urge to show everything. Resist it, says Benun, who suggests displaying a few images for a few clients, which, by clicking on a piece, will show additional work for that specific client. “Each level should show a little more,” says Benun. “Don’t give them too many options. This should be just a taste of your work.”

The purpose of an online portfolio is to stimulate conversations that can be continued in person, agrees Peleg Top of Top Design in L.A., who looks at designers’ websites first to decide if he’ll bring a freelancer in for an interview. “Its main purpose is to help get you in the door for a face-to-face meeting where you can show original printed pieces,” he says.

Go ahead: Have fun
Don’t forget to have a little fun with your presentation. There should be no doubt about the personality (or personalities) behind the site. Add whimsical touches if they fit your perspective. Use images of your staff or work environment. Choose language and a visual tone that’s appropriate for the projects or job you want to find. Finally, be memorable. Anything you can do to make your work stand out from the other websites a potential client or employer sees in a day gives you tremendous equity.

Draw a crowd
For a larger company, it might be most beneficial to list your site with a search engine or on a design directory to drive traffic to your site. Top notes that getting listed turned his firm’s site into its most important business development tool. “Our URL is everywhere,” says Top. “It’s listed on many search engines as well as in a few specialized industry directories so we get ‘random’ viewers who often turn into clients.”

If you’re a smaller company and just want to be listed in a Google search, make sure to design with that in mind. “Most or all of the Flash sites are not going to be picked up by the search engines,” cautions Benun. “Create a site that’s HTML and has Flash elements or create a Flash site that’s a mirror of one that has all the codes.”

Love the blog
Another way to make your site more visible is to make it a resource. Louise Fletcher recommends increasing traffic and credibility by starting a blog. “Search engines love blogs and people will find your site that way—plus you can link to other blogs and get traffic coming to you,” she says. However, Fletcher notes that designers must stay focused on business issues. Another option is a links page that includes organizations, vendors, interests, and inspirations. If your links page provides this service, other designers and sites will link to you.

Even more effective is creating an e-mail newsletter you can send to a list of contacts and potential clients. This is a designer’s chance to shine. Content for these e-mails can run the gamut, from business tips garnered from years of experience, to new work you want to show off, to industry topics that merit discussion. Whatever you choose to do, it should provide useful information to your mailing list and make you look authoritative.

Extend yourself
A well-conceived and well-received website serves as an extension of yourself. When potential clients call, you can direct them to the site for visuals to accompany your conversation. In an interview, leave your URL for additional examples you might not carry in your portfolio. By performing the all-important marketing tasks, a website becomes a designer’s most valuable tool—leaving you plenty of time to work on projects from your slew of new clients.