Online Portfolio Workshop
Importance of an online presence
Why You Need One
Employers are asking for it 
Allows expansion beyond the 1-page resume
Personal branding 
Hub for all of your social media
Shows initiative, dedication to career search
Easy to link to from everything
It's free! 
LinkedIn
Starting simple
Professional network with over 135 million users that works like an online resume with areas for:
Summary
Experience
Skills
Education
Websites
Interests
Groups/Associations
Honors/Awards
Personal Information
Recommendations 

LinkedIn has recently added some new features that allow you to add "sections" including things like:
Blog links
Courses
Google Presentation
Creative Portfolio Display
Tweets
Reading List by Amazon
Benefits
Weaknesses
Get your own
Getting your own LinkedIn profile is easy. Go to linkedin.com and click on the "Join Today" tab.
Simple to use
Good for networking 
Allows for extended descriptions past the confines of a 1-page resume
Easy to link to from other social media sites
Not the best for displaying portfolio pieces
Layout is not customizable 
Often better for keeping in touch and networking than to use as a portfolio site
Word Press
Customization
Word Press is primarily known as a blog site, but it's customization capabilities have many people using it as a portfolio site. It can be a little overwhelming, but here are the basic elements of the dashboard to know:
My Blogs: where all of your blogs or sites are accessible from
Site Stats: how many views you are getting
Posts: where you create and edit posts
Media: where you manage images, videos, audio clips, and other media put on the site
Pages: manage the various pages within your main site 
Appearance: customize what your page looks like by choosing a theme and widgets to add onto it or create your own from scratch with HTML coding
Settings: edit your avatar, blog title, primary email address, etc. 
Benefits
Weaknesses
Get your own
To make a site, go to wordpress.com and press the "Get Started Here" button. If you already have an account, go ahead and create a new site from your account by going to My Blogs- Create a New Blog. 
Very customizable
Can have multiple pages and tabs within the site
Widgets add cool elements, allowing you to link to things like your Flickr account, tweets, a calendar, etc. 
Opportunity for a custom domain name at a small cost
Formatting can be tricky without experience
Can end up looking more like a blog than a portfolio site if not designed correctly


About.me
One-stop shop
About.me allows you to create a simple online profile, which usually includes:
A background with a photograph of yourself
A brief description of yourself/your goals
Links to all of your other sites, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Spotify, WordPress, FourSquare, Google+, etc.

About.me is usually used as a landing page for your online presence, where an employer can go to see all the different elements of your personal brand. 

Get your own
To make a profile, go to about.me and hit "Create Your Profile." 
Benefits
Customizable
1-stop shop for all of your digital and social media sites
Single online identity
Tons of analytics data to let you know how many hits your profile is getting
Weaknesses
You will need to have a portfolio site in addition to an About.me profile
Good landing page, but can't include elements like work samples, resumes, etc. on it 
Be cautious of what you link to from here– if your Twitter and Facebook pages are not professional, it's probably best to leave them off
Wix.com
Wix.com is a free website builder that allows you to create a flash-based site. Like WordPress, Wix is extremely customizable and free. 

When starting the site, you can build it from scratch or you can go off a template to make it easier on yourself (there are thousands to choose from). 

Once you are in the editor, these are good things to know:
Add: allows you to add pictures, videos, galleries, clip art, widgets, etc. to your site. 
My Files: this is where you can upload your own pictures, videos, PDFS, etc. to include in the site. When uploading your own images, they must be under 5 MB.
When you click on any element, you can edit things about it like color, and you can also add flash animations and effects.
Tabs are controlled by the page manager, where you can create various pages within your site.
Take advantage of buttons to link to files and the different style galleries to organize your images and work samples. 
Flashy sites
Get your own
To make a site, sign up at wix.com by clicking the "Start Now" button. 
Benefits
Flash capabilities make the site look extremely professional
Very customizable 
Easy to include work samples
Can add a custom domain for a small cost
Weaknesses
Can be finicky to design with, takes some practice 
Cannot view from many mobile devices since it is flash-based
Ads for Wix appear on the site unless you upgrade to Pro.