Your online portfolio is the engine to your photography career. Whether you’re applying for jobs, bidding on a freelance project or even just showing your friends and family your latest work, all roads lead back to your website.

When you originally created your site, chances are you were just trying to get all of your work and credentials in one place – a great start indeed, yet only a start. Here are 4 things you can do to make your portfolio website stronger and more memorable.

Add Testimonials

When someone is looking to make a decision, they take comfort in knowing that other people made the same decision and were happy they did. Testimonials are a great way to let others sell your services for you. If you don’t currently have any testimonials, getting started is easier than you think. Your past classmates, professors and colleagues will be happy to share what they love about you. Then it’s just a matter of continuing to get more testimonials as you establish yourself in the field.

Tell Your Story

Hold up here – we’re not suggesting that you tell your life story on a webpage. But, a brief and engaging narrative can go a long way toward helping people understand who you are. The people who connect with your story will be the ones to contact you, and they’re exactly the people you want to work with. Your narrative can be as macro as an explanation of your journey to becoming a photographer, or as micro as the moment you realized you wanted to become a photographer. Be creative and have fun with it!

Upload Your Resume

For students who are applying to photography jobs, it’s not a bad idea to add a resume option in your main menu. This goes back to your original goal of having everything in one place. Housing your resume directly on your website keeps hiring managers from having to jump back and forth between their inbox, LinkedIn and your website. And remember, the longer they stay on your website, the more likely they are to call.

Start a Photo Blog

Just because you’re a photographer doesn’t mean you can’t put words to your images. Every image you take has its own story, and a blog is the perfect outlet to give others a peak into your creative process. You can also share your perspective on industry news, upcoming projects and any other happenings that relate to photography. Blogging increases your credibility, both with humans and search engines.

A website is a living organism that should grow and evolve. It won’t do either of those things on its own, so it’s up to you to continually come up with ways to enhance your site’s appearance and functionality. Doing so will ensure that you establish a winning brand and see the success you deserve!