2025 is all about building your brand. Get your work online and show commissioning editors what you are made of
As a freelance journalist, an online presence is essential. There is no use calling or emailing a commissioning editor with earth-shattering feature ideas if they have never heard of you and have no proof you can deliver on your promises. Having a solid portfolio online will also help your application for a staff job, as any prospective editor will want to see your work before even considering replying to you.
Social media is a great place to start. Platforms such as X, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, or Instagram are all great for personal brand-building, but there are many others out there that you might not have heard of that might suit your needs better.
With that in mind, why not give these sites a go:
These are primarily for written work but may be able to support multimedia content like video and podcasts, besides Medium.
Clippings.me
Pricing: Free (basic plan with limited clippings) or premium at £8 a month (includes custom-domain and Google Analytics integration)
Who should use this: Ideal for journalists with lots of written work who need a simple, organised portfolio which also offers some multimedia support.
About.me
Pricing: Free (basic plan) premium at £5 a month (custom domain, meeting scheduling, testimonials, video page, no branding)
Who should use this: Perfect trainers and consultants who want a basic online landing page that encourages visitors to follow up and get in touch.
Pressfolios
Pricing: £12 a month, with a 14-day free trial
Who should use this: Job-hunting journalists who need to organise their best stories into a portfolio and provide a skill list for recruiters.
Muck Rack
Pricing: Free for journalists
Who should use this: Journalists who want to track their bylines and network with minimal effort, as the platform pulls together articles from across the web for you.
Authory
Pricing: £12 a month (standard tier, general automated content, integrated blog and newsletter, social media analytics). £19 a month (professional tier, adds custom domain and more regular updates). Two-week free trial is available.
Who should use this: Freelance journalists who work across a variety of publications as it automatically collects and backs up published work across the web.
Contently
Pricing: Case by case - need to request a quote
Who should use this: freelance journalists actively looking for more work, as it connects the portfolio to potential clients
Writer's Residence
Pricing: Free for 30 days, then £7 a month for unlimited writing samples, connecting your own domain, customisable themes and personal support from experienced writers.
Who should use this: Writers who just want a basic portfolio without the faff.
Writerfolio
Pricing: Free demo (generic URL, limited features) or premium at £3 a month (option to use your name in the URL, choice of themes, unlimited writing samples)
Who should use this: Writers who want a basic portfolio and are not fans of tinkering with web design tools.
These portfolios specialise in hosting video, audio or social media content beyond the obvious channels, like YouTube and Soundcloud.
Wakelet
Pricing: Free (basic plan, limited collections) or premium at £5 a month (record and upload video, extra storage and premium templates)
Who should use this: Journalists who produce visual work (i.e. data journalists) or those who work on social media accounts, as it can curate posts and videos into powerful visual collections through its many integrations.
Vimeo
Pricing: Free (basic plan with limited storage) and premium tiers ranging in features. Starter (£15 a month) offers 100GB storage, auto-closed captions, and custom URLs, and is enough for the purposes of a portfolio. Standard (£31 a month) and advanced (£100 a month) tiers are for live streaming. All prices represent monthly fees, which are cheaper when billed annually.
Who should use this: Videographers and video journalists who want to showcase high-quality video content without low data storage caps.
Crevado
Pricing: Free (limited quality and media types), plus (£6 a month) or premium (£8 a month) plans increase galleries, support audio content and HD video content.
Who should use this: Multimedia journalists working in video and audio, looking for a home for all their best episodes. Those dabbling in graphic design may also find this useful.
These tools can be used to make your own portfolio site from scratch, aside from the go-tos Wordpress, Wix and Squarespace.
Adobe Portfolio
Pricing: Included with Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions (£57 a month).
Who should use this: Photojournalists and multimedia creators already in the Adobe ecosystem, as it integrates with Behance and Lightroom.
Journo Portfolio
Pricing: Free, Plus (£4/month), Pro (£7/month) or Unlimited (£10/month) options, this range allows you to create anything from a basic homepage with 10 portfolio items to a full-on website complete with weekly subscriber email and the option to sell your products and services
Who should use this: Freelance journalists who produce both written and video content and who are also looking for a one-stop-shop for a portfolio and a shopping window for their services.
Format
Pricing: After a free trial, you can subscribe for a Basic (£8/month), Pro (£11/month) and Pro Plus (£13/month). The option you choose will determine how many website pages you can create, how many high-res images you can upload and design options.
Who should use this: Photojournalists and freelancers looking for a beautiful home for their visual work.
Carbonmade
Pricing: After a free trial, you can choose the Beginner (9$/month), Pro (12$/month) or Unlimited (22$/month) option. All three offer unlimited images and videos, you pay more if you want an unbranded website, HD video and audio and unlimited projects.
Who should use this: Photo and video journalists who want to show off their work.
Note: This story is an updated version of an article originally published on 19 November 2014 by Alastair Reid and on 22 October 2022 by Marcela Kunova.
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