In this day and age, having a physical makeup portfolio won’t be enough – no matter how gorgeous it is! Since we all live online now, it’s critical to showcase your work on digital platforms as well. One prime example is on your business website!
Not sure how to do this? QC Makeup Academy Student Ambassador, Katie Stegeman, has 4 tips to get you started in the right direction!
Katie is a certified Master International Makeup Professional and International Skincare Consulting, Professional. Moreover, she’s a graduate of QC’s Virtual Makeup Training and is currently enrolled in 5 other courses!
Hi, everyone! My name is Katie Stegeman. I’m a graduate and Student Ambassador of QC Makeup Academy. I’ve graduated from QC’s Master Makeup Artistry, Skincare Course, and Virtual Makeup Training Course. Additionally, I am also enrolled in the:
- Pro Makeup Workshop
- Airbrush Makeup Workshop
- Global Beauty Course
- Hair Styling Essentials Course
- Portfolio Development Workshop
Today, I want to discuss the importance of a makeup portfolio. My goal is to teach YOU a few handy ways to showcase it properly, so that you can help transform your business and brand. So, let’s jump right into it!
Marketing Your Makeup Portfolio Online: Where to Focus
Sharing your work across a wide variety of online platforms is sort of like a big funnel. The more places you showcase your photos, the more people will be looking at your work. This, in turn, will raise awareness of your business and get it seen by prospective, target clients. As a result, you’ll be able to drastically increase your bookings!
If you don’t market your makeup portfolio online, however, then there are no two ways about it: you’re going to be limiting your brand’s potential. You’ll shrink the circle of prospective clients that see your work, which will negatively impact your booking ability.
Firstly, you need to make sure that you have a makeup portfolio that demonstrates your very best work. From there, one of the BEST ways to promote it online is by sharing it on your business website. By doing this, you’ll help potentials clients find you more easily and conveniently!
In a nutshell: the more your makeup portfolio is shared, the more prospective clients will see you. So, ensure you have a professional website and share your work there! This will dramatically increase your chances for a massive presence, following, and public interest.
4 Tips for Showcasing Your Portfolio on Your Website
Tip #1: Make sure your makeup portfolio is easily accessible on your website!
When including your makeup portfolio on your business website, the first thing to keep in mind is its accessibility. Is it simple and straightforward to find? Or will people need to jump through hoops just to figure out where it is?
If potential clients are struggling to find your photos (or struggling to navigate your site in general), they’ll quickly lose interest and move on. We definitely don’t want that! As such, it’s extremely important to look at all of your options. Which photos from your portfolio do you want to use on your site? Where do you want to display them? What can you do to make sure viewers know exactly where your portfolio is within the first few seconds of landing on your site?
Do some research! Look up other MUAs in your area and check out their websites. How have they showcased their portfolios? How long did it take you to find them? Can you see all of their photos? Are they easy to scroll through? Can you access everything without trouble?
The easier the process is, the more likely people will continue to look at your work. This can make a HUGE difference on whether potential clients want to book with you or not!
Tip #2: Make sure your makeup portfolio is cohesive and visually appealing!
This next tip goes hand-in-hand with tip #1. You want a makeup portfolio that’s visually appealing. Moreover, its flow needs to make sense. Personally, when I’m looking at someone else’s portfolio, aesthetics plays a big role in my first impression of that business. If I can’t find the photos easily on the site, or the photos are not laid out nicely, I’m probably not going to stay on that website for much longer.
There are so many programs nowadays that can help you format images so that they all look similar and are all the same size. By simply making them all the same size and/or keeping a theme or color going throughout, you can easily create visual similarities in your portfolio. This will please the eye of potential clients and create a natural flow from one photo to the next. Typically, once I get photos back from a professional photographer, I try to lay out my photos in an order that looks best and is truly eye-catching.
Tip #3: Only showcase your BEST work!
There are plenty of photos I’ve taken of the work that I have pulled out of my makeup portfolio. Why? Because I have BETTER quality photos, or my skills have improved since a certain photo was taken. The better I get as an artist, the higher-quality photos I have to put out there as my best work.
Plus, the longer I’m working in the industry, the more diversity of projects I’ve worked on. Therefore, I can add these to my portfolio and showcase more of my skills. For my photos, I always make sure that I have:
- Good lighting
- No filters
- Cropped dimensions to better show makeup techniques
- Clear resolution (rather than a fuzzy or grainy photo)
If you keep the above in mind, this will all lead to you having the best portfolio possible!
Want to learn more about what NOT to do in your makeup portfolio? Here are 4 rookie mistakes to avoid!
Tip #4: Show a wide range of diversity!
No two clients will be the same. After all, people have different skin tones, types, concerns, style preferences, and visions. If your makeup portfolio only showcases your skills on one skin tone or type, you could be alienating a lot of potential clients who don’t necessarily fall into that category. Furthermore, if you only demonstrate a tiny handful of styles, it could inadvertently tell people that that’s all you know how to do.
In order to be the best of the best, and attract as many interested parties as possible, make sure that your portfolio is diverse. Ideally, you should showcase models that:
- Have different skin tones
- Have different skin types
- Are of varying ages
- Are of different genders
- Wear varying makeup styles and/or techniques
Speaking from experience, I’ve been able to work on all sorts of models, thanks to my comprehensive certification training with QC Makeup Academy. For example, I’ve done makeup for senior portraits, maternity shoots, Renaissance-styled shoots, and bridal editorial. Because my makeup portfolio shows a wide range of makeup styles, prospective clients have a clear understanding of what I’m capable of!
The Benefits of Professional Makeup Training
What professional makeup training has given me has been truly invaluable. QC Makeup Academy’s Master Makeup Artistry Course was the foundation of my education. It taught me everything I needed to know about makeup artistry in order to work at an expert level. Since then, adding more QC courses to my repertoire has been the best decision I could’ve possibly made for my career!
QC Makeup Academy’s Portfolio Development Workshop
In particular, QC’s Portfolio Development Workshop has really helped me. This 2-unit program will teach you everything you need to know about:
- The importance of makeup portfolios for professional makeup artists;
- Researching industry standards;
- Planning and conducting your very own photoshoot;
- The presentation of your makeup portfolio;
- Basic photo editing;
- How to market your portfolio;
- Distributing and submitting your images for publishing;
- Marketing your business services;
- And more!
How This Workshop Has Helped Me
Putting my best foot forward and showcasing the skills I have to offer clients are huge! This is especially important when considering the competition of other makeup artists in the area. Most of the artists in my are only using social media as a means of sharing their portfolio. However, relying on social media alone can make things tricky to navigate, depending on how the platform is laid out.
Understanding the importance of having my makeup portfolio on my website, as well as how to display it there, are all things that QC’s Portfolio Development Workshop helped me, master. Furthermore, this course also taught me how to plan a shoot on my own, and choose how I wanted to showcase that work. I enrolled in this program to have a better understanding of how I needed to develop my portfolio… and I can DEFINITELY say this course delivered on that in spades!
Final Thoughts
And don’t forget: if you want to connect with me directly, or have questions about QC Makeup Academy, you can always find me in the free Virtual Classroom on Facebook. Thank you so much for taking the time to read.
If you’re debating on becoming a professional makeup artist, or you just want to expand the knowledge you already have, you need QC Makeup Academy! Leave a comment down below to let me know what you think. Do you have any other tips on how to showcase your makeup portfolio on a website? I’d love to hear them!
Hey Katie!
Not going to lie, this all sounds a little intimidating with the amount of work that goes into making a great online portfolio. However, it absolutely sounds like it could be the most rewarding thing if the time, effort and energy is put into it.
Thank you for sharing! I definitely learned a lot.
This is fantastic advice and truly needed. It’s important to have pictures that are easy to view and find! Thx Katie!
We couldn’t agree more, Cheri! One’s makeup portfolio is so important, but if it’s not being showcased properly, how useful is it truly? We’re very grateful to Katie for sharing these awesome tips! xx
All the best,
The QC Team