Introduction

I’m going to talk about how to build your portfolio on Upwork and why it is so important. When you’re bidding for jobs on Upwork, one of the most important things that customers are going to look for is proof that you can actually do the job that you’re saying you can do. And that comes in the form of portfolio pieces and other forms of social proof.

What a Portfolio Actually Is

Before we dig in, a quick snapshot of where I’m at on this platform: reportedly $100,000 in total earnings, 145 jobs, and 1,217 hours logged. Now, the first thing we actually have to figure out is what a portfolio actually is. When you really boil it down, a portfolio is a demonstration of what you actually do and demonstrating to somebody who goes onto your profile that you know what you do.

There’s a few ways you can do this. The biggest thing I recommend doing is just absolutely loading up the portfolio section with as many examples and case studies as you can possibly get.

Matching Keywords in Your Portfolio

When we go into the portfolio section for Upwork, the first thing you want to make sure you’re doing is matching the keywords for the types of jobs that you want to complete. For me, for example, it’s cold email, it’s Klaviyo email marketing, it’s e-commerce email marketing. So I want to ensure that when I do my project title, my role, my project description, skills, and deliverables, I’m including all of that stuff.

Loading Up the Portfolio Section with Variety

Within my actual portfolio section here, I’ve done a few things. I’ve included links, and I’ve created a few different article pieces, about 15 different portfolio pieces. What I’m trying to do is give myself a wide range of different types of content. If you really have to choose, you’re like, “Hey, I only want to do two portfolio pieces. What should I do?” I highly recommend doing video format.

Prioritizing Video Content Over Written Case Studies

If you take a look at this portfolio piece, I’ve made it super clear about what I’m doing: cold and warm email, though I make the point that they’re different. You can see keywords like outreach sequences and generate qualified calls built right into the piece. You’ll notice I’ve also got a YouTube video link here. The reason I say you should prioritize having a video in your portfolio piece as opposed to a written case study comes down to authority.

I’ll show you two examples of what that looks like. Here’s another video we have, and further back, some written case studies. Those look great too. But there’s something about being behind a video camera that helps you build authority in a way that written content just doesn’t.

I highly recommend setting aside time to record YouTube videos where you talk about your stuff, whatever you’re selling. For example, I have a fully edited, well put together video that talks specifically to the service I sell: cold versus warm email marketing. If somebody watches that video and sees me talking about what I know, actually explaining myself and conveying who I am as a person, that’s going to resonate so much more than written content alone.

Supporting Video with Written Content

I’m not saying don’t do written content, you should do written content. But if you have to choose between the two and you’re limited on time, go for the video, get it edited, and put it up on a YouTube channel that you create. Having a YouTube channel can be one of the biggest hacks for your business, something I talk about all the time on this channel. Do that, and then if you have even more time, start supporting the video with written content like guides, explanations, and case studies.

For example: outbound sales to raise funds for their energy platform, our team built a cold email infrastructure. That’s the kind of language where I’m enriching the job descriptions with the actual keywords I want to be speaking to.

Identifying Your ICP for Case Studies

When you’re building out your portfolio, the biggest thing is figuring out who your ICP is and creating case studies that focus on what that ICP needs, then building video content to support that, and dovetailing in some other written stuff. That’s how you build out the portfolio piece, and that’s one part of what makes a successful Upwork profile.

Building Out the Rest of Your Upwork Profile

Writing a Clear Profile Description

The other piece is having a very clear description of what you do. For example: Klaviyo and email and SMS plus cold email, followed up by a very in-depth, clear description of what I do in my job description, followed by even having a video. I highly recommend having a video like this in your description.

How This Builds Trust with Upwork’s Algorithm

The more you build out your profile, the more Upwork‘s algorithm is going to notice you’re putting in the work, and put you in front of more people. The more built out your profile is, the more likely people are to hire you or respond. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people get on a call with me and say the only reason we’re on this call is because your profile is fully built out, but more importantly, because of your YouTube channel. Having a YouTube channel, and having videos that link to that channel in your portfolio, can be one of the biggest unlocks and one of the biggest value adds for your entire business.

Closing

If you want to find out about a tool that actually helps automate the process of finding jobs on Upwork, which is how I’ve generated what shows as 100K but I believe is closer to 130K at the moment, there’s a link to another channel. I recommend you use that tool. I am an affiliate of it, full disclosure.