One of the best ways to start an online business is to offer services for clients that will help you earn both active and passive income and establish the know, like and trust factor.
Here are some of the benefits you'll receive with a step by step guide that you can use to build a portfolio once you have some work and clients to showcase.
10 benefits for aspiring entrepreneurs who offer services
Offering services to people in your target audience helps you attract more clients, boost income, and establish yourself as a trusted resource for people in your industry:
1. Provides Immediate Value to Clients
Offering services allows you to solve specific problems for clients quickly, building trust and showcasing your expertise in real time.
2. Demonstrates Your Expertise
Through personalized services, you can highlight your unique skills and knowledge, positioning yourself as an authority in your field.
3. Builds Strong Relationships
Services often require direct interaction with clients, which helps build meaningful connections that foster loyalty and trust.
4. Generates Referrals
Satisfied clients are more likely to recommend your services to others, growing your client base through word-of-mouth.
5. Offers Flexibility in Pricing and Packages
Services can be tailored to different client budgets and needs, giving you the opportunity to attract a wider audience while still offering premium options.
6. Increases Income Quickly
Service-based businesses often have lower startup costs and allow you to generate income almost immediately after launching.
7. Creates Opportunities for Upselling
Once you’ve established trust, it’s easier to offer complementary services or products that enhance the client experience and increase your income.
8. Encourages Repeat Business
Clients who appreciate your services are likely to return for additional support, creating a reliable stream of income.
9. Establishes Social Proof
Positive reviews, testimonials, and case studies from satisfied clients reinforce your reputation and attract more clients.
10. Opens Doors to Passive Income Streams
Over time, you can transform your service-based expertise into digital products, courses, or memberships, creating additional revenue channels.
Creating a Portfolio to Showcase Your Expertise
Once you've helped a few clients with the services you provided, it's time to showcase your work with a portfolio website that helps you land additional customers.
Once you've helped a few clients with the services you provided, it's time to showcase your work with a portfolio website that helps you land additional customers. If you're on WordPress, we have just the solution.
Whether you're an illustrator, designer, photographer, or any other type of creative – you're in the right place. And don't worry, you won't need coding skills or a huge budget.
This tutorial is designed with visual creatives in mind, but the principles work just as well for writers, musicians, or anyone looking to showcase their work online.
We will walk through creating a professional portfolio that does more than just display your work – the goal is to help you build meaningful connections with potential clients.
Whether you're aiming for more commissioned work or wanting to expand your professional reach, you'll find everything you need here. The best part? You can start building as soon as you finish reading.
Why You Need a Portfolio Site
Think of your website as your permanent digital gallery. While Instagram and other platforms are great for networking, your website is where you have complete creative control. You choose how to present your work, tell your story, and showcase your expertise – all without algorithm changes or platform restrictions affecting your vision.
A well-crafted portfolio website also adds credibility to your professional profile. It shows potential clients and collaborators that you're invested in your craft. With the right setup, you can even turn it into a powerful business tool – whether that's selling your work directly, attracting commissions, or connecting with new opportunities.
As we move through this WordPress guide, you'll discover how each element can help you create meaningful connections with your target audience and potential clients.
Let's Start with the Basics
Let's start with the basic ingredients you'll need for a portfolio website that actually helps you land clients. You'll need two main things to get started: a domain name (your website's address, like yourname.com) and web hosting (think of it as your website's home on the internet).
We'll be using WordPress to build your site. While there are other options out there, WordPress gives you the most freedom to grow and adapt your portfolio as your needs change. Don't worry if you've never used it before – it might take a little time to get comfortable with, but the payoff is worth it.
With these foundations, we're ready to get into the good stuff
1. Choose Your Site Building Tools... The Right Tools Makes Any Job Easier...
Creating a website on WordPress becomes a whole lot easier when you've got the right tools in your corner. And that’s why I recommend using Thrive Suite, which includes Thrive Theme Builder and Thrive Architect.
These website building tools are the perfect option for WordPress beginners who want their sites to look amazing without having to wrestle with code, and more advanced users who prefer tools that’ll help them set up a high quality website quickly.
I’ve been using these tools for over ten years for every website I’ve built and let me tell you – they’re worth it.
Thrive Theme Builder helps you get started with the right structure for your website. In a few minutes (and clicks), you’ll have a custom WordPress theme, complete with a set color scheme, fonts, page layouts and styles.
There are other options out there like Elementor and Astra, I've use these tools myself. But in my opinion, they don't provide the ease of use and conversion focused options available with Thrive Suite.
Just drag and drop elements on to your pages to create a stunning design.
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2. Choose Gallery Theme: Perfect for Visual Portfolios
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To get started, you’ll need to install and activate Thrive Theme Builder. This shouldn’t take you too long.
Once you’re in, you’ll need to choose your theme – and we have the perfect one for you: Gallery WordPress Theme.
Gallery is is the perfect WordPress portfolio theme for creatives who want their work to shine. Whether you're an illustrator, designer, photographer, or any other visual artist, this theme gives your portfolio the professional presentation it deserves.
If you're looking for a layout that puts your work front and center while maintaining a clean, client-friendly design – this is exactly what you need.
3. The Theme Templates, Site Wizard and Block Editor Makes It Easy to Build a Portfolio Site
With its clean design and thoughtful use of white space, this theme creates the perfect backdrop to showcase your portfolio work, case studies, and creative projects.
No need to spend hours trying to figure out the perfect design for your website – we’ve done that for you.
You get all the important page templates you need to create a professional website for your brand – from your homepage to your blog layout and shop setup (if you’re selling with WooCommerce).
And to give your website a truly custom feel, you also get 32 high-quality block templates to add to your pages and tailor to match your brand.
The Thrive Theme Builder Setup Wizard (highlighted in red) helps you select all of your page templates, a color scheme, and fonts you need for your site’s design —and it only takes a few minutes to do this.
Use the block editors and the theme builder set up wizard will help you set up your site in no time.
4. Set up Your Client Connection System
Want to stay in touch with potential clients and keep them updated with your latest work? You'll want to connect your portfolio to an email marketing service.
This is a one-time setup using the Thrive API, and it's simpler than it sounds. Once it's done, you can easily collect contact information from interested clients who visit your site.
You can find detailed connection guides for all major email providers here.
To get started, go to any page where you have an email signup form. Click on the form, then look for "Connect form with service" in the sidebar and follow the setup wizard.
You can customize exactly what information you collect (like whether to include a name field) and what happens after someone signs up – maybe directing them to your portfolio or a thank you page.
After you’ve completed this step, sit back and admire your new website.
Pro tip
Setting up your email marketing tool is one step. But, do you have a clear idea on how to grow your email list and generate leads? This detailed guide can help.
Great job – you've now got the blueprint for a portfolio that can actually help grow your business. But having a beautiful website is just the beginning.
The next step is getting your work in front of the right people. Because let's be honest – even the most stunning portfolio needs the right eyes on it to generate opportunities.
I've put together some free resources below to help you attract potential clients to your new portfolio. These guides are practical and actionable – perfect for busy creatives who want results:
