Ok, so you're convinced you want to become a copywriter, and no one can talk you out of it.

Now what? Watch this video (or read the post) to see how to make a simple copywriting portfolio without making a time-consuming website:

Let's see what happens with two different freelancers:

WebPage Willy: He makes a whole website for his copywriting portfolio.

Shared Doc Dana: She makes a Google Doc for her copywriting portfolio.

WebPage Willy:

Webpage Willy is excited to start freelancing, and decides to make a freelancing portfolio website.

Now Webpage Willy has lots of experience writing copy already at an agency job he worked for years, but he's not super great with websites.

He spends 3 hours searching for the perfect domain name. He eventually finds "WillyTheCopywriter.com" and decides to go with that.

Next he needs to figure out how to build the perfect portfolio websites.

2 weeks later he finally has a crappy (and kind of difficult to update) website going.

Along the way Webpage Willy bought some pieces of fancy software to help him build the webpage, and now he's spent close to $300 on this project so far.

So far Webpage Willy has invested two weeks, 300 smackaroo's, and lots of frustration on this website.

But he's done!  But Webpage Willy now comes to the horrific realization:

Attempting to drum up visitors, Webpage Willy starts going down a rabbit hole of ideas:

• "Maybe I should start a blog to attract visitors?"
• "I heard Messenger Bots are a thing, maybe I should use those??"
• "What if I spend a week and create a free download for people???"
• "What if I write a book and become an authority on the subject????"

Webpage Willy has spent SO much time trying to build out a cool and get people to it, that he forgot the whole purpose of building a portfolio in the first place:

To get money from freelance clients!!

Poor Webpage Willy, so much wasted time and no income :-(

Now let's shift gears and look at another freelancer, Shared Doc Dana who is just getting started.....

Shared Doc Dana:

Dana just quit the corporate world, and wants to take 1 year and try out freelancing. She has lots of skills, but doesn't know exactly what TYPE of freelancing she wants to do.

Freelance copywriting? Maybe she can buy DanaWritesCopy.com ?

Freelance graphic design? Maybe she can buy DanasDesignShop.com ??

Freelance web page building? Maybe she can buy DanasWebPages.com ???

But she knows that soon as she buys a website, she's going to sink a huge amount of time and money JUST into her portfolio.  In reality, it doesn't matter what Dana's portfolio is like, it just matters that it brings her money.

Dana is a smart cookie, so instead of getting bogged down with building a webpage for her portfolio, she uses a simple Google Doc.

There's only a few steps Shared Doc Dana needs to take to build her entire portfolio.

1. Make a free Google Doc as her portfolio.



2. Add some sections to the doc



3. Fill out those sections.



4. Share finished portfolio with potential clients.

This entire process took Shared Doc Dana less than 30 minutes.

In fact, until she made this portfolio, Dana actually forgot about all the cool projects she's done in the past, and thinks this Doc is better than her resume!

Not only does she now have a freelancing portfolio in a few minutes, but there's also a massive amount of benefits to maintaining a portfolio on Google Docs:

Benefits of a Google Docs portfolio:

Why use a simple Google Doc for a portfolio instead of making a complex webpage? SO MANY BENEFITS!!

Benefit #1.) Can be done with the whole thing in 10 to 30 minutes.

The point of your portfolio is to be like a fancy business card and get you clients. The point is not to have the best portfolio, the

Benefit #2.) No need to deal with upgrades, bugs, HTML, CSS, PHP, Wordpress.

With a webpages there's always need for updates, risks of hacks, and other technical issues. A Google Doc has none of these problems.

Benefit #3.) Can make updates INSTANTLY.

It's so dang easy to edit a Google Doc. Stop wasting your time trying edit a webpage to look how you like....instead just make the change on Google Docs and you're done.

Benefit #4.) Can decide who (who NOT) to share page with.

With a webpage, anyone in the world can see it. With a shared Google Doc, you can specifically pick who can access, or if they can copy/download your portfolio. There is far more control in this respect with a Google Doc than a webpage.

Benefit #5.) Can make custom portfolios for different clients.

Linking to the above point, you can make specific portfolios for a single client. Let's say you're a copywriter with a wide range of industry experience, but you're sending your portfolio to a law firm who needs a writer. You can do a quick "Make A Copy" of your portfolio and keep only law-related examples in that version.

Benefit #7.) You can auto-forward a domain directly to the doc with your professional URL.  

For example, I have copywritingcourse.com/portfolio as my copywriting portfolio, and all that URL does is forward to a Google Doc. Simple!

Sections To Include In Your  Google Docs Portfolio:

Ok so I've convinced you that making a Google Doc portfolio is a quick way to start. But what sections do you need inside of it?

Well there's no "right" answer I can give you, however here are some useful sections:

"What if I don't have a huge portfolio of work already?"

Well my young and scrappy friend, everyone starts somewhere.

Your early portfolio will likely not be super impressive. However if you start listing out all the random projects you've done in the past, you might realize you have actually done a fair bit of work already.

As you can see, even a few small side-gigs you've done can culminate into a decent portfolio.

Copywriting Portfolio Templates Using Google Docs:

Copywriting Portfolio Examples:

Sincerely,

Neville Medhora

P.S. I normally reserve content like this for my paid copywriting training, however I felt strongly about releasing this portfolio tactic to the world as it can save countless freelancers (in any industry) lots of time and frustration.  I sincerely hope building out a simple portfolio like this helps some people :-)

P.P.S. The common question I get asked after showing people how to build a portfolio is "Where do I get freelancing clients??" Here's some help on that:

• How to become a copywriter

• Get started consulting as a side job
• Freelancing writing jobs for beginners
• Charge clients using Three Tiered Pricing
• Script for getting your first $100 as a freelancer