How much media to include on your personal website

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As a creative, your personal website needs to reflect your approach to content. Not only does the website itself need to stand out with the imprint of your personality, you also need to include your best media. These are the most impressive songs, pictures, videos, or other forms of media you have created.

Use a website builder like Wix to get the best web templates, with tons of free designs that cater to every personality and style. These templates are not just aesthetically attractive, but also contain various features that provide the sort of functionality you need to show off your best work.

But how much of your own media content should you include on your personal website? You want to show as much of yourself as possible, but you also don’t want visitors to feel overwhelmed by endless samples.

The amount of media to include on your website will differ depending on what type of content you create. There are no hard-and-fast rules, but here are some guidelines to take into account.

Musicians

As a musician looking to attract professional attention, you need to show the range of your abilities. A singer, for example, needs to show what they can do in chest, head, and mixed registers, pushing to the extremes of their vocal range. They also need to show what they can do with tone, while demonstrating all of their capabilities. A guitarist would do similar, except they would focus on speed, technique, and other characteristics.

However, you don’t want visitors to get bored. Choose a few short clips of you performing popular songs that best exhibit your range. By not including every great recording of yourself, you are showing confidence in the samples you do provide.

Songwriters

For songwriters, finding the right balance can be tricky. You need to capture your visitors’ attention with the openings of your songs, and you need to keep their attention. Choosing songs that pack the most punch is your best bet. It helps if they are on the shorter side as well.

Of course, you should provide links back to your Bandcamp page or your streaming profile, so that anyone you leave wanting more has somewhere to go. The trick is to not overdo it, so that they actively choose to continue listening.

Visual Artists

Visual artists such as painters, sketch artists, or graphic designers have a bit more leeway. Visitors may spend a few seconds looking at each picture, and so you don’t have to worry about them getting bored too soon. However, that does not mean you should include everything you have ever created.

Include your favorites, making sure that they show every facet of your abilities. Show your most realistic and most abstract work, so that visitors get an idea of your range. Use samples of pictures created in the different mediums you use as well.

Videographers

When you are exhibiting the videos you have directed, filmed, or edited, you need to choose those which will engage the widest audience possible. The problem some videographers have is that they did their best work for a company in a niche industry. Sharing a ten minute long video about a landscaping business will drive many people away as they will get bored pretty quickly no matter how good your work is.

Share your shorter videos, or cut snippets from longer videos to show what you can do. Most laypeople will not recognize the finer details in your videography, and will be more attracted by what they happen to find compelling.

Writers

Including your media as a writer is somewhat more difficult, considering your content consists of words alone. Simply including excerpts of articles or books you’ve written is not helpful.

Rather, link to articles you have written, using the article’s picture, title, and a short blurb as the sample on your page. You can also use blog posts to provide excerpts, but these should not be exhibited on your landing page or in your portfolio.

Interior Designers / Architects

If you do interior design or architecture, you probably have tons of high quality photos to share. The problem with high quality photos is that they slow down your page, and so you can’t include too many images at such a high quality.

Choose the images that best reflect your design style. If possible, include a video with a walkthrough of a property you designed or worked on. These walkthroughs should be short and focus on the features that improve the aesthetics and functionality of the property.

There are no hard-and-fast rules as to how much media you should include on your personal website. However, less tends to be more, as people don’t have the longest attention spans these days. Make sure that you demonstrate what you can do while resisting the urge to include everything.