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How To Create a Speaker Portfolio Website (and the tool that makes it easy as pie)

protimauthory — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 02:36:21 +0000

This article was originally published on Authory's blog.

Like every other domain, if you want to make it in the speaking industry (as an individual speaker or someone running a speaking business), you need a professional speaker portfolio. In this article, I'll take you through the essentials of creating such a portfolio. I'll also take you through Authory, and how it can be an ideal tool for creating a speaker portfolio.

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What you’ll get out of this article :

• The must-have elements of your speaker portfolio

• 5 awesome speaker portfolio examples

• Why Authory is the best tool to create your speaker portfolio

Essential elements of your speaker portfolio

Name, Image, Contact information

Sounds obvious, but you wouldn't believe how many speaking portfolios or speaking services I've come across that don't put this basic information upfront. If potential clients have to scroll through your portfolio to find your email, most of them will simply bounce.

Include an image of yourself (or the speakers you represent). Knowing what you look like creates reliability; people like putting a face to a name.

Try adding a strong CTA... something like "Is Evan Jacobs the right motivational speaker for your team? Call 555-888-6642 to book a 1-on-1 session with Evan and find out!"

Put your best foot forward

What do you speak about? Who do you speak to? What value do you add to your listeners and spectators?

These are the most fundamental question professional speakers are expected to answer within their portfolio. Present a brief but information-rich bio that quickly, concisely, and accurately describes what you offer to events, organizations, and/or teams. Mention the domains you speak within, name-drop a couple of well-known clients if possible, and offer a booking link. Don't forget to mention accolades and awards you may be earned.

Put your money where your mouth is (literally & figuratively)

Nothing is a substitute for real-world proof. Showcase yourself in action. Provide video/audio of your speeches. They’re meant to not just depict your public speaking capabilities, but also the depth of your expertise on the chosen topic.

If possible, attach a transcript to each. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even attach relevant secondary material for a few of your speeches. For example, if you speak on topics related to marketing and marketing tools, include a set of marketing materials relevant to one of your talks.

The idea is to provide an initial bout of value. This doesn't just let possible employers accurately gauge your skills, but also casts you in an immediate positive light. Not only do you have nothing to hide, you appear eager to genuinely help the people you work with.

Highlight the most popular topics & presentation

Statistically, which are the topics that get you the most listeners and are more requested by clients? Those should be highlighted somewhere on your portfolio. You can choose to put in on your bio, or you could just post video/audio content of speaking engagements where you explored these topics.

Show off those client testimonials

This is a no-brainer. Ask your clients to write a few lines about their experience of working with you. Their words hold more water than anything you might say. In particular, if you have a few big-name clients, their testimonials tend to grab more eyeballs.

The testimonials are also a great way to subtly indicate which clients you've worked with, or at least the most remarkable/memorable/recognizable ones. Again, this immediately builds trust. Event planners/meeting planners looking to offer speaking opportunities are much more likely to take you seriously when your clients are willing to vouch for you.

If you’ve worked with other speakers who are also well-known for their expertise, you can showcase their testimonials as well.

Examples of excellent speaker portfolios

Gary Boyle

Gary Boyle's speaker portfolio

Gary Boyle is an astronomy educator, guest speaker, and columnist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He is also an accredited STEM educator.

Laurie Reuttimann

Laurie Reuttimann's speaker portfolio

Laurie Ruettimann is a speaker, writer, HR, and entrepreneur.

🖱️

Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

John Toomey

John Toomey's speaker portfolio

John Toomey is a renowned speaker on topics related to mental health.

Brittany Hodak

Brittany Hodak's speaker portfolio

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who has worked with some of the world's best-known brands and organizations such as American Express and the United Nations.

Cassandra Worthy

Cassandra Worthy's speaker portfolio

Cassandra Worthy speaks about various methodologies, approaches, and tools to help organizations deal with drastic changes that lead to sustainable, real-world growth.

How Authory can help you create your speaker portfolio

In the simplest words, Authory creates your portfolio for you.

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Here's how it works: you enter the URL of the site(s) where your speeches/content is published into Authory. After that, give Authory 48 hours, and it will automatically import every piece of bylined content to its database from every source site that you've fed into the system.

Authory doesn't just import your existing content but continues to import all future publications on those source sites.

In other words, every time a bylined video/audio/text-based piece of content is published on these sites, Authory will automatically import it.

You never have to copy-paste/upload any of your bylined content to your portfolio ever again.

Once all your content is in one place, you can organize them into Collections, and add those collections to your portfolio. The whole process takes about three minutes (once your content is imported), and you end up with a professional portfolio guaranteed to meet any clients' standards, no matter how exacting they might be.

Additionally, ALL imported content is automatically backed up FOREVER. It doesn't matter if the original dies or becomes a redirect; you'll always have a copy of your work saved in Authory's database.

Of course, you can add non-bylined content manually, if you so require.

Get started for free, and you'll see exactly why it's the chosen tool for 6X Emmy winner David Pogue, Steven Levy, Editor at Large, WIRED, Brian Fung, a Technology Reporter at CNN, and other industry stalwarts like them.

How to Create a Writing Portfolio

protimauthory — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 11:55:37 +0000

This article was originally published on Authory's blog.

You need a writing portfolio for the following reasons:

To exhibit your writing services
To get you more work by helping you land writing jobs
To build a personal brand (that, in turn, will help you get even more work)

This article will teach you how to create a writing portfolio in just six steps, then round that off with some great freelance writing portfolio examples, and conclude with some more freelance writing career advice.

So, let's get right to it!

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What you'll get from this article :

• A step-by-step guide to help you create a writing portfolio

• A look at some brilliant writing portfolios

• A quick once-over on other stuff to think about as a freelance writer

• And a glance at Authory — an easy-to-set-up, auto-updating portfolio page builder

Step 1: Select a portfolio builder

There are a ton of online portfolio builders — just Google "portfolio builder," "portfolio maker," "portfolio creator," or "top portfolio websites" to see the plethora of results.

But choosing the right one is key.

To help you out, these are the four features your perfect writing portfolio solution should have:

Should look professional : A portfolio that's easy on the eye will help you showcase your writing skills in the best possible way to potential clients.
Should be easy to set up : You don't want to waste precious writing time creating your portfolio. Ideally, you should get your portfolio page up and running in minutes.
Should be easy to maintain : Again, you don't want to lose time by manually adding your newer writing samples as they get published. An auto-updating writing portfolio is what you should be in the market for.
Should back up your writing : If you lose years of writing samples, you'll have to start your freelance writing business from scratch. Hence, you shouldn't rely on past clients to safeguard your writing work — websites go down, articles are re-bylined, etc. Therefore, your portfolio builder should back up your writing as well.

Authory is a portfolio solution that has all these four features. I've written about it a bit more at the end of this piece.

Some other portfolio solutions that exist, but don't have all four essential attributes are Journo Portfolio, Squarespace, Wix, Portfoliobox, WordPress, and Carbonmade. All these solutions have their advantages, though.

But for now, I highly recommend using Authory for the reasons listed above. You can get Authory for free here.

Step 2: Figure out your niche

Now that you've chosen a solution to build out your writer website, the next step is to narrow down your niche.

The reason for this is simple: there are probably millions of writers around the world, and it's essential to stand out from the herd.

Hence, it's vital to "niche down" — figure out which niche suits your writing skills the best, and focus on that.

To do this:

First, look at the kind of writing you've done for past clients. Analyze your most successful articles, and identify which industry they belong to.
Next, list down topics that you're comfortable writing about.
And finally, write down subjects you'd like to write about in the future.

From this exercise, you should be able to pick out three niches that you've either been paid for before, that you're interested in, and/or that look viable for future work.

I advise picking one niche that will be your primary source of work. Ideally, you have proof of successful past work, expertise, and interest in this niche. At best, pick a maximum of three related niches; otherwise, you'll be spreading yourself too thin.

Step 3: Resolve which writing samples to include

Once you've honed in on your niche, it's time to figure out which writing samples to include in your online portfolio.

First, review your published samples to verify which ones to include in your writing portfolio. Basically, look at all the work from writing gigs done for past clients, and identify writing that will impress prospective clients in your niche.

Next, decide on the kind of writing portfolio you're going for — one with all your writing or your best. To be honest, this shouldn't be too much of an issue because most good portfolio builders let you divide your work into collections. And collections can be cleverly used to contain ALL your work, just your best writing samples, or a specific set of writing sorted by topic or industry.

Each approach has pros and cons that collections can mitigate.

All your writing samples

The advantage of showing all your past work is that you can exhibit both the breadth and depth of your work experience. This is especially true for journalists and other freelance writers who must show prolificity to their potential clients.

In my personal experience, I've sought to hire writers with a wealth of relevant experience to showcase. So, a freelance writing portfolio that illustrates this is exceptionally vital.

Just your best work

That said, it's also important to showcase your best work. Potential clients will likely only read some of your freelance writing in one go.

Hence, a collection showcasing your best writing should be curated and sent to potential clients.

Ghostwriting samples

Another set of writing that potential clients will be interested in, is ghostwritten content. By definition, ghostwriting content will not have your name attached to it. But it may be work that can be crucial in you getting your next writing gig.

So, a private collection of ghostwriting samples is the way to go. Certain portfolio sites like Authory can be extremely useful for this.

Step 4: Organize your portfolio into collections

As mentioned above, organizing your writing portfolio into collections is super important. So, once you've decided on the writing samples that will go into your portfolio site, segment your writing by topic, industry, and/or content type (online articles, PDFs, social media posts, etc.).

A solid writing portfolio will have relevant collections relevant to your particular niche that will entice prospective clients into engaging with you. So, take some time to consider which collections to include and how best to organize your portfolio for maximum impact.

Remember to consider building collections for your best work, all your work, and for ghostwriting content.

Private collections

To that end, as a freelance writer, you may have done some ghostwriting or, otherwise, have written content that's under an NDA. Here's where private collections can be super helpful.

A portfolio solution like Authory, lets you create private collections that can be shared only with a potential client, thus ensuring that you don't lose out on the work you've created under a different name or an NDA.

Build bespoke collections to apply to freelance writing jobs

Also, a portfolio builder like Authory lets you create bespoke collections that can be used to apply to specific freelance writer gigs.

For example, Maya Middlemiss, a freelance writer, uses the Content section in her Authory account to find the exact content pieces that best match the prospect’s requirements.

When you can see all your content arrayed in a table, you can reflect on it from the prospective client's point of view: what will be the most relevant, interesting, and important clips, which demonstrate exactly what you have to offer? Once you put yourself in their shoes, it's usually obvious which items should be included.

— Maya Middlemiss

🖱️

Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Step 5: Create your author bio with contact info

Next, create your author bio. This is where you need to encapsulate your offering as a freelance writer and speak about your career and experience.

A template that I use, and has stood me in good stead, is as follows:

I open with a title that coalesces my career into a few words
I then talk about the recent work that I've been doing
Next, I speak about some of the highlights from my past work
And finally, I cap it off with my contact information, social media links, etc.

In fact, go here to learn more about how to do this in more detail and to see more "about me" samples.

I've listed three author bios that I particularly like below.

Author bio example 1: Marijana Kay

Marijana's "about me" on her Authory writing portfolio

Marijana Kay's author bio is succinct and to the point. She has called herself a freelance writer and doubled down by mentioning how she's the founder of a resource catering to freelance writers. This is coupled with her dropping a few big names to drive home her experience and expertise.

Author bio example 2: Liz Fong-Jones

Liz's "about me" on her Authory writing portfolio

Liz Fong-Jones' author bio is arguably my favorite! She follows my template of opening with her title, then talks about her recent work, followed by her past work. But then she goes a step further and speaks to her personal life, which really gives you a complete feel of who Liz is.

Author bio example 3: Brian Clegg

Brian's "about me" on his Authory writing portfolio

I've listed Brian Clegg's author bio here because it's a brilliant example of condensing a long and stellar career into a few words. He opens by mentioning his 40 books in print (wow!) and then explains more about his work, leaving you wanting to delve deeper.

Step 6: Keep your portfolio updated

The last step is to keep your portfolio updated. An outdated portfolio is of no use to you or potential clients. Clients will want to see recent work to be able to give you a writing gig. The entire point of having a writing portfolio is nullified if you aren't getting work. Hence, updating your portfolio regularly is super important.

That said, it can be a pain to do so. You could lose valuable time every week or so.

Hence, a solution like Authory is a godsend. Your portfolio is automatically updated with your latest writing as soon as it's published.

Anyhow, whether you use Authory or not, it's vital to keep your portfolio updated to make the most of all the work you've put in.

Professional writing portfolio examples

So, those are the six steps you need to do to build a writing portfolio. To get an idea of what the best writing portfolios look like, here's a curated list for your benefit.

Writing portfolio example 1: Carrie Back

Carrie's writing portfolio on Authory

Carrie Back is a writer for Travel + Leisure, Parents, Postcards, Culture Trip, Matador Network, & more.

Writing portfolio example 2: Simon Denyer

Simon's writing portfolio on Authory

Simon Denyer is a wildlife conservation consultant, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and author. He was the former bureau chief with The Washington Post and Reuters.

Writing portfolio example 3: Pam Moore

Pam's writing portfolio on Authory

Pam Moore is an award-winning freelance health and fitness journalist and content marketing writer. She is a regular contributor to The Washington Post's Wellness section and has also written for Time, The Guardian, Runner's World, SELF, Outside, Forbes, and many others.

🖱️

Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Writing portfolio example 4: Kathy Parker

Kathy's writing portfolio on Authory

Kathy Parker is a freelance journalist, writer, poet, and spoken word performer based in the Limestone Coast of South Australia whose work has been widely published across national and international news platforms.

Writing portfolio example 5: Brian Clegg

Brian's writing portfolio on Authory

Brian Clegg is a popular science writer with over 40 books in print. He also writes for magazines and newspapers, has written seven novels, and has several short stories published.

For more writing portfolio examples, go here.

Other things to consider as a freelance writer

If you're a freelance writer who is just starting out, you may want to consider having a presence on LinkedIn as well as guest posting to build up a writing catalog.

LinkedIn portfolio

Quite a few companies look for writers on LinkedIn. Hence, it's an excellent idea to build out your LinkedIn presence along with having a portfolio.

A couple of things to ensure: fill in all the details pertaining to each position that you hold and link out to your portfolio page.

As an example, you can see my LinkedIn page. I've positioned myself as a content marketer because that's who I am, but you can portray yourself as a freelance writer, author, or whatever you think fits best. Remember to include your niche in your positioning. Also, note how I've linked out to my Authory portfolio page at the very top.

Guest posts

When you begin your writing career, you may not have a lot of work to showcase. That's absolutely fine. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

That's where guest posts come in. If you can guest post on big websites in your niche, these articles can be added to your writing portfolio.

To do this, go to Google and type: + "guest post"

where is your writing niche. Remember to use quotes for best results. Alternatively, you can try variants of "guest post" such as "guest posting," "guest posts," "write for us," etc.

Once you find these opportunities, reach out to the website with your writing pitch. Do your homework on the kind of writing they're looking for to maximize your chances of getting picked. And you should be on your way to building a writing catalog to exhibit on your portfolio.

Authory — create an auto-updating writing portfolio

Authory.com

I've spoken about Authory throughout this article, because, in my opinion, it's an excellent portfolio builder for the busy professional.

At the outset, I mentioned that you want a portfolio that looks great, is easy to set up, is easy to maintain, and also backs up your writing.

Authory does all this and more.

You get a professional, auto-updating portfolio that backs up your content. The setup time is under 3 minutes.

So, build a writing portfolio on Authory for free now.

FAQs

What should be included in a portfolio for writing?

Writers create portfolios so that they can get more work. Therefore, include writing works that help you stand out from others. This can depend on your writing skill — so, for example, some may include blog post content while others may include landing page copy in their freelance writer portfolio. In a word, include work that shows off your writing ability.

How do I make a free writing portfolio?

You can use the free version of Authory to make your freelance writer portfolio. Remember to include a writing sample that speaks to your ideal clients. Also, include content that you enjoy writing so that you get more of it.

Where can I create a writing portfolio?

You can use Authory to create your freelance writer portfolio. With Authory, you get a great-looking, easy-to-set-up, auto-updating portfolio that also backs up your work.

Freelance Writing Portfolio Examples (PDFs & More)

protimauthory — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 03:40:54 +0000

It doesn't matter if you're just starting out as a writer or have been at it for a while. It's always a good idea to research and keep up with the newest and best practices within your industry. If you're a writer, this means (among other things), staying up to date with portfolio formats, style, and content being implemented by the best writers in the field.

In other words, you need to keep up with the best writing portfolio examples. These could be freelance writing portfolio examples or portfolios crafted by full-time writers. Either way, the point is to learn from people who are known for their expertise and implement the learnings with your own unique perspectives into your own portfolio website.

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What you’ll get from this article :

• A look at 10 excellent writing portfolios, some comprising PDFs

• A deep dive into a tool that can help you create an equally exquisite portfolio

10 online writing portfolio examples

Erin Rupp

Erin Rupp's writing portfolio

On her website, Erin Rupp calls herself a "writer and mindful productivity nerd." She mainly writes about productivity, well-being, and self-development. Her work stands out because of her depth of research, as well as insights from her own experiences.

Alex Hargrave

Alex Hargrave's writing portfolio (PDF)

Alex Hargrave is a Reporting fellow at E&E News. Her portfolio page showcases a number of impressive writing samples (some of them in PDF) that are sure to woo and wow potential clients.

Sarah Sparks

Sarah Sparks' writing portfolio (PDF)

Sarah Sparks is an advocate, consultant, writer & media commentator on equity, social justice, and indigenous rights. Her online portfolio is a clear and deep insight into her extensive repertoire.

Kerry Sunderland

Kerry Sunderland's writing portfolio (PDF)

Kerry Sunderland has been a literary event organizer, magazine editor, journalist, researcher, film reviewer/critic, social media strategist, online community manager, and digital media producer. She is also a radio host/producer and public speaker/presenter. Currently, she is a freelance journalist and a contributing author, among other things.

Tabitha Potts

Tabitha Potts' writing portfolio

Tabitha Potts is a writer with stories long-listed for the Royal Academy Pindrop Award and the Sunderland Short Story Award. One of her stories was a Finalist in MIROnline’s Folk Tale Festival, and one was Highly Commended in MIROnline’s Booker Prize Competition.

If you want to create a writer website, scanning Tabitha's portfolio is almost mandatory.

🖱️

Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Mary Ann Gwinn

Mary Ann Gwinn's writing portfolio

Mary Ann Gwinn is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Seattle Times, Kirkus Reviews, and other publications. She is also a Pulitzer jurist.

Jenifer Fernandez

Jenifer Fernandez's writing portfolio

Jennifer Fernandez is a writer and editor who has been on staff at Architectural Digest, Travel + Leisure, and Martha Stewart Weddings. Her writings have also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Afar, Departures, and more.

Qin Chen

Qin Chen's writing (and video) portfolio

Qin Chen is a writer who reports on China's technological progress and other aspects of Chinese society. She also works with video, as her portfolio reveals. If you're looking up the best freelance writer portfolios, don't miss Qin for inspiration.

Hank Herman

Hank Herman's writing portfolio

Author and humorist Hank Herman has a page that matches his quirky, hilarious work. Freelance writers can get solid tips from him on how to use words AND visual elements to stand out to clients.

Constance Hanstedt

Constance Hanstedt's writing portfolio

Constance Hanstedt is an award-winning author, memoirist, and poet. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, and her novel was named a finalist in the memoir category at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference in 2011, and a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards in 2015.

A tool to create your perfect freelance writer portfolio

Now that you’ve seen some writing portfolio examples, it's time to look at the "how." How do you create your perfect writing portfolio? What tool lets you create the portfolio of your clients' dreams?

Allow me to answer that question with "Authory."

Now, you'll find other portfolio builders that may be more applicable to you, depending on your personal requirements. For example, if you want stunning aesthetics within your writing portfolio format, you can use Squarespace, Carbonmade, Portfoliobox, and the like.

But Authory offers an entirely unique feature that I haven't found anywhere else: automation importing of ALL your bylined content from ANY digital source you enter.

Here's how it works: you enter the source website, give the tool 48 hours, and come back to find all your bylined pieces in one place. You can import from an unlimited number of sources. Authory won't just import all existing content from each source, but all pieces published in the future.

That means, you never have to copy-paste/manually upload any of your bylined pieces to your portfolio ever again. Of course, there is the option to manually add non-bylined content, if you want.

Other prominent features of Authory

All backups are in the content's original format (text/media). No screenshots. You can edit your backed-up pieces in Authory
All imported content can be downloaded as high-res PDFs or exported as HTML files at any time.
Numerous customization options to make your portfolio look sharp and professional.
Email notifications whenever a new article is imported by Authory.
In-built search engine optimization and responsive design to make your portfolio look good on every device.
In-built analytics that offers you real numbers on how your content performs across the web and popular social media sites every 30 days.
Create newsletters with a couple of clicks and let the tool automatically send your newly published content to subscribers.
Widgets to display your portfolio on other sites, such as your personal website (if you have one)

So, if you're trying to create a writer's portfolio and you have pieces scattered all over the internet, consider using Authory to collate them in one place. You can then organize them into Collections, and add these collections to your portfolio.

Needless to say, this is an excellent tool for freelance writers. If you're running a freelance writing business, it's an easy way to have all your content in one place. You can showcase your growth over the year to potential clients, research your older articles, etc.

Authory supports content in all formats — text, audio, and video. You can even add PDFs to your portfolio.

If you're curious, you can get started with Authory for free. Use it to create your portfolio, and get a taste of how it makes your life much easier.

10 Top Writing Portfolio Websites for Freelance Writers in 2023

protimauthory — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 23:21:04 +0000

Whether you're an aspiring freelance writer or an accomplished professional, you need to have a web presence to attract prospective clients. And portfolio websites are the best way to create online portfolios.

This list is a compilation of the best portfolio sites, especially if you're a freelance writer. Some of the tools below are totally free, others have a free plan, and the rest are paid.

Without further ado, let's get to it.

📖 What you'll get from this article:
• A side-by-side comparison overview of the best portfolio websites
• A deeper look at the 12 tools in detail
• Examples of writing portfolio websites from all types of writers

The best online portfolio websites if you're a freelance writer

	Price	Auto-Updating Portfolio	Import Content	Backup
Authory	$8/month	Yes	Yes, original format	Yes, original format
Muck Rack	Free	Yes	Yes, only links	No
Journo Portfolio	$5/month	No	Yes, only screenshots	Yes, only screenshots
The Freelance Creative by Contently	Free	No	No	No
Clippings.me	$9.99/month	No	No	No
Squarespace	$23/month	No	No	No
Carbonmade	$9/month	No	No	No
WordPress	$4/month	No	No	No
Wix	$16	No	No	No
Writer's Residence	$9/month	No	No	No

Authory

Authory

In all likelihood, as a freelance writer, you're creating a ton of content across various publications.

So, your writing portfolio website should, ideally, be able to organize all your freelance writing from all corners of the internet and present it in a beautiful template that's easily digestible for potential clients.

Well, with Authory, all of the above is super simple. Because Authory, unlike other portfolio sites in this list, makes your freelance writing portfolio for you.

Authory automatically imports ALL your bylined writing from ANY source that you enter in the original format that it was created in — no screenshots and the like — the actual text is imported. Moreover, Authory automatically imports all future writing that you'll publish on these websites.

All you need to do is enter your sources — and Authory works with audio, video, social media, PDFs, etc. — and in under 48 hours, your portfolio is ready for you. You can import unlimited articles from an unlimited number of sources.

Hence, you do away with the need to copy-paste or manually upload your freelance writing to your professional online portfolio. That said, if you're looking to add a single piece manually, Authory lets you do that as well.

On top of this, Authory backs up your writing forever. As a fellow writer, I've seen and heard of numerous occasions where a website takes down a freelance writer's content, or it's re-bylined, or heck, the publication goes bust. With Authory, your writing will be safe forever.

Authory's primary features

All your past and future writing samples are automatically imported from any website (including social media accounts), thus making your portfolio for you.
All your content is backed up forever. Even if the original website goes down, you'll have your article backups safe and sound.
All of your content is stored in the original format instead of just screenshots. Note: other services are restricted to screenshots.
You can download your content at any time in the original formats or as HTML files at any time.
Authory lets you customize your portfolio's look and feel while ensuring you don't need to be a designer to land up with a good-looking portfolio.
As soon as a new piece you've written goes live, you'll get an email notification. There's no need to follow up with editors and clients regarding your article's publication.
Authory employs the best SEO tactics to help your online writing portfolio show up for search results.
You get real-time social media data and analytics on how your articles perform— extremely useful for freelance writers.
You can also easily create a newsletter in a few clicks.
Finally, Authory also gives you widgets so that you can showcase your work on other websites — for example, say, if you have an existing personal website and you want to display your portfolio there, then you can just add the Authory widget.

Authory's pricing plans

You can create a free account and try the tool for 14 days.

At present, Authory has a simple $8/month plan. If you need your own domain, you can reach out to the team.

Writing portfolio website examples using Authory

David Pogue's portfolio on Authory

David Pogue is a 6x Emmy award-winning writer, correspondent, and podcast host.

Click here for more writing portfolio examples built on Authory.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Muck Rack

Muck Rack

Muck Rack is primarily a media database for PR professionals, staff & freelance journalists. That said, it also offers a portfolio-building service. While Muck Rack helps connect journalists to PR folks, the portfolio builder can be used by freelance writers if you so choose.

Muck Rack try shines for journalists: providing analytics for news coverage in selected topics, number of shares, journalism job postings, automatically compiling articles, and more.

Muck Rack also automatically updates your profile if you're a journalist, provides news analysis, and sends you a daily digest of the top journalism stories via Muck Rack Daily.

Muck Rack's pricing plans

Most of Muck Rack's features are free. But media lists, alerts, database searches, and the like fall under the premium category.

These premium features are available to verified journalists and not other journalists.

Writing portfolio website example using Muck Rack

Zachary Sniderman's portfolio on Muck Rack

Zachary Sniderman is the Editorial Director at Greatist.com.

Journo Portfolio

Journo Portfolio

The "journo" in Journo Portfolio possibly refers to the act of journaling more than journalism because Journo Portfolio, like with all portfolio websites in this list, can be used by freelance writers of all kinds — content writers, journalists, copywriters, etc.

Journo Portfolio has eleven distinct themes allowing you to organize your writing in various pages or content blocks.

The tool also has an import feature, though it's restricted to taking screenshots of your content. Still, extremely useful.

Journo Portfolio's primary features

It's possible to import your content in various formats, such as images, social links, PDFs, etc.
When creating your online portfolio website, you can choose from a library of pre-designed sections. This is on top of the eleven themes you can initially pick from. Also, the content can be presented in various blocks or pages.
Journo Portfolio backs up all your imported content, though these backups are, again, in the form of screenshots and not in the original formats.
You can create password protected portfolio or use a secure link to restrict access to your writing portfolio (to a single page or the whole portfolio).
The tool gives your analytics of how many people visited and engaged with your writing portfolio page.

Journo Portfolio’s pricing plans

PLUS plan: $8/month

PRO plan: $12/month

Writing portfolio website examples using Journo Portfolio

_Kathryn Brudzinski's portfolio _

Kathryn Brudzinski's portfolio displays her work as a student journalist at the University of Central Florida.

Click here for more examples.

The Freelance Creative by Contently

The Freelance Creative by Contently

Similar to Muck Rack, which caters to journalists primarily, the Freelance Creative by Contently is a job database for freelance writers. You will need to create a portfolio when you register for a free account, which the prospective client will see when you apply for a particular job using the forum.

It's possible to display unlimited articles, videos, images, etc., on the portfolio to promote yourself. Contently's team will match your portfolio with potential clients that may be interested in your writing.

Contently/Freelance Creative's pricing plans

For setting up your online portfolio, Contently is free.

That said, you don't get features that you'll find on other services on this list, like automatic content importation, etc.

But since the functionality is more geared towards finding freelance opportunities, it shouldn't be an issue.

Writing portfolio website example from Contently/The Freelance Creative

Ellen Sheng's portfolio on The Freelance Creative by Contently

Ellen Sheng is an editor, writer, and content strategist focusing on financial services.

Clippings.me

Clippings.me

Clippings is targeted toward freelance writers and other folks in the writing and content marketing business. It has practically no learning curve because, like with most other tools in this list, you don't need any coding knowledge to set up your portfolio site.

All you need to do is create a free account, add links, and customize your free portfolio layout. It's possible to add PDFs, video, and audio files as well.

Clippings lets you use Google Analytics to track your online articles' performance.

Clippings' pricing plans

Clippings' free plan is free for life, though with limited features

Price for Clippings.me Premium: $9.99 per month

Writing portfolio website example using Clippings

Naomi Conrad's portfolio on Clippings.me

Naomi Conrad is Deutsche Welle's political correspondent based in Berlin.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Squarespace

Squarespace

With over 230 templates, Squarespace ensures you're spoilt for choice when building your freelance writing portfolio using the tool. Unfortunately, there's no scope to create a free portfolio because Squarespace is paid.

That said, you get practically every feature you could ask for when building your own portfolio site: a site that's automatically optimized for search, a free custom domain on all the yearly plans, marketing tools, unlimited pages, etc.

Squarespace's primary features

Over 230 gorgeous customizable templates with responsive design for various professions.
Squarespace is basically a website builder, and you can create various sections with multiple content types and page elements.
Has password protection, in-built SEO, and a drag-and-drop editor for easy customization.
While it doesn't require plugins to expand website functionality, it has multiple extensions for integrating third-party tools that manage marketing, finance, etc.

Squarespace's pricing plans

Personal plan: $23/month

Business Plan: $33/month

Commerce Basic: $36/month

Commerce Advanced: $65/month

Writing portfolio website examples using Squarespace

Hank Ellis' portfolio using Squarespace

Hank Ellis is a former US Coast Guard serviceman, now author and poet.

For more Squarespace portfolios, click here.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Carbonmade

Carbonmade

Carbonmade doesn't have templates, but you can use its plethora of striking design elements to create a genuinely unique responsive portfolio. While there are starting layouts, customizing everything from the portfolio grid to navigation to colors and fonts will probably be more tempting for most.

You can upload an unlimited number of images and videos — in fact, unlike other tools in this list, Carbonmade has a video player that lets you drag and drop 4K HD videos onto your portfolio without having to embed them elsewhere.

Another stand-out point is that the free trial doesn't require a credit card unless you want to go live with your portfolio.

Carbonmade's primary features

Super customizable layout blocks resulting in unlimited design possibilities.
Tons of galleries that support all image formats, videos, PDFs, etc.
All videos have full HD support while loading really quickly, and folks working with video can crop or loop the video inside the tool itself.
Your own domain name plus analytics data about your portfolio.

Carbonmade's pricing plans

Beginner Plan: $9/month

Pro Plan: $12/month

Unlimited plan: $22/month

Writing portfolio website examples using Carbonmade

Erna L Adenson's portfolio on Carbonmade

Erna L Adelson is a copywriter with a decade and a half of experience.

For more examples of Carbonmade in action, click here.

WordPress

WordPress

WordPress is arguably the most popular website builder and can be used to build your portfolio. Along with the standard WordPress themes, you also get exposed to unlimited premium themes, giving you total creative control to create a polished portfolio.

With unlimited storage, you can build unlimited pages or have a single page with your projects listed, each with a brief description. It's entirely up to you. You're essentially creating a website for yourself. And while that's wonderful, it can be overwhelming when starting. But there are tons of tutorials online that'll hold you in good stead.

WordPress' primary features

Practically thousands of beautiful templates, where quite a few are perfectly suited to building writing portfolios.
Depending on the template you pick, nearly everything is customizable.
There's an entire ecosystem of add-ons for almost any need that you may have.
Offers in-built SEO and a custom domain name.

WordPress’ pricing plans

Personal plan: $4/month

Premium Plan: $8/month

Business Plan: $25/month

eCommerce Plan: $45/month

Writing portfolio website example using WordPress

Damien Walter's portfolio using WordPress

Damien Walter is a writer and storyteller with words in The Guardian, BBC, Wired, Independent, Aeon, and OUP.

Wix

Wix

Like WordPress, Wix is a website builder. With over 500 templates, you can build your portfolio site relatively quickly. Wix is super customizable, and their drag-and-drop editor is very beginner friendly, unlike some other tools on this list.

Obviously, Wix can be used to build any kind of website, but there are more than enough templates to make a portfolio that is suited to your needs — images, video, audio, contact forms, etc.

Wix's primary features

More than five hundred exquisitely designed templates.
Complete control over website customizability.
Incredible in-built SEO tools that are industry-leading at present.
Expand your site's function by using the app market — for example, adding Google Analytics integration for your site.
Custom domain name, free web hosting, in-built analytics, SSL certification, and social media integration.

Wix's price

Combo Plan — $16

Unlimited plan — $22

Other plans exist but are targeted toward businesses.

An example of Wix in action

Christina Vanessa's portfolio using Wix

Christina Vanessa is a Fullbright scholar, artist, and designer.

Writer's Residence

Writer's Residence

Writer's Residence was started by Monica Shaw, a freelance writer herself. The tool offers writers a basic “brain-dead simple system” for setting up their portfolio websites.

Bring your own domain or use one of theirs, and you can create a professional portfolio without requiring expert-level technical or design skills.

Writer's Residence's pricing plans

$9/month after a 30-day free trial.

An example of Writer's Residence in action

Monica Shaw's portfolio on Writer's Residence

Monica Shaw is a writer and web consultant.

A humongous list of writing portfolio websites

Here's a comprehensive list of writing portfolio examples from writers of all kinds:

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

How to Create a YouTube Video Archive/Backup

protimauthory — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 16:01:12 +0000

Need to back up all the YouTube videos that you've ever created?

I'll do you one better. I'll show you how to create a YouTube video archive that automatically imports all videos from your YouTube channel as soon as you upload them.

That means you can sit back after a one-time setup and never worry about if your videos are saved and safe. They'll be automatically drawn into a secure internet archive, and a copy will stay yours even if the original link dies or disappears.

Let's dig into creating your perfect YouTube video backup.

🗒️ Note: The tutorial below is meant to demonstrate how to back up your own YouTube channel videos. Please don't use this tool to back up videos or a YouTube playlist created by others. The system is not designed to import videos you do not own.

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• How to create a YouTube video archive using a tool that automatically imports and backs up your new videos as well
• Why use Authory to create your YouTube video archive instead of any other tool

How to create a YouTube videos archive in minutes

🗒️ Note: Since I do not have any original videos on YouTube, I'll use an existing YouTube channel to demonstrate the process. Please note that this is not my YouTube channel. I am simply using it to show how you can save all the videos uploaded to your own YouTube channel (videos created by you).

A few quick notes before using Authory for YouTube backups:

Authory will back up all videos from your YouTube channels (yes, multiple) and save them even if the original link dies and/or is made private.
Imagine you are an interview guest somewhere, and this organization/individual eventually deletes the video or sets it private: you’ll always have your copy available.
You can make this copy (which is basically the original YouTube video but delivered from Authory’s server in a custom Authory player) available to anybody else, share it, etc.
You can add a YouTube channel, and Authory either imports all videos from that channel (if you own it and these are your videos), or only the videos with your name in the title/description.

Step 1: Sign up for Authory (for free)

Create an account on Authory for free using this signup link.

Step 2: Import and add your videos

Backing up a YouTube account

Click on “Add Content.” You can provide a source site from which all your videos will be automatically imported. You'll also be able to manually add videos by pasting the URL.

For automatic importing, click on “Automated import.”

Automatically importing YouTube videos from a YouTube account

Click "Add source."

Adding YouTube as a source

Choose YouTube from the list of sources.

Choosing YouTube as the content source

Feed in the name and URL of your YouTube channel.

Entering the name and URL of the YouTube account

Click “Start Import.” Your YouTube channel will be added as a source on Authory.

🗒️ Note: It takes about 48 hours for Authory to import all your existing content from a new source. After that time, all new videos you publish will be imported instantly.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Step 3: View your YouTube backup on Authory

Return to the "Content" tab. Click the "Videos" checkbox on the left, and only your imported and backed-up videos will show up.

Backed up YouTube channel on Authory

Alternatively, click on your YouTube channel's name under "Sources" to the left, as seen above. You can also use the search bar (also highlighted above) to find YouTube videos from among the imported ones.

You can actually watch YouTube videos right within Authory. Just click on the video, and it'll open up for you to view within Authory. You can also click the "Open original" option (seen below) to watch the video directly on YouTube.

🗒️ Note: It doesn’t matter if you want to watch a deleted YouTube video from your channel; you can do so on Authory. The only catch is that you have to import or manually add it before it is deleted.

Watching backed-up YouTube videos within Authory

How to backup YouTube videos manually

Once again, go to the “Content” tab and click “Add Content.” Then, click on “Paste URL of content.”

Enter the URL of the YouTube video to import and backup

Enter the video URL. Click “Add.”

Adding URL of YouTube video

Choose the video source (that platform it is on). If it's from a new source, add it by clicking “Content is from new source.”

In this case, I'll use an existing source — Halloween Town.

Adding a source for a YouTube video

Click “Add.” The video will be saved on Authory. To add more videos, click “Add another item.” and repeat the steps above.

Adding more YouTube videos manually

See your video uploaded above.

All videos, whether imported or manually imported, are permanently saved. If you even want to watch deleted YouTube videos from your channel, you’ll find them on Authory (as long as you added them before deletion).

But why pick Authory over other archiving services?

It's a good question.

Tools like Google Takeout can be helpful in creating a YouTube video archive. The process is simple enough. However, you'll have to regularly initiate manual backups by taking snapshots of your YouTube page. If you take a snapshot of your YouTube account on a specific date (say, 24th Jan 2023), every video you create and upload after that won't be backed up unless you take another snapshot. You'll have to take another snapshot at some point to back up your videos after the previous snapshot date.

With Authory, however, you literally need to set things up once, and the tool takes care of the rest. Its auto-updating backup process requires you to only feed the name and URL of your YouTube account ONCE, and every video you publish on your channel after that is automatically imported and saved by Authory.

In other words, Authory doesn't just save your existing content but continues to import and save all the content you continue to put out on your YouTube channel. Again, the entire process is automatically driven.

Additionally, Authory's content database is searchable. So if you've imported 200 videos (with a few viral videos among them) and need to watch a specific one, you can just search using the video's title (full or partial). No need to scroll through all 200 to find the one you're looking for. You can even find deleted YouTube videos that you may have removed from your channel (after Authory imported them).

Since Authory's backup repository does not depend on the status of the original page, YouTube users and their subscribers will never lose a YouTube video (of your own creation) again. Any deleted videos will always be available on Authory. If you want to watch a deleted video, just search for it on your personal content database.

🗒️ Note: Authory does the same for web pages, podcast platforms, etc.

Curious? Then get started with Authory for free today!

Carbonmade vs Squarespace vs Authory

protimauthory — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 20:12:36 +0000

Carbonmade insists that "templates are boring.”

Squarespace is known for its gorgeous, attention-gripping templates.

Authory imports and backs up all your content automatically, no matter where it has been published online.

So, which portfolio website builder do you pick among the three above?

When looking for a portfolio builder, I, too, compared Carbonmade vs Squarespace vs Authory. It took me a while, but I finally managed to distill these tools down to their primary offerings and make a decision based strictly on my requirements.

I'm quite proud to say that I'm very happy with my final choice. In light of this small success (not too small considering the tool I chose gave me a portfolio that got me well-paying clients in just three weeks), I wanted to share my own experience and impression while doing the "Carbonmade vs Squarespace vs Authory" dance. Perhaps it'll help you choose and create that perfect portfolio as well.

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• The primary features I wanted in my perfect portfolio builder
• Exploration of each tool in some detail
• Why I chose one tool over the other two

What I wanted in my perfect online portfolio builder

When choosing a professional portfolio builder, the following features were non-negotiable for me:

User-friendly with an intuitive UI that let me set up a professional portfolio within minutes. No coding skills required, ever.
Allows uploading and showcasing of content in multiple formats — text, audio, and video.
Customizable enough to achieve the aesthetic appearance I wanted without too much work. I'm a freelance writer; I don't need award-winning designs on my banner, but I do want prospective clients to think my portfolio looks sharp, minimal, and navigable.
Some form of analytics that offers me some insight into how my published content is performing on the internet in terms of readership, traffic, engagement, etc.
Affordable for a newbie freelancer like me (I'd been writing full-time until October 2022). I couldn't afford anything more than $10 a month.

Carbonmade vs Squarespace vs Authory: A Comparison

Carbonmade

Carbonmade

As I mentioned before, Carbonmade doesn't really do templates. Instead, they offer customizable layouts in which every element is drag-and-drop. You can customize everything — portfolio grid, navigation, colors, fonts — all with just a few clicks. You also get unlimited uploads of all file types with no file size limit.

Uniquely, starting a free trial does not require a credit card. You only pay when you go live with your portfolio.

Primary features of Carbonmade

Completely customizable layout blocks with no pre-set designs. Unlimited design possibilities based on what you can imagine.
Unlimited galleries, be they gallery grids, gallery sliders, etc. Galleries support all image formats, videos, and PDFs.
All galleries are optimized for mobile screens.
Animators & videographers can crop and/or loop video within the tool itself.
All videos get full HD support with high-speed loading times.
Easy access to dozens of typefaces.
Custom domain offered in all plans.
Analytics data on how many people have visited your portfolio or which of your projects is most popular.

Carbonmade's pricing plans

Beginner Plan: $9/month

Pro Plan: $12/month

Unlimited Plan: $22/month

Portfolios created with Carbonmade

Aran Quinn's illustration & animation portfolio

Aran Quinn is an award-winning Irish Animation Director based in New York.

Allen Laseter's design portfolio

Allen Laseter is an animator, designer, and director based out of Tennessee.

Squarespace

Squarespace

A fixture on most "best website builder" lists, Squarespace is the king of templates. Like all other niches, it also offers templates for creating your own portfolio.

You also get almost every necessary for site creators — search engine optimization, marketing tools, eCommerce capabilities, a free custom domain on all yearly plans, and the like.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Primary features of Squarespace

A wide range of uniquely designed templates tailored for different professions.
All templates are customizable and equipped with responsive design. They look great on different devices with different screen sizes/resolutions.
Templates come with specific sections you often see on websites — Contact, About Me, Blog, Products, Portfolio, and the like. Less work for you when setting up.
Allows and accepts multiple content types and page elements: text, photos, videos, audio, galleries, products, newsletter sign-ups, appointments, calendars, tour dates, reservations, menus, forms, maps, links, files, social links, buttons, quotes, custom code, charts, etc.
Allows password protection, whether for a single page or the entire site.
Provides in-built SEO for your entire portfolio.
Doesn't require plugins to expand website functionality.
Create an eCommerce section to sell your work with a few clicks.
A drag-and-drop editor for easy customization and setup of your portfolio.
Multiple extensions for integrating third-party tools that manage marketing, finance, sales, products, inventory, shipping, etc.

Squarespace's pricing plans

Personal Plan: $23/month

Business Plan: $33/month

Commerce Basic: $36/month

Commerce Advanced: $65/month

Portfolios created with Squarespace

Caylon Hackwith’s design portfolio

Caylon Hackwith is a photographer, videographer, and art director

Mike Perry’s art portfolio

Mike Perry is an Emmy award-winning artist.

Authory

Authory

While other website builders have robust, market-ready features, they didn't give me what Authory did (and what I wanted the most): automatically importing ALL bylined content from ANY digital source.

You enter the source website, give the tool about 48 hours, and come back to find all your bylined pieces in one place. You can import from an unlimited number of sources. The tool won't just import all existing content from each source, but all pieces published in the future.

That means, you never have to copy-paste/manually upload any of your bylined pieces to your portfolio ever again. Of course, there is the option to manually add non-bylined content, if you so require.

Additionally, all imported content is permanently backed up. So, not only does Authory build your portfolio for you by bringing all your content into one place, but it also saves that content forever. And again, the entire process is automatic. All you do is enter the correct website URLs.

Primary features of Authory

All bylined content is imported automatically from any digital source — websites, social media, podcast platforms, YouTube, etc.). This applies to both existing and future content published on the specific source.
All imported content is permanently and automatically backed up. Irrespective of the status of the original link, you'll always have a copy of your content on Authory. There’s no steep learning curve because Authory makes your portfolio for you.
All backups are in the content's original format (text/media) rather than just screenshots.
All imported content is downloadable as high-res PDFs or as HTML files at any time.
Effective customization options that don't require much work, but always end up making your portfolio look sharp and future-forward.
Email notifications alert you whenever one of your pieces is imported by Authory.
In-built search engine optimization and responsive design implementation for every portfolio.
Robust Analytics implementation that offers you real numbers on how your content performs across the web and popular social media sites every 30 days.
Create newsletters with a couple of clicks. The tool will send your newly published content to subscribers automatically.
Widgets to display your portfolio on other sites, such as your personal website (if you have one).

Portfolios created with Authory

David Pogue's thought leadership portfolio

David Pogue is a 6x Emmy award-winning writer, correspondent, and podcast host.

Melissa Kalt's thought leadership portfolio

Melissa Kalt is an award-winning physician, mentor, and writer.

Authory's price

$8/month

Why Authory won this battle

While Carbonmade and Squarespace provide powerful features that would be non-negotiable for individuals in different professional situations, they did nothing to reduce my effort in building an online portfolio.

For both of these tools, I'd have to look for the content I want to showcase manually, and copy-paste/upload them by hand. There's also no assurance on storage/backup (unless you get the plugin/pay for a more expensive plan), so I'd also have to organize these pieces on my device or the cloud. Additionally, the content will be lost if the source link dies for some reason since I don't have a copy of any kind.

In light of these drawbacks, the advantages these tools offered didn't make sense. A visual editor or the promise of unlimited pages didn't do much to compensate for the labor I'd have to invest in putting together my portfolio.

Don't get me wrong. These tools are ideal for individuals with different requirements or ones in different domains. UX designers would probably appreciate Carbonmade's customizable layouts for their UX portfolio. Similarly, perhaps graphic designers want Squarespace's unique template to reflect their own artistic/aesthetic inclinations.

However, for a freelance writer for myself, the best website builder is the one that collated all my content, saved it, and expected me to put in about 3 to 5 minutes of work to receive a fully-finished portfolio.** There wasn't any need to go through video tutorials to set it up — though those are available for folks who need it.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Authory is noticeably cheaper than the other tools in this list.

On average, using Authory saves me about five and a half hours every month — time I'd otherwise spend bothering clients for publication dates, copy-pasting links once my articles have been published, and scrambling to find relevant older articles in my six-year-long writing repertoire.

Additionally, I looked at Authory's user base and decided it was populated by people who have already achieved the success I am working towards. Take David Pogue (mentioned above) with his 6 Emmy awards, Steven Levy, Editor at Large, WIRED, or Brian Fung, a Technology Reporter at CNN. These individuals have the careers I want, and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm following their lead in choosing Authory over all other website builders.

However, you should not take my word for it or even the word of the stalwarts I mentioned. Just get started with Authory for free and gauge if you're getting what you want out of this premium portfolio builder.

Adobe Portfolio vs WordPress vs Authory

protimauthory — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 09:49:32 +0000

Adobe Portfolio or WordPress or Authory? It's a solid question and poses quite a conundrum when you're picking the ideal tool to build your portfolio website. I know because I spent two months trying to find a tool that meets all my requirements, and doesn't burn a hole in my pocket — which isn't as simple a feat as you think.

Thankfully, I did find a tool that works for you, and I decided to lay out my observations on the journey of research and trial-and-error that led me to said tool. This time, I'll be taking on the difference between Adobe Portfolio vs WordPress vs Authory.

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• A list of features I wanted in my ideal portfolio builder
• A detailed exploration of Adobe Portfolio, WordPress and Authory
• A glance at Authory, and why I chose it to create my writer’s portfolio

Features of my perfect portfolio website builder

A user-friendly UI that lets me create a professional website in minutes.
No requirement for coding skills.
Analytics support so I can keep up with the performance of my published content.
Simple, unproblematic customizability that didn't overwhelm me with options.
Affordable. Ideally, less than $10 a month.

Now, let's look at the tools in some detail before I justify my final choice to create a portfolio site.

Adobe Portfolio

Adobe Portfolio

If you're a photographer and need to create a photography portfolio, choose Adobe Portfolio. Get the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription it comes with, and start using it today. It comes with not just a set of visually arresting layouts but also numerous features considered essential for photographers — such as integration with Behance and Adobe Lightroom.

Using this tool, you can create a stunning, professionally-valued portfolio without requiring expert-level technical or design skills.

Primary features of Adobe Portfolio

Responsively designed themes that make your portfolio website look great on mobile device screens.
Build single-page or multi-page portfolios.
Solid options for customizing, along with pre-set elements that look good, no matter what.
Seamless image importing from Adobe Lightroom.
Flawless Behance integration.
Allows use of Adobe Fonts.
Dynamic galleries that let you create photo grids and incorporate photos from Lightroom.
Enables password protection of single or multiple pages of your portfolio.
Offers a custom domain, but requires you to register and host it manually. You can choose to get a domain through Adobe Portfolio, and it will host your site on Namecheap. All setup is manual.

Adobe Portfolio's price

Adobe Portfolio comes bundled with Adobe Creative Cloud, priced at:

Creative Cloud — Photography: $9.99/month

Creative Cloud — All Apps: $54.99/month

Portfolios created with Adobe Portfolio

ilustramincje's illustration portfolio

ilustraminacje (Kamila Romaniak) is a freelance illustrator from Poland.

am.studio's architecture portfolio

am studio de arquitetura ltda is an architectural studio based in Sao Paulo.

WordPress

WordPress

As one of the most popular website builders in the world, WordPress is a great option for building your online portfolio. It comes with almost every feature you need to create a rich, layered portfolio website within a few minutes unless, of course, you want to dive into the back-end code.

If you're just starting out with website creation for a portfolio, I'd recommend that you watch WordPress tutorials to make the process easier and less confusing.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Primary Features of WordPress

Thousands of aesthetically attractive templates and layouts, many of which are perfectly tailored for creating portfolios.
Ability to add everything from photo carousels, maps, and tiled image galleries to forms with a single click.
Supports most design elements — text, photos, forms, Yelp reviews, testimonials, maps, etc. All the elements are moveable; you can shift them around as you see fit.
Thousands of add-ons that are easy to install and help expand your site's functions — capture leads, insert contact forms, institute subscriptions, automatically backup your site, use business management software, online marketing tools, etc.
Sell directly from your portfolio using the tool's eCommerce capabilities.
In-built SEO optimization options.
Offers custom domain names.
Leverage industry leading customer support.

WordPress’ Price

Personal Plan : $4/month

Premium Plan : $8/month

Business Plan : $25/month

eCommerce Plan : $45/month

Portfolios created with WordPress

Atlantis's web design portfolio

Atlantis is a web designer with a background in graphic design.

Studio Signorello's graphic design portfolio

Studio Signorella features unique silkscreen prints, custom-made, including the material and colors.

Authory

Authory

The first thing you should know about Authory is that it builds your portfolio for you. You enter the digital source (the URL of websites where your pieces are published), and a copy of every bylined article on that site is automatically drawn into Authory's database. Once that is complete, you organize them into Collections, add them to your portfolio, and you're done — all with just a few clicks.

All imported content is permanently backed up. It doesn't matter if the original page goes down for any reason; a copy of your content is forever saved with Authory.

You can import and add content in text, audio, and video formats. It's quite common for Authory users to create broadcast quality videos, and use the tool to import and back them up, as well as showcase them on their portfolio.

Primary features of Authory

All bylined content pieces are automatically imported from any website you specify. Authory doesn't just import your existing work, but anything you might publish (with your byline) on those sites in the future. You never have to copy-paste an article, podcast, or video link to your portfolio ever again.
All imported content is permanently backed up by Authory. Irrespective of the source link's status, you'll always have a copy of any content imported by Authory.
All backups are in the original content format, be it text or media. No screenshots.
All content can be downloaded as high-quality PDFs or exported as HTML files anytime. No lock-in period.
Enough customization options to make your portfolio look good without much effort. You can upload your own banner image, choose how your content will appear (tiles, list, etc.), and add relevant contact and social media links.
You get email notifications anytime a new piece of content is imported.
Your portfolio is automatically optimized for SEO, and responsively calibrated to look great on mobile screens
You get analytics data (readership & engagement numbers) on your content every 30 days.
A newsletter tool that lets you automatically send all new content to your subscribers.
Availability of widgets that you can use to display your Authory portfolio on your personal website or social media accounts.

Authory's price

$8/month

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Portfolios created with Authory

David Pogue's thought leadership portfolio

David Pogue is a six-time Emmy winner, a New York Times bestselling author, and a five-time TED speaker.

Ali M Latifi's journalism portfolio

Ali M Latifi is a Kabul-based journalist.

Why I chose Authory over Adobe Portfolio and WordPress

Simple. Because Authory is cheaper and gives me exactly what I want.

Both Adobe Portfolio and WordPress are excellent portfolio makers, but they don't give me the primary features I need — automatically importing all the content I have even published, and backing them up permanently.

I've been writing since 2017, and to manually locate every article of mine was an impossible task. Authory made it possible, and imported pieces I had forgotten about. This database gave me a deeper understanding of my 6 year-long writing career and allowed me to represent a wider subsection of my work for prospective clients.

Adobe Portfolio doesn't work for me because I'm not a photographer, and I do not need most of its offerings. What do I care about Behance integrations or image imports from Adobe Lightroom? Additionally, to use this tool, I'd have to buy an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, which is completely outside my price range. Not using this tool was a no-brainer.

Then there's WordPress, which is great for building your portfolio website from scratch, but that is too much work for me. I don't need a million add-ons and incredibly designed templates. I need a tool to find all my content for me, save it, and let me sleep in longer every day.

Of course, I could watch WordPress tutorials to make the process easier and set up all features I need. But why would I, given that Authory comes out of the box with everything I need? It's also MUCH cheaper.

Obviously, if I wasn't a writer, but worked with visual media and/or needed to sell my work (paintings, graphic art, digital and print graphics, books, etc.) from my portfolio, I would choose WordPress. If I wanted to showcase high-res images without compressing them or risking any quality reduction, I would choose Adobe Portfolio.

But for me and countless other stalwarts in industries like writing, journalism, content marketing, and the like, Authory is the obvious option. AnEditor at Large at Wired, a 6x Emmy Award winner, a technology reporter at CNN, and apersonal tech columnist for the Houston Chronicle have all chosen Authory for the reasons I've mentioned above.

If you're curious (aren't you? just a little?), get started with Authory for free! You have nothing to lose, and a fabulous portfolio to gain.

The Best Adobe Portfolio Alternatives for 2023

protimauthory — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 16:46:54 +0000

If you're reading this, you're aware of what Adobe Portfolio is, as well as of the fact that it may not be perfectly suited to your needs — why else would you be looking for an alternative?

Be it features, price point, or usability, you're curious to know if there are other/better options. I couldn't agree more.

Before I started my freelancing gigs, I spent a couple of months looking through portfolio builders, many of which would be excellent alternatives to Adobe Portfolio. In this piece, I'll discuss these tools to create portfolio websites, ones that could do well as a stand-in for Adobe Portfolio.

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• A quick peek into Adobe Portfolio and what makes it popular
• A look at 5 Adobe Portfolio alternatives
• A glance at Authory and why it is an excellent alternative to Adobe Portfolio

What is Adobe Portfolio and what's the hype around it?

Adobe Portfolio

This section is for anyone who might have heard of Adobe Portfolio but hasn't dived into it, features and all.

Offered as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, Adobe Portfolio lets you upload your work samples (especially images) into a professional portfolio website, ready to be viewed by prospective employers. You can publish static web pages with dynamic galleries in order to showcase your best work.

Adobe Portfolio offers online portfolio website templates, so you do not have to start from scratch. You also don't need any coding experience. Just pick a theme, upload your images, type in your bio, and voila!

Adobe Portfolio is especially favored by photographers as it offers specific features ideal for them — dynamic galleries, integration with Adobe Lightroom & Behance, and password protection for single and multiple pages.

Additionally, when you sign up for Adobe Portfolio, you get a custom domain. But you'll have to register and host it manually through a web hosting account. You can also get a domain through Adobe Portfolio, and Namecheap will host your site via its affordable web hosting services, but you'll have to set everything up manually.

As of now, Adobe Portfolio comes bundled with Adobe Creative Cloud, priced at:

Creative Cloud — Photography: $9.99/month
Creative Cloud — All Apps: $54.99/month

5 Adobe Portfolio alternatives you should try out

Authory

Authory

I'll get straight to the point. Authory is an excellent portfolio website builder for many reasons, but the one that makes it worth its price is the automatic importation of content from any website, as long as you enter the source website's URL.

Here's what you do: enter the URL of the website(s) on which your content is published. Within 48 hours of doing so, Authory will automatically import all your bylined content to its database, and make them available at your fingertips. The tool will also continue to import all bylined content published in the future. As long as you publish content, you'll have everything in one searchable, organized location, thanks to Authory.

Authory allows the inclusion of content in text, audio, and video formats. So you can treat it as an audio or video website builder too.

Of course, you can manually add non-bylined content for safekeeping and storage. Once content has been imported, just sort them into collections, and add these collections to your portfolio with a click.

If needed, you can make any collection private to protect your content, and send a link to the specific person/people you want to show your work (in that collection) to.

All imported content is automatically backed up. Anything imported to your Authory account is preserved forever, even if the original webpage with your content on it dies or disappears for some reason. All the backups are in the original content format (text, audio, and video), not screenshots.

There's also an Analytics feature that gives you solid numbers on content engagement every 30 days. You get to know about the number of site visitors as well as interaction, and it's a great way to quickly understand which content is striking a nerve with your audience.

There are plenty of other features (automatic SEO optimization, responsive templates, widgets, email notifications), but the ones I detailed above are more than enough to make Authory add significant value to your day. It builds your portfolio for you by doing the lion's share of the work — actually finding all the work you've done so far, and will continue to do.

Authory’s price

$8/month

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

SmugMug

SmugMug

You can use SmugMug to create a portfolio, both through still images and/or video. You can also sell your images via this platform, as SmugMug comes with an in-built ability to set up a functioning online store with just a few clicks. However, since SmugMug actually calls itself a "photography website builder" on its website, it's safe to assume that it is best suited for photographers.

SmugMug provides professionally designed templates, a custom domain, in-built SEO optimization, a drag-and-drop custom page builder, custom themes, and unlimited, zero-compression photo storage.

If you can code, the tool allows HTML and CSS customization options.

SmugMug's price

Power Plan: $15/month
Portfolio Plan: $33/month
Pro Plan: $50/month

Squarespace

Squarespace

If you're looking to create your own portfolio websites, then Squarespace is a name you've come across. With gorgeous customizable templates tailored for multiple purposes (depending on the user's needs), getting started with Squarespace is fairly simple.

You get pre-designed layouts carrying necessary sections like the ones for Contact, About Me, Blog, Products, Portfolio, and the like. Everyone can use these elements, but you can stand out with your ability to learn quickly and your out-of-the-box imagination.

You also include multiple content types and page elements: text, photos, videos, audio, galleries, products, newsletter sign-ups, appointments, calendars, tour dates, reservations, menus, forms, maps, links, files, social links, buttons, quotes, custom code, charts, etc.

On top of all this, you can leverage SEO, password protection (of single or multiple web pages), in-built eCommerce features, and numerous extensions to manage marketing, finance, sales, products, inventory, shipping, and the like.

Squarespace's price

Personal Plan: $23/month
Business Plan: $33/month
Commerce Basic: $36/month
Commerce Advanced: $65/month

Portfoliobox

Portfoliobox

Portfoliobox is an excellent option for creating portfolios, especially if you work with visual media like photography and graphic design.

Its major offering is that it lets you use a different theme for every page (if you're creating a multi-page portfolio). You can see why artists, designers, stylists, models, photographers, illustrators, and anyone with a visually creative bend would like this feature.

Like most of the tools in this list, Portfoliobox offers responsive templates, dynamic galleries, and project management features (send content to clients and receive feedback within the tool). You also have password protection for galleries so your work can be viewed without anyone downloading it.

Don't miss the watermarking tool to keep the images you own, and the integration with Adobe Lightroom. You can use the tool's eCommerce features to sell your work directly from your portfolio.

Portfoliobox's price

Light Plan: $3.50/month
Pro Plan: $9.50/month
Pro Plus Plan: $12.50/month

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

WordPress

WordPress

A massive number of websites on the internet today are WordPress websites. As of 2022, WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet. This is no surprise, given the many features and offerings that make WordPress an exceptional website builder.

Obviously, you can use WordPress to create sharp, stunning professional portfolios. Start with choosing from thousands of layouts/customizable templates in the WordPress library, and add everything from photo carousels, maps, tiled image galleries, and forms with a click.

You can include practically any design element — text, photos, forms, Yelp reviews, testimonials, maps, etc., and move them around on your site as you see fit. You can even launch newsletters with a couple of clicks.

You can also choose from thousands of easy‑to‑install add‑ons to expand your site's functionality — capture leads, insert contact forms, institute subscriptions, automatically back up your site, and do much more. And, of course, you can sell your work directly from the site; just activate the eCommerce features.

You can also leverage in-built SEO tools and use custom domain names.

WordPress’ Price

Personal Plan: $4/month
Premium Plan: $8/month
Business Plan: $25/month
eCommerce Plan: $45/month

Why pick Authory as your Adobe Portfolio alternative?

Simply put, Authory is not just cheaper but requires me to do far less work than any other tool on this list.

Honestly, if you're a photographer/visual designer, I recommend that you choose Portfoliobox or SmugMug. They are built for people like you, and you'll find features tailored to meet your immediate needs (watermarking, image protection, etc.).

However, if you're a freelancer writer like me, or a journalist, content marketer, thought leader, or work in a similar domain, Authory is your best friend.

Bear in mind that, unlike every other tool on this list, Authory doesn't require you to upload your own content. You enter the URL of the website where your work is published and let the tool get everything to your dashboard.

Moreover, everything I've ever imported is automatically backed up, so I never have to worry about losing anything I've ever published. At $8 a month, I get assurance of having all my content in one place, and of never losing any of it. I'd say that's worth the investment.

Now, obviously, you shouldn't take my word for it. However, you should probably take Authory's 14-day free trial and let the tool make your life so much easier like it did for me.

Top Archive Tools You Should Consider In 2023

protimauthory — Sat, 28 Jan 2023 05:33:17 +0000

The threat of losing all (or any) of your painstakingly done, published work looms like an invisible cloud around every content creator, especially those working with digital media. Our work isn't just a one-and-done. It's proof that we know what we're talking about, that we're good enough to be published (and paid for it), and of the fact that we have specific skills that make us valuable in a professional market.

No wonder prospective clients/employers always ask for a record of our existing work. To this end, content creators will always need an accessible archive of their created and published work. In other words, we need data archiving software or archive tools.

📖 What you’ll get from this article:
• Definition of archive tools and why both individual creators and businesses need them
• A detailed exploration of the key features of 10 awesome archive tools (2 for individuals, 8 for businesses)
• Why Authory is the perfect archive tool

What are archive tools?

In B2B circles, the term "archive tools" refers to software that manages, structures, and guards essential but not frequently used data — receipts, financial history, administrative records, etc. Since this information is necessary to prove an organization's compliance with legal regulations like HIPPA or GDPR, it cannot be deleted. Archiving solutions (software, in this case) ensures that it’s never deleted.

B2C versions of archiving tools also exist. The logic is the same: store and protect data to protect it from unauthorized or undesirable deletion. Some tools, like Authory, also take the service a bit further and provide automatic import of content from specified websites/social media.

Why do you need archiving software?

I'm a freelancer, so I'll largely speak from my perspective. Any content you've created always stands the risk of being deleted if it’s hosted on a third-party website. Be it YouTube, The New Yorker, or BuzzFeed, you have no control over your content once it’s published (unless it's on your own site).

Showcasing your content over the years is a great way to convey to employers how you've grown in craft and expertise. To do so, you need immediate access to every piece you've written in the past (or at least a sizeable portion of it). Archiving software ensures that you have that access at all times.

Web pages are commonly taken down for legal reasons, mistakenly dismantled, thrown into redirects, or pruned from blogs. Basically, there are a million ways your work can disappear.

An archiving tool prevents the above from happening and guarantees you secure access to all your work at all times.

🗒️ Note: For the benefit of some readers, I've included tools that are more suited to data storage management and archiving for businesses. Archived data is essential to establish regulatory compliance and facilitate daily workflows, so it’s a consistent priority for all legitimate businesses.

Top archive tools (for individuals & businesses)

I've listed out some tools that definitely qualify for the title of "best data archiving software."

Authory

Authory

While Authory's primary offering is that of automatic portfolio creation, it provides robust archiving features for individuals looking to back up all their work, no matter where it's published or in what format.

Here's how it works: you just enter the websites/social media pages where your content is published. Once you do that, Authory automatically imports every piece of bylined content on every website you've entered. For example, if you have pieces published on, say, Vice and Scientific America, then all you have to do is provide links to those websites. Authory will automatically create copies of every piece attributed to you on these sites, and import them to its own database. It will also maintain redirections to the article's original publication address so that you can visit it with one click.

Additionally, Authory will continue to import and back up all future pieces published under your name on the sites you've specified. In other words, all your content will always be in one place with no possibility of being lost.

The imported pieces are stacked in an archive that’s auto-updating and searchable. You can also add individual pieces normally, and they, too, shall be backed up in this archive.

Authory's content archive

You can filter content by source and/or type. You can also organize all your imported content into Collections and use them as you see fit.

Authory's price

$8/month.

If you’re curious, sign up for a 14-day free trial of Authory.

Internet Archive

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive, residing at archive.org, is one of the oldest and most respected public information archives on the internet. Think of it as a publicly accessible digital library of websites, digital books, web pages, audio and video content, images, and software programs. As of today, this archive holds the following:

735 billion web pages
41 million books and texts
14.7 million audio recordings (including 240,000 live concerts)
8.4 million videos (including 2.4 million Television News programs)
4.4 million images
890,000 software programs

Anyone can make a free account and upload media files to the archive. You also have to fill in metadata for your pieces. You'll have to upload your pieces one at a time, and if you want to upload files in bulk, it'll take a long time. Unless, of course, you can use the Internet Archive Command-Line Tool to script your upload. This requires you to be comfortable using Unix.

The archive is public and fully searchable. Anything you upload can be read/watched/listened to by users of the archive.

Internet Archive's price

Free

iDrive

iDrive

iDrive provides online cloud storage for PCs, Macs, and mobile devices (iOS, Android). You can back up the data on all your devices with a single account. Depending on the plan you purchase, you can also backup data from external hard drives and even backup content from different sets of devices, each belonging to a single user.

All your files are synced in real-time across all devices you link to your account. In case you do lose your data, you can retrieve it within a week, as iDrive will ship a physical storage device with said data to you.

You get historical data so that you can pinpoint the time of malfunction and data loss and recover everything before that point. All previous versions of files are also saved for 30 days.

You can manage all your data backups via the web console from any computer. It's a simple task to search for files as long as you have the internet and your login credentials. You can also recover deleted files within 30 days.

In case you modify any part of a file, it’s automatically detected and backed up by iDrive. Most important, none of your data will be deleted from iDrive unless you manually delete it or run an "Archive Cleanup" so that your account matches the data on your device(s).

iDrive's price

iDrive Mini: $9.95/year

iDrive Personal: $79.50/year

iDrive Team: $99.50/year

iDrive Business: $99.50/year

Stillo

Stillo

Stillo can serve as a marketing, analytics, or compliance archive rather than one for your own published work. It automatically captures screenshots of specific websites at specified intervals. You enter the addresses of the web pages you want to track and set the time intervals at which the tool should take a screenshot, and the tool continues to do so unless you change the frequency or direct it to stop.

The tool can take full mobile screenshots of responsive websites and full-page screenshots. All screenshots are automatically archived, and you can download them as zip folders. These screenshots can also be automatically saved to Google Drive and Dropbox, so you can access them without tying up your device storage.

You can even instruct the tool to take screenshots from different geolocations, as website content is often optimized to cater to local, regional, and national traffic.

The primary use cases for Stillo's services lie in the realms of website compliance, trend tracking, content verification, SEO tracking, competitor research, and brand image management.

Stillo's price

Snap Shot Plan: $29/month

Hot Shot Plan: $79/month

Big Shot Plan: $199/month

Top Shot Plan: $299/month

OwnBackup

OwnBackup

OwnBackup is a B2B tool providing backup and recovery services. Its primary goal is to prevent the loss of mission-critical data. It also saves the data and metadata with quick, hassle-free recovery in the event of any data loss.

It’s quite useful for archiving sensitive data, especially legacy data. You can use it to save original documents and guard the data often required during compliance checks and audits.

It's possible to customize and test the flexible archiving policies of OwnBackup in order to specify what data to store, how often to back it up, how long to retain it, and who has permission to restore this data.

You can view and manage all archiving activity from a single dashboard, which also allows you to edit permission and data governance protocols. Feel free to restore data one file at a time or in bulk, and specify permission for certain users to be able to trigger the restoration process.

OwnBackup's price

Prices depend on your computing environment (which the tool will have to work with).

Environment — Salesforce

OwnBackup Secure for Shield: $3.45/user/month
OwnBackup Secure: $5.85/user/month

Environment — Microsoft Dynamics 365

$3.655/user/month

Environment — ServiceNow

Pricing is available upon request.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

GFI Archiver

GFI Archiver

GFI Archiver works to archive and secure your electronic communications — emails, calendar activity, file history, etc. Everything is stored in one easily accessible location. The tool is another ideal option for those looking to meet compliance requirements, minimize server space usage, boost email performance and lower the overall cost of data management.

The tool provides a central storage location for your electronic communications history, often including email archiving along with files, calendar entries, faxes, attachments, etc. You can archive original emails in a tamper-proof archive and use message auditing to verify that stored emails are the real ones.

All documents are automatically indexed before they are archived, so you can search for and retrieve them in case of data deletion. You can search through email history or files through the tool's desktop portal or mobile app.

Bonus: The tool archives electronic communications separately from applications so as to save server space and allow for better system performance. It uses SIS (single-instance storage) to save one copy of an email with multiple recipients instead of making copies for every recipient. In other words, it implements data deduplication.

When storing email attachments, GFI Archiver compresses them so as to make optimal use of storage space.

GFI Archiver's price

Small Plan (10 to 49 users): $14.85

Medium Plan (50 to 249 users): $12.62

Large Plan (250+ users): $7.43

Redstor

Redstor

Redstor provides cloud-first back and recovery services without any hardware requirements. It can archive and secure data from multiple sources from one app, and restore any files on demand, in an instant.

Redstor's proprietary technology lets you recover the data for entire systems in moments, which is essential to prevent major dips in productivity. You need no hardware and about 60 seconds to set things up, after which you can manage all archiving activities from a central dashboard.

Additionally, all your archived data is protected by Redstor's AI-powered malware detection and data protection technology, which consistently detects and neutralizes cyber threats. It will also scan all your existing backs and quarantine/flag any suspicious files for your investigation.

Redstor's price

Redstor has a wide range of products, whose prices differ based on what you're using them for and which environment it's running on. So I recommend you directly check out their pricing page.

Micro Focus

Micro Focus

Micro Focus provides a single, unified archive for all business communication in an organization. It archives all emails, mobile data, and social collaboration from platforms into one online location.

The tool also provides content management, as well as backup and recovery services. You can archive your emails and text messages on your mobile devices, and even encrypted text and phone number data across iOS and Android.

Micro Focus lets you migrate between platforms. Administrators can configure and customize policies to define what email, social media, and mobile data the tool should archive. Filters include mailbox type, age, attachments, and status.

As with some other tools on this list, Micro Focus helps organizations meet regulatory and data privacy guidelines, and, more importantly, keeps essential data safe from mistaken deletion or malicious infiltration through robust access controls.

Micro Focus' price

Microfocus also has a massive number of products under its umbrella, about 101. You can request free trials of each product (or whichever you most require) from here.

Vobesoft

Vobesoft

Vobesoft does much more than archive data. It’s a sort of 360-degree business software that also provides archiving services. In this section, I'll only be talking about this aspect of its many functions.

Vobesoft allows users to automatically generate blueprints of all records, files, and/or objects within a company, and then archive them for safekeeping. Using this tool, you can snap blueprints of all business-relevant files, process, label, and archive them all in the cloud. The system is customizable and configurable at all times (to the individuals with the right permissions).

Since the tool organizes and stores all important documents in one central digital location, it can be used as a cloud-based archive and a document management system. All data (company information, files, historical data) can be retrieved instantly within the cloud. Vobe Archiving provides a handy REST API to enable easy integration with any business' technology ecosystem.

This dynamic, customizable database allows you, the user, to decide how work gets done and what data should be saved. The system is set up to be responsive to the customer's functional context and offers its own prepared templates for easy setup. Of course, you can also choose to configure the tool from scratch.

🗒️ Note: While this is an exceptional tool, it also comes with a set of other business functions, which puts the archiving software cost on the higher side. If you're ONLY looking for archiving features and nothing else, this might not be the most economically feasible option, despite its quality of service.

Vobesoft's price

There is a free plan with limited features.

Basic Plan: €100/month

Standard Plan: €600/month

Pro Plan: €3000/month

Share Archiver

Share Archiver

Share Archiver is designed to archive huge volumes of data. This holistic data storage and management tool provides Archiving as a Service (AaaS). It can be deployed as an on-premise tool or an on-cloud solution.

Here's how it works: you sign up for the tool, choose your plan, analyze data, and detect data patterns. Based on those patterns, you can set archiving policies and let the tool archive data according to said policies. You can also examine unstructured data to discover more sophisticated data patterns.

The solution is scalable; it can accommodate your data, no matter how much it expands. You might just have to upgrade the plan. Price is volume-based — you pay for the data you store.

Share Archiver's price

You have to request a quote, depending on your archiving needs, via the website.

Why Authory?

As the above list shows, most of the top archiving software is meant to serve organizations rather than individual content creators. I've personally used both Internet Archive and Authory and chose the latter because it requires me to make less effort.

While Internet Archive is free, it requires me to manually upload each content piece (articles, in my case). I've been writing for over half a decade now, and there is a large number of published pieces I had forgotten about until Authory imported them for me.

Basically, with Authory, I don't have to be responsible for finding my content and then archiving it. I just have to remember the websites on which they are published, enter those site names and addresses, and let Authory find and archive all my articles while I take a longer nap.

Naturally, I was more than willing to pay 8 dollars every month. It was much easier and far more affordable than manually finding what I wrote three years ago. Internet Archive also provides a publicly searchable database, and I wasn't sure I was comfortable with that just yet.

Of course, I'm aware that an archive tool must suit very specific requirements, depending on the person/organization looking for it. If you're looking for company-wide data backups, you are spoilt for choice, as seen in the list above. However, if you're like me and want all your published content (text, audio, video) automatically organized and archived in one place, give Authory a shot.

Adobe Portfolio vs SmugMug vs Authory

protimauthory — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 19:20:36 +0000

Why am I comparing portfolio builders? Because when I was looking for one, I was bombarded with options and deeply confused. Squarespace? Wix? Weebly? Portfoliobox? Writer's Residence?

I had other questions too. Should I use a free tool? Should I pay for a portfolio builder? How much can I afford to spend? What should be my primary criteria in choosing a tool to create a portfolio site?

When I finally did find the right fit, I decided to write a few pieces comparing the tools I did consider in the process. In this one, I'll be comparing Adobe Portfolio vs SmugMug vs Authory. I'll also leave links to my other comparison pieces at the end of the article.

Shall we dive in?

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• My criteria for the “best” portfolio builder
• A detailed exploration of each tool’s features
• An examination of why I chose one over the other two builders

What I wanted in my ideal portfolio website builder

An intuitive UI that let me set up my portfolio in minutes.
A completely no-code, no-programming approach. (I cannot even get Python to say "Hello world" these days).
Easy customizability that makes my portfolio site look good. I don't need it to look fit to feature in MOMA, but it has to look sharp, professional, and thoughtfully designed. In essence, I wanted something that didn’t require me to have technical or design skills.
Analytics support. I wanted to know how my published articles were performing after publication.
Affordability. I was not going to spend more than $10 a month, especially when I was just starting to freelance.

📖 Note: Honestly, if you are a professional photographer looking to create a photography portfolio, I recommend Adobe Portfolio. If you wish to sell your images, digital and print graphics, consider SmugMug. However, if you are not a photographer but rather a writer, journalist, content marketer, thought leader... basically, anyone working with a non-photography medium, give Authory a thought. I'll explain my reasons below.

Adobe Portfolio

Adobe Portfolio

As I mentioned above, Adobe Portfolio is ideal for creating portfolio websites if you are a photographer.

You get it as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, along with a bundle of other Adobe tools. It stands out because the tool offers specific, unique features that help photographers — such as integration with Adobe Lightroom and Behance.

It allows the creation of a beautiful professional website without requiring much in the way of tech or design skills.

Primary features of Adobe Portfolio

If you're creating a professional website on Adobe Portfolio, expect the following:

If you have a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, you have Adobe Portfolio by default.
Offers themes equipped with responsive design, optimized for mobile screens.
Allows building of single and multiple-page portfolio websites.
Adequate customizability with pre-set elements that look excellent as the finished versions.
Easily imports images from Adobe Lightroom and integrates with Behance.
Lets you use Adobe Fonts.
Offers dynamic galleries to arrange photo grids and include photos from Lightroom.
Allows password protection of single or multiple pages of your Adobe Portfolio website.
Allows the use of a custom domain, but you'll have to register and host it manually. Conversely, a domain through Adobe Portfolio and Namecheap will host your site. You'll have to set everything up manually.

Adobe Portfolio's price

Adobe Portfolio comes bundled with Adobe Creative Cloud, priced at:

Creative Cloud — Photography: $9.99/month

Creative Cloud — All Apps: $54.99/month

Portfolios built with Adobe Portfolio

ilustramincje's illustration portfolio

ilustraminacje (Kamila Romaniak) is a freelance illustrator from Poland.

am.studio's architecture portfolio

am studio de arquitetura ltda is an architectural studio based in Sao Paulo.

SmugMug

SmugMug

SmugMug doesn't just let you store or showcase your photos; it also helps you sell them via an online store. It gives you the freedom to display your work exactly as you want it to.

Beyond its repository and eCommerce services, SmugMug also comes with an in-built website builder, ideal for building your portfolio. Bear in mind that SmugMug itself calls this tool a "photography website builder," so you know exactly which audience they are catering to.

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Primary features of SmugMug

Professionally designed templates built to impress your prospective clients.
Provides a custom domain name with automatic SEO optimization.
Allows HTML and CSS customization for coders. However, you have plenty of options with the builder, even if you don't code.
Easy, stress-free customizability with a drag-and-drop editor for website design.
Allows users to apply their own custom themes on the whole portfolio site or on specific galleries.
Unlimited, zero-compression photo storage.
Extensive privacy controls for all your uploaded/stored images — especially important if you're running a photography business.

SmugMug's price

Power Plan: $15/month

Portfolio Plan: $33/month

Pro Plan: $50/month

Portfolios built with SmugMug

Renee Robyn’s photography portfolio

Renee Robyn is a digital artist who started exploring when her body was rendered immobile because of an accident.

Brent Gilmore’s photography portfolio

Brent Gilmore loves being a dad and uses his camera to showcase exactly how much.

Authory

Authory

Unlike the previous tools, Authory doesn't exclusively cater to photographers. This portfolio builder serves a wider user base — writers, journalists, thoughts leaders, content marketers, and the like.

The big draw of Authory is that it creates the portfolio for you. You enter the digital source (the URL of websites where your pieces are published), and every bylined article is automatically imported into the database. Then you just organize them, click a button to add them to your portfolio, and you're all set with just a few clicks.

Authory allows importing and adding content in text, audio, and video formats. Many Authory users create broadcast-quality videos, publish them and/or appear in podcasts. They showcase this content on their Authory portfolio just as easily as text-based content.

Primary features of Authory

Automatic importing of all bylined pieces, as explained above. Not only does Authory import your existing content, but it also continues to import all pieces you might publish on those same sites in the future.
Permanent backups of all imported content. Did the source link die? Did it become a redirect? No worries. You still have your content safely on Authory.
All backups are in the original content format, i.e., text/media. No screenshots here.
Customization options that require minimal effort to make the portfolio look great. There is a pre-set design, but you can upload your own banner image. You can also move around profile elements to finalize an aesthetic version you like on your portfolio.
Download your content anytime you want, as high-quality PDFs, or export them as HTML files.
Get email notifications every time a new piece of yours is imported.
All portfolios are optimized for SEO and responsive to mobile screens.
Get solid analytics numbers (readership, engagement, etc.) every 30 days.
If you have subscribers, you can use the newsletter tool (with like two clicks), and Authory will automatically send out all your new content. Two clicks, and your readers/viewers never miss a new post from you.
If you have a personal site, you get a widget that displays your work on said site with, again, a couple of clicks.

Authory's price

$8/month

🖱️ Authory is, amongst other things, a portfolio builder & content backup service, used by thousands of top professionals worldwide.

Get started for free now.

Portfolios built with Authory

Ali M Latifi's journalism portfolio

Ali M Latifi is a Kabul-based journalist.

Crystal Housman's writing portfolio

Crystal Housman is a writer and photographer who uses Authory to save and showcase her articles.

My eventual choice: why Authory was the one

I think it's evident by now, but I'll just say it out loud so we're on the same page.

I chose Authory because the other two tools weren't even built for my profession. If I am not a photographer or provide other photography-related services, neither Adobe Portfolio nor SmugMug makes any sense for me. However, if you do something visually arresting or emphatic (like if you design or print graphics), you should absolutely give both these tools a shot.

Authory gave me a feature I didn't know existed, and it made life a lot easier. Automatic importing of all my articles, no matter where they were published (as long as I remembered the website name, of course), made choosing Authory a no-brainer.

It also satisfies my other criteria — user-friendly search interfaces, an affordable price, and analytics support. I don't need much in the way of business functions or online marketing integrations, so I am good to go.

Folks across job markets and domains use Authory. Customers write science books, design social media posts, talk about narcissistic disorder, and the like. Even professional photographers (like Crystal's portfolio above) use Authory to keep their articles, videos, and/or podcasts permanently backed up and updated.

Authory's compliant cloud infrastructure ensures that your work is never lost, be it in the past or future.

And last but definitely not least, Authory is worlds cheaper than the other two tools. $8 every month for a tool that lets me nap precious extra minutes every morning.

If you're curious, sign up for Authory for free!

Creating The Perfect "About Me" Page + 20 "About Me" Samples

protimauthory — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 10:15:11 +0000

This article was originally published on Authory's blog.

With AI entering our online and offline lives in very real ways, it's safe to say that we're more comfortable interacting and working with machines than ever before. However, that does not mean your next employer is comfortable hiring a machine as a teammate (freelance or full-time).

Why am I saying this? Because this is an article of the best "about me sample" or samples you can find out there, I'd like to start off with why you need a great “about me” section in the first place.

I’ve also included examples of “About Us” sections, as usually seen on brand websites, in the interest of serving a larger readership (individuals and brands).

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• Learn why you need a phenomenal “About Me” section
• A look at 11 excellent “About Me” and 9 “About Us” examples to draw inspiration from
• Learn what it takes to build an amazing “About Me”
• Explore how you can easily make an online portfolio (if you’re looking) along with your new “About Me”

Why care about creating a phenomenal "About Me" section?

As I mentioned before, prospective employers usually only want to hire people they can relate to or know a little about. This is true even if you're a great worker with all the necessary skills.

Yes, I know. We'll need proof of that statement.

So, take a look at this Reddit thread. In it:

… an ex-recruiter for some of the top companies in the world... screened tens of thousands of résumés, and... published my preferred résumé format, free to download as a Word doc, along with some general resume advice.

I highly recommend you look through the thread and use that résumé format. I did, and it helped me land quite a few freelance gigs.

He also offers a few tips on making a résumé shine, one of which is:

Interests are important because it gives the interviewer something to connect with you on, and it makes you more than just a faceless résumé. If you put Seinfeld, I promise someone will ask you what your favorite episode of Seinfeld is (mine's the Soup Nazi).

Still, how important could interests be to recruiters, right? I'll leave a couple of comments (from the same thread) in place of an answer.

Ever since I put a personal section on my résumé, my interviews seem to have gone smoother. A lot of hiring managers have brought up one of my interests and it feels like it becomes more of a conversation than an interview.

I had an interview with an engineering manager where we mostly just talked about paintball because I listed I was in the paintball club.

(This person landed the internship).

I do the hiring at an IT company. I think that interests are vital, they separate you from the other candidates, especially for graduate positions where you don't have interesting work experience to make you stand out from the crowd.

Recruiters care about who you are beyond your work samples. Your interests, temperament, and experience (professional and personal) do play a role in recommending or disqualifying you as the right person for a job.

When it comes to your portfolio, it should reflect your interests and personality as effectively as your résumé. And usually, it should do better than your résumé. Most people will click on your "About Me" section to get their first understanding of who you are and what you've done so far.

This is why a well-written and well-rounded "About Me" section is essential. Most people put their best work samples on their portfolio, website, or résumé. Unless you've won a couple of Putlitzers, you still need to stand out by virtue of who you are AND what you can do.

11 “About Me” page examples that hit the mark

Liz Fong-Jones

Liz Fong-Jones' "About Me" section

Liz Fong-Jones' "About Me" section is the epitome of craft. She mentions her current role, her previous experience, and even her beliefs, hobbies, and political inclinations all within a couple of hundred words. She does so without ever coming off as too rushed or self-congratulatory. She just tells her personal story and builds a personal brand while also showcasing work successes.

Brian Clegg

Brian Cleggs' "About Me" section

Much like Liz, Brian Cleggs puts across his point (that he is a wildly talented and accomplished professional) in a few words. He is a much-published author and is comfortable writing about popular science or just penning fiction. He went from working at British Airways to creating his own company.

If a client or publisher is in the same industry as Brian, this "About me" gives them every reason to want to engage his services.

Bruce Kasanoff

Bruce Kasanoff's "About Me" section

Bruce Kasanoff really stands out with this sentence, "He helps each client discover what matters most to him or her, and then share it on social media."

This paints him as a person who doesn't just want number-driven results but also cares about what his clients want to represent. There's an indication that he values authenticity, a massive asset, especially nowadays.

He's also socially involved: "a member of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches program, and fully embraces its mandate to be of the greatest possible service to others (read his personal credo)." 10/10!

Marijana Kay

Marijana Kay's "About Me" section

Two long-ish sentences and she has perfectly introduced herself and her work — you immediately know Marijana Kay is comfortable with marketing jargon and that she cares about giving back to her professional community.

Chris Gorski

Chris Gorski's "About Me" section

By introducing himself in the first person, Chris Gorski emanates more openness and builds up quicker rapport. I include this one to show that it doesn't matter if you describe yourself in the first or third person. You can be personable and interesting either way.

Joe Nyaggah

Joe Nyaggah's "About Me" section

Designer Joe Nyaggah is a clear iconoclast, as emotes his "About Me." He is brief, almost aloof in describing personal accomplishments. He only mentions one degree and doesn't namedrop any major customers. A quiet confidence, would you say?

He blends his words with a stark yet memorably designed home: his personal website looks like a stylish IDE or console. This man clearly knows his target audience.

Lena Axelsson

Lena Axelsson's "About Me" section

Dr. Lena Axelsson has the ideal "clinical" about me section. This might not work in other scenarios, but for individuals looking to make an informed decision when choosing a therapist, detached clinicism might work.

She has listed her expertise in alternative therapies, making it clear that she is widely knowledgeable and comfortable with handling different patient situations. Additionally, the nonpartisan expression might be what patients look for when confessing their problems — a neutral diagnostician rather than another human who might react negatively.

The heavily academic nature of her prose also helps her appeal to industry journals and publications. Even a blog post from her would add much value to an audience of peers.

Josh Funk

Josh Funk's "About Me" section

A software engineer who writes kids' books. Is this not the perfect description for something with such unpredictable talents?

The vibe is sprightly, almost a little messy, and characteristically upbeat. These are probably some of the qualities that also help Josh Funk translate coding to kidspeak.

Mo Willems

Mo Willems' "About Me" section

Someone who claims to write "funny books and plays for people who have not learned how to be embarrassed yet" would have an equally whimsy-laced page. A single line is enough to realize the kind of wonder Mo Willems seeks to offer.

Marcia Cocco

Marcia Cocco's "About Me" section

I'm deeply in love with Marcia Cocco's artistic representation of herself. When she says she is a "visual storyteller," her "About Me" page backs her up. Scroll through it, and you'll see that she brings her characteristic bright, sprightly eye for design to every section (work samples, content form, client requirements) of the page.

Linas Thoemke

Linas Thoemke's "About Me" section

Another example of easy confidence! Linas Thoemke is not a man of too many words, probably because he does not need them. As a fashion photographer, he lets his images do the talking, which is what you'll find if you scroll through his "About Me" page.

9 “About Us” page examples that hit the mark

I’ve included examples of brands that succeed in making themselves look as sharp, unconventional, and remarkable as the individuals listed so far.

The following “About Us” sections showcase authenticity, disruption (the good kind), and trustworthiness — qualities your individual “About Me” section can also benefit from. Treat the following as examples of how a group of individuals can inspire goodwill and trust from clients.

Grain and Mortar

Grain and Mortar's "About Me" section

Small business owners, in particular, can do a lot to appeal to potential customers with a smart and earnest "About Us" writeup.

Grain and Mortar have a stripped-down blend of text and image serving as their "About Us." It’s got a natural Southern sunshine feel to it — laid back but not unfocused.

Ginza

Ginza's "About Me" section

When you're as highly demanded as a reservation at Ginza, you don't need much text to define who you are. However, polite society requires introductions, and Ginza manages to get it done with a choice few words and two meticulously selected images. A true testament to the efficacy of brevity.

HubSpot

Hubspot's "About Me" section

When you've got the credentials of HubSpot founders, feel free to lead with it. As leaders within their industry, the HubSpot folks comment not just on the company's creation but also on their place in the domain.

Fontpair

Fontpair "About Me" section

Normally, I wouldn't use as much text at one go as Fontpair does, especially for an "About Us" section. But given how niche this company is, I'd say it was a good call. To establish why someone needs Fontpair, they decided to talk about why their offering, i.e., typography, is necessary in the first place.

This is a bit of a traditional approach to talking about oneself, but if it works, don't change it.

Yellow Leaf Hammocks

Yellow Leaf Hammocks' "About Me" section

This obviously isn't their entire "About Us" section, but I wanted to highlight this particular section. Yellow Leaf Hammocks humanizes the brand with a story about altruism. Given the contemporary popular approval of indigenous rights, marginal communities' rights/upliftment, and empowerment of women, a story like this is very likely to get people more curious about your operations and offerings.

Eight Hour Day

Eight Hour Day's "About Me" section

Great images and no-nonsense text. Is it any wonder why Eight Hour Day is on this list? If you do decide to go minimal, take notes from this creative studio. Their tone is open, informal, and inviting. They're not saying that they'll do great work for their clients; they're inviting their clients to collaborate to create something entirely new and beautiful.

Moz

Moz's "About Me" section

Moz's clientele comprises no-nonsense folks who probably want to cut to the chase and see some numbers. They clearly know this, which is why their "About Us" is as business-ready, and get-down-to-brass-tacks as it can be. Obviously, if you have an idea of your clients' general preferences, it's a no-brainer to cater to their sensibilities like this.

Bulldog Skincare

Bulldog Skincare's "About Me" section

Sometimes, you don't need to try to be funny. Sometimes, you just are by stating the obvious.

This "About Us" is super straightforward, but the highly relevant image of the bulldog serves to make the whole thing cute, hilarious, and light-hearted. I don't know why I like this company already; I just do.

Sweet Loren's

Sweet Loren's "About Me" section

A single mission statement, if written well, can encapsulate your or your brand's entire approach to the world. Sweet Loren's does this beautifully.

Adding a video to your "About Us" page can be a great idea, given that people are more engaged by moving imagery many times more than by text.

What goes into a great "About Me"?

Brevity

Keep things as concise and to the point as you can. Obviously, sometimes this isn't possible, especially in cases like Dr. Lena Axelsson, where people do want to know about all her qualifications. But if you're working in non-technical fields (like marketing), it might be best to think of your "About Me" section as a written elevator pitch.

Wit

This isn't a set-in-stone necessity, but you'll always stand a better chance of being selected/appealing to your target visitors if you can make them chuckle. However, only try to be witty if it's part of your regular personality and creative projects. Don't force humor; your clients will see through it.

Inject creativity, whenever possible

Again, the necessity of visually striking creativity varies with industry/domain. Joe Nyaggah has to showcase his designer chops to make a bold statement, which is why his "About Me" page is a visual treat. Clients who want him onboard will prioritize aesthetic appeal, and he's the kind of person who can make a page announcing a company's achievements memorable with design alone.

You don't need this as much if you’re working as a science reporter (Chris Gorski) or Marijana Kay (freelance B2B SaaS writer). That said, creativity can always help you stand out.

Present social proof, if possible

Mention awards, honorable mentions, a particularly successful blog with actual numbers on engagement, publications in esteemed journals/websites... anything that illustrates your expertise.

Be authentic

When desperately looking for a job, I made the common mistake of trying to be what I thought recruiters in my industry would want from a potential employee. It went terribly. I cannot pretend to be more formal than I am, no matter how much I want a job. I wouldn't fit into company culture either, which would make working that much harder, even if I did get the job.

So, while this entire process of creating the “perfect” About section is an exercise in putting your best foot forward, remember to be authentic. And you’ll find your people. Or they’ll find you. And both your worlds will be all the richer for that.

Are you trying to create an online portfolio?

If you're looking for "About Me" section samples, I'm assuming that you're either trying to spruce up your current writeup or trying to create a new-and-improved online portfolio with a new-and-improved "About Me."

In case it's the latter, I'll leave a quick overview of Authory as your next portfolio builder. At a high level, here's what you get when you use Authory to create your portfolio:

Automatic importation of ALL content from any digital source. Enter the URL of the source publication, and all bylined content will be imported. This includes your past and future content, i.e., anything you've published in the past and any new publications added to the source site. Everything you've ever written will automatically be collated into a single dashboard.
All imported content is automatically and permanently backed up, even if the source site goes down, is deadlinked, or faces any issues whatsoever.
Content is backed up in its original format, i.e., the real text and/or media, not screenshots.
Download your content anytime as high-quality PDFs or export them as high-quality PDFs.
Email notifications every time Authory imports a new article.
Robust in-built SEO features.
All portfolios are optimized with responsive design for mobile device screens.
Analytics support for all your imported content. You can check how your content is doing across popular social media sites in terms of readership, engagement, shares, etc.

If you're curious, try Authory's 14-day free trial. Cancel at any time; you have nothing to lose and a great portfolio to gain at just $8/month.

6 Google Alerts Alternatives You Should Try Out

protimauthory — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 16:15:56 +0000

This article was originally published on Authory's blog.

Popular social media sites demonstrate how much we like talking about ourselves, our lives, and our achievements (with photographic proof). Don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful idea to celebrate wins and share our sorrows (little or not). I know I'm personally quite happy to see my friends get a degree, get engaged, cook a great meal, gush over a new show/album, or talk about what's troubling them on social media.

Content creators, whose livelihoods legitimately depend on the publication quality or quantity of their content, are (and should be) especially concerned with themselves (their work, at least). It makes sense for them to be on the lookout for which of their pieces are published, how said pieces are being received by their audience and the quality of digital engagement with their work.

Google picked up on this and created Google Alerts — a free tool that notifies the user every time a keyword (one specified by them) is mentioned online. With Google being the largest search engine in the world, this turned out to be a great idea.

However, few good things last forever. Or, if they do, it's because they grew, changed, and adapted to the times. Google Alerts didn't end up doing that, which is probably why you're here looking for a "google alert alternative" or something to that effect.

In this piece, I'll discuss five alternatives to Google Alerts that'll help you keep track of your publications across the World Wide Web.

But first, the obvious question.

📖 What you’ll get out of this article:
• Learn why you need a Google Alerts alternative
• Explore 5 Google Alerts alternatives that work, sometimes better, than the original
• See why Authory may be the perfect Google Alerts alternative for you

Why do you need Google Alerts alternatives?

Google Alerts does not include mentions/performance on social media. This is a major gap in functionality. In the age of social media, how your work fares on social media sites is a major component of its performance. If Google Alerts can't help you with monitoring social media, it falls short of what you need.
There are multiple instances of Google Alerts failing to do its job — reported here and here. Factors like "low query volume" and the "only best results" options being too restrictive are among the many reasons Google Alerts may not be the best option as a monitoring tool.

6 Google Alerts alternatives you should try out

Authory

Authory

While Authory is primarily a portfolio builder, it provides an Analytics feature that serves as a social media monitoring tool as well as a web searcher when it comes to your content. Here's how it works: you enter a digital source, i.e., the website where your content has been published.

After that, Authory takes up to 48 hours (usually less) to import every single bylined piece published on the digital source you've entered. In other words, the tool collates all your published content in one place. Authory also tracks all your future publications on each source website you previously input.

Now, you’ll get email notifications every time a new content piece is published.

Here’s the kicker: you get these notifications BEFORE Google Alerts. I was suspicious too, so I went hunting and found testimonials from Authory customers before making my claim:

Now, Jennifer doesn't have to spend precious time cutting and pasting, and updating her personal website. Authory crawls the internet for all of Jennifer's work and lets her know when her article goes live — before editors and even Google Alerts can notify her!

— Writer & Journalist Jennifer Pattison

I also love that I receive an email notification every time one of my new articles goes live. Authory sees the article, grabs it, and adds it to my relevant portfolios. This feels more convenient, effective, and full-service than semi-alternatives like Google Alerts.

— review by bookbaby

I’ve also noticed the difference myself; I’ll tell you more about that toward the end of the piece. Moving on.

Authory’s Analytics Dashboard

Authory's Analytics feature examines all your imported content and provides solid numbers on readership/viewership and engagement on everything. Not only does it track content performance on the internet at large but also on social media sites (unlike Google Alerts).

Notice that you get numbers not just for web engagement but also engagement across YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the like. The data is refreshed every 30 days, so you know exactly how every single piece is faring across the internet.

So, if you're submitting pieces for publication on a third-party website, you don't have to keep checking it or wonder when your work will be published. Authory imports the piece the minute it’s published and triggers an email that lets you know that a new article/audio piece/video has been added to your content database.

Authory's Price

$8/month

Awario

Awario

Source: awario.com

Awario is an excellent option among social media monitoring tools. It will track your content's performance across social media platforms, blogs, news sites, forums, review sites, web pages... the works.

It allows users to get email notifications for every keyword mention, or they can choose to watch those mentions show up in real time on the Awario Mentions Feed. All historical data gathered by the tool is analyzed to showcase how the number of mentions grows (or not) over time, the reach of brand mentions, as well the nature of these mentions (positive? negative? neutral?)

Awario Dashboard

Source: awario.com

You can use sentiment analysis to examine negative mentions and identify core issues. You can also get valuable data about the people who've mentioned you or your brand — their age, gender, language, location, and social media preferences.

If you're dealing with complex keywords like names and abbreviations, you can use the Boolean search option to modify search parameters to the most specific details, filtering out all irrelevant mentions.

Additionally, if you are looking for influencers to advocate for your brand, you can use the Awario Leads feature to find digital profiles by searching for a product/service in your domain.

Awario's Price

Starter Plan: $39/month
Pro Plan: $119/month
Enterprise Plan: $399/month

Mention

Mention

Source: mention.com

Mention is among the oldest Google Alerts alternatives in existence. It monitors your social media mentions, as well as mentions across news websites, blogs, forums, and web pages. You can even respond to these alerts from inside the tool.

You can get weekly notifications, daily email reports, or real-time push notifications informing you of new mentions.

Mention Dashboard

Source: mention.com

Much like Awario, Mention examines the growth patterns, sentiments, languages, locations, and sources of keyword mentions. It also helps you find social media influencers aligned with your content or brand.

You can access historical data and use the API to integrate Mention into your own website without disrupting your layout of administrative functions. It also provides a Boolean search option for complicated keywords, but you'll have to tweak it meticulously to avoid irrelevant mentions, older statistics, and digital noise.

Mention's Price

Solo Plan: $29/month
Pro Plan: $99/month
ProPlus Plan: $190/month

Social Searcher

Social Searcher

Source: social-searcher.com

Social Searcher is among the best Google Alerts alternatives. Like the tool above, it notifies you of all keywords, brand names, and hashtag mentions. However, it goes a step beyond and provides some marketing analytics data (user personalities, trends, etc.) as well.

But, this tool only covers seven sources — Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Flickr, Dailymotion, and Vimeo. It doesn't seem to scan the internet at large for mentions. To get more accurate results, you can use Minus words which, as the name sounds, helps filter out unwanted terms.

Social Searcher Dashboard

Source: social-searcher.com

You can also narrow down mentions by the source to check how users on a single platform are responding to your content or brand. You can export search results as CSV files, track post distribution by specific time periods (week, day, hour), analyze sentiment ratio, and leverage other handy features.

Social Searcher does have a free plan, which is why it’s often chosen as the closest alternative to free Google Alerts. However, the free plan only shows recent posts. You need a paid plan to access historical data.

Social Searcher's Price

Basic Plan: €3.49/month
StandardPlan: €8.49/month
Professional Plan: €19.49/month

Keyhole

Keynote

Source: keyhole.co

Keyhole is an excellent alternative to Google Alerts if your intent is to focus on the major social media channels. It monitors Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, along with some forums, sites, and blogs. While it may not cover as much digital ground as the other tools in this list, it provides in-depth analytics on not just the data collected from the internet but also your personal (or the brand's) social media accounts.

You can use BrandIQ (designed for small businesses) or Keyhole Advanced Suite (for mid-size to large marketing teams and agencies).

The tool allows you to search for and engage with people mentioning your keywords. You can also get lists of users with the highest engagements on their posts, which is a great way to find relevant influencers. The tool lets you examine their reach by dissecting details like their location, language in their bio, number of posts they've made mentioning your keyword, and other pertinent parameters.

Keynote Dashboard

Source: keyhole.co

All data on keyword mentions comes with added details — the mention's sentiment, the user's gender, location, the post's status (original or report), hashtags mentioned along with the keyword, etc. You can also access Twitter historical data if you raise a request.

Expect insights on the best time to post, find your most engaged followers, and stay on top of your most popular posts.

You get daily or weekly (as you choose in settings) emails with new mentions' data. The tool is set up to alert you if anomalies occur, such as a sudden, unexpected spike in mentions, a post going viral, etc.

Keyhole's Price

Keyhole has layered pricing plans, depending on what you intend to do with the tool.

Plans for Profile Analytics start from $39/month
Plans for Social Listening & Campaigns start from $79/month
You get custom pricing for Influencer Tracking and Enterprise Suites.

Talkwalker Alerts

Talkwalker Alerts

Source: talkwalker.com

Talkwater Alerts is the closest alternative to Google Alerts, not just in terms of features but also because it's free. It monitors websites, blogs, forums, and Twitter for keyword mentions and sends the results of said monitoring through periodic email notifications (as often as you like).

Talkwalker Alerts Dashboard

Source: talkwalker.com

You can refine your searches by using the intuitive filter options to check only the formats that matter to you. For example, you can choose only to get notifications of blog mentions. There are also Boolean operators to enable high levels of customizability. So you get the features of Google Alerts but also more functions and a greater ability to refine your results.

Talkwalker Alerts' Price

Free. You can switch from free Talkwalker Alerts to paid Talkwalker plans at any time if you want to use the tool for business purposes.

Why choose Authory as a Google Alerts alternative?

As I mentioned above, you get Authory notifications of your content’s publication before Google Alerts. I noticed this quite late, as I’ve just set up my only Google Alerts recently on the advice of a friend (didn’t need it when I was writing full-time).

After I did so, the difference was apparent and consistent. Authory alerts are consistently faster. Turns out, I had stumbled into a better Google Alerts alternative without realizing it.

I primarily chose Authory because it’s an exceptional portfolio maker that creates your portfolio for you. However, the Analytics data it provides is wildly useful. When doing research for this article, I realized that Authory's major advantage over the other tools is that it’s built for individual users, not businesses.

As a freelance writer, I don't need sentiment analysis of comments on my published articles, and I don't need to find influencers or figure out where commenters are located. I just need to know what people think of my writing, how much traffic it generates, and what kind of engagement it brings about.

This is information that Authory provides in spades while also providing multiple other features related to portfolio building and updating. Additionally, it costs far less than everything on this list except Talkwalker Alerts.

The question then is simple and answers itself: Why would I spend on tools that cost more, give me features I don't need, and don't also build my portfolio for me?

Curious? Have a go at Authory's 14-day free trial. Cancel anytime you want, and examine your options for a whole month before picking the tool that hits your sweet spot.