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No matter where you go on the web there are certain creatives who’s name and work you just keep bumping into. They appear on blogs, tutorial sites, social sites and more. Do they have a rock star ego that needs to be satisfied? While it might sometimes seem that way this is definitely not the case, they’re simply growing their web presence in a passionate way.

What is web presence? Web presence can be described as being present on the internet in multiple places to promote and strengthen your name or brand in positive way. Most of us do this in one way or another already. Very few of us however do it in a focused and well thought out way. I’m here to tell you that this is a shame because if you do it right you have an extremely powerful tool at your disposal.

Web presence is extremely important because the times have changed and the internet has arguably become expression platform number one. Let’s say you’re looking for a job. Unless you are a web designer your printed port still goes with you to the interview, but long before they lay their eyes on the work it contains they’ve already seen your portfolio pieces on your website. In the interview you’ll talk about yourself but they’ve already read your about me section, checked your Myspace, Facebook, Behance, Twitter and whatever else you’re on. Your internet presence has shaped their first impression of you before you even enter their office.

The printed portfolio is still important but it’s influence is diminishing
while that of the internet grows.

Web presence is equally important for freelancers. Have you ever had a freelancer’s card? I can tell you the first thing I always do when I get home is jump start my favorite browser and either Google the name or directly enter the site url. Even if the person came across knowledgeable and trustworthy in person, if the website experience doesn’t impress me I’ll automatically re-adjust my opinion.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for long term employment or are freelance, want to gain clients or want to strengthen your name, web presence will be a key element to your success.

This article is separated into two lists. The first one will explain what web presence can mean for you while the second list shares some important tips and do’s and dont’s so you can be sure the time you invest is well spend.

Below are some benefits to having a clear and well represented presence on the web. They’re in random order since their importance depends on your personal goals and the type of work you do.

1. Make a strong first impression with potential employers
Having a strong and well thought out presence on the web can leave a positive impression with a client or employer before they’ve ever seen your face. You don’t have the job yet, but you’re off to a good start which is always important.

2. Web presence also leads to easier access to publications.
Want your work in Advanced Photoshop, Computer Arts or other magazines? Web presence helps open these doors as well. Magazines will have an easier time noticing you and it’s in your favor if they see your work in more then one place. The same goes for blog contributions like interviews, showcases and tutorials.

There’s no reason why you can’t be in respected magazines if you play your cards right.

3. Generates a stream of hits to your website
If you promote yourself in multiple places you’ll start to ensure that you get a stream of traffic to your portfolio site. This can be a great way to strengthen your name or brand.

4. Will bring in a client every once in a while
If you have a good port and focus in the right places a strong web presence will bring in clients from time to time. Don’t expect to be done with all your regular ways of winning new clientele though, most designers I know are still dependent on returning clients, recommendations and mouth to mouth.

5. Creates a network of contacts you could call on for various purposes
Whether you need someone to give you some constructive criticism, need some coding help or want to outsource a piece of a project, building a good web presence will automatically lead to getting to know the right people. Here’s a good example: I’ve recently started using Twitter and I was doing a design project for which I wanted to check out some fonts that look like Disco deck. I didn’t know any similar fonts from the top of my head so I decided to make a tweet (message to my friends) about it. Within minutes I got a great suggestion from David Leggit that saved me a lot of browsing time.

Getting web presence is actually very easy, getting a strong presence that is focused and tailored to your goals is slightly harder. While the choices and process are different every time I’m going to give some general things to consider that will ensure that the web presence you are building will be focused.

1. Determine your focus
Without focus you’re just shooting blanks hoping they’ll hit a target. As far as web presence is concerned this means you should have a good view of what it is you’re trying to sell yourself as and then start looking what the best places are to do this online. Want to get your foot in the door as a contemporary character artist? Mojizu and Behance are solid starting places. Want to get your name out there as a Flash web designer? Make it your mission to get one or two of your sites on the FWA for starters.

2. Don’t spread yourself too thin
There are tons of places and tricks online you can use to get your name out there. The problem is that once you start focusing on a few you’ll realize it cost quite a bit of time. Accounts need to be set up and kept up to date, comments need answering, networking need to be done and so on. If you don’t do the needed maintenance there really is no use to promoting yourself on a certain site at all. This means you can’t be everywhere so you need to start making choices. Ask yourself how much time you can spend and what places are most effective as a means to reaching your goals.

3. Do not expose information that might shock your target clients
We all have our “out of the ordinary” hobbies or crazy skeletons in our closets. You like listening to retro black metal music with your face painted black and white for that extra bit of credibility? That’s cool with me, hell, me and my girlfriend collect Bratz dolls so I’m not one to judge! If you choose to not hide that aspect of your life I applaud that, but I would advise you to think carefully about what type of information you expose about yourself in a professional environment. I’ve found strangers get judged much harsher then the people we have closer ties with. So why not wait until you’ve done the job a few months and then come clean with your colleagues if you feel this is necessary?

Some hobbies are best kept under wraps…

4. Clean your port up
I often see a lot of portfolio’s that have work that’s three or more years old. That’s great if you had it going on then and haven’t improved much, but most of the time your old work will start to dull compared to your newer pieces and your focus might also have changed. It’s imperative you give your portfolio a harsh look every now and then and leave only your best pieces. Most professionals agree that it’s better to have a small but strong port then a large mixed quality one.

5. Be consistent with how you present yourself
Whether you work under your own name or not doesn’t matter because when you’re building web presence you are the brand. And we all know a brand has to be protected and should be instantly recognizable. This means that if you represent yourself as “The ultimate Design lord” on one site you can’t be “John Jackson” on another, you have to pick one and stick with it. The same goes for style attributes you use. Don’t use bright colors in your portfolio design and then go all black and grey on your Behance, you’d be wasting your recognizability. Aim to be as consistent as is possible.

6. Try to get exposure through blogs
If printed magazines are still a bit out of your league chances are you could be very successful getting exposure on blogs. Getting exposure through blogs usually leads to some good traffic hitting up your site. One good strategy is to hit up multiple blogs every time you have an important update or launch a new project. You can also barter a bit with bloggers to ensure that stuff you think is important get mentioned in the post.

Note: When contacting bloggers make sure to go with blogs that are alive. It doesn’t have to be Smashing magazine but you really want some good exposure, so have a look at the amount of comments or ask the owner what the average daily user count is. I personally wouldn’t go with a blog that has less than 1500 visitors a day if it’s a lot of effort on your part (tutorials take time for example, a showcase on the other hand is as easy as sending some images over).

7. Get a tutorial published
Creating a good tutorial costs a bit of time but can have some great benefits. The first benefit is that you set yourself up as a specialist in your craft which is obviously never bad. Second is the fact that depending on where you get it published you’ll get a nice flow of traffic to your site and you might even get payed.

My personal advice would be to get your tutorial published on medium/large blogs or dedicated tutorial sites. For the blogs try Abduzeedo or Smashing Magazine (if that doesn’t work out try Designfeedr;). As far as dedicated tutorial sites go I’d advise you to look into the TUTS network which features sites like Psdtuts first since they get great traffic and pay your for your effort.

Psdtuts is your best bet if you’re serious about writing tutorials.

8. Collaborate with artists who also actively work on their web presence
Working with other artists has multiple benefits. First of you’re doing some strong networking for yourself. Second you’re investing time in a project that you know will be exposed from both sides. If both you and your partner are actively trying to make a name for yourselves this will lead to benefits for the both of you. A win win situation occurs, and that’s not even mentioning the great work you and your partner might end up with.

That’s it for today! If you have any tips I haven’t mentioned feel free to stick them in the comments.