Before you start showing off your work online, you’ll need to prepare the technical platform that will render your portfolio for the visitors. Built upon WordPress , Plio provides both an ergonomic and an efficient administration interface for managing the content and the look and feel of your portfolio.
Stage 1: Register to Plio
Stage 2: Discover Plio
Stage 3: Adjust your General Settings
Stage 4: Upload your first artwork image collection
Stage 1: Register to Plio
- Go to plioart.com and click on the orange sign-up button.
- Enter your Username. You are going to use this unique Username to access your account and most importantly, it is going to be the first part of your domain name. Example: caravaggio.plioart.com.
- Enter a valid email address. This is email address will be used to confirm and activate your account.
- Fill out the rest of your personal information. We want to know your name, geographic location and other particular profile information to be able to personalize our services and the information presented to you. More important, this information will allow Plio visitors to find your art. Note that we respect your privacy and your personal information is not to be shared with anyone ever without your explicit authorization.
- Once you’ve completed the registration form, you will be sent a confirmation email. Go to your email inbox and click on the link to activate your account.
- Go to plioart.com to log in and start discovering Plio.
Keep in mind that this is the only piece of information that can’t be changed once the account is created. So, consider it carefully and make it relate to your art and yourself.
Stage 2: Discover Plio
Once you have signed in, you can start exploring your dashboard, the behind-the-scenes control panel that lets you publish artwork, announce events, keep a blog and much more.
It’s also referred to as the “back-end” and only you can see it. Here is where you create, edit, and manage all the content that gets published on your site. It is also where you manage your settings and the appearance of the “front-end”.
The “front-end” is what others see when they visit your personal address yourporftolio.plioart.com (See Plio Premium for custom domain name).
These 2 parts together, one private and one public, make a powerful online portfolio solution that is easily kept fresh and up-to-date.
You’ll notice on the top of the screen an admin bar. In it you’ll find shortcuts to diverse sections of the dashboard. On the left-hand column you’ll find all the different sections that make up your dashboard.
Here is an overview of the different sections of your Plio dashboard. First, you’ll find the different content elements.
Works
The works feature has been specially designed to be the main component of a visual artist’s website. Works are a particular type of entry designed to represent your artworks. You can organize works by grouping and nesting them. Also you can add descriptions, multiples images and more media.
Here is where you create, edit and manage your artworks.
Media
The Media Library keeps track of every media files used in your site. Images, video and sound files are media and they can be used in your works, pages and posts. By using the Media section, you’ll be able to upload and publish your artworks in bulk.
Here is where you create, edit and manage your media files.
Pages
Pages are intended for a type of content that is permanent. They can be used to display a biography or contact information. This sort of content is readily available to your visitor and it doesn’t become easily outdated.
In this section you can create, edit and manage your pages.
Posts
Posts are intended for a type of content that is more impermanent. Blogs and news are typical examples of this sort of content. Posts are used to publish content in a more informal “tone” than your portfolio and, in that way, you can communicate a more personal facet. You can post about work in progress, ongoing collaborations, current events or anything else if you’re a blogger. Posts are organized in reverse-chronological order and they get “pushed down” leaving place to the latest.
Here is where you create, edit and manage your Posts.
Links
Online visibility and promotion is about networking with others. Don’t hesitate to share links that relate to you artistic practice or your personal interests. Publishing links is also a good way to get people to link to you.
Here is where you create, edit and manage your links.
Comments
Allowing comments is a great way to receive feedback and get in contact with others. You can separately allow your comments in your works, pages and posts, according to where you want people to be able to comment. By default, Plio allows comments only on posts.
Here is where you manage the comments left by your visitors.
Stage 3: Adjust your General Settings
Below the different content elements, you’ll find another group of sections that allow you to customize the look-and-feel and adjust the settings of your website.
The options in these sections have been initialized with the most common needs so you can start using your portfolio without minding these. Later, when you know well Plio and your dashboard, you’ll be able to dive into the more advanced settings.
A later step is entirely dedicated to look-and-feel customization. For the moment, let’s focus on adjusting your general settings.
- Go to the General Setting section and take a look at the different lines.
- Site title: it appears on the top of the browser window.
- Tag line: it also appears on the top of the browser window. Use it to describe a bit further.
- E-mail address: it is used as an administration contact. It should be left the same as your profile email address.
- Timezone: verify that it correlates with your geographic location.
- Date and time settings: choose the options that best suit you. By default, this information is displayed only in your posts.
Stage 4: Upload your first artwork image collection
Plio allows you to organize your artworks in different ways. In chapter 5 “Visual Samples at the Heart of the Art Portfolio” we’ll see more about that. For now, let’s upload an initial collection of images to create a preliminary version of your portfolio.
- On your dashboard, go to Works and Add New.
- Choose the recommended option: “Add new works from media upload through the Portfolio Assistant” and click on Next. The Portfolio Assistant has been created to facilitate the discovery of your administration interface; it will assist you by helping you choose the appropriate options according to what you want to do. In this way, you’ll get progressively familiar with the different options.
- Select “Add visual samples that represent different pieces of work to be presented as a collection”. Then, choose “The collection shall be added to your portfolio as:”, in the text field write down the name of the collection and for its location select “portfolio root”. Choose next.
- The “Upload New Media” page will then open with the right options selected, so without changing the parameters simply click on “Select Files” and select the images you want to upload.
- After the images finish uploading, click on “Show” for every image and adjust their titles so they are friendly to read. You may also adjust other information on the images.
- Click on “Save all changes” (very important!) and you are set. You have uploaded your first collection of images.
- You can check it out by going to the public side of your site and visiting the section Portfolio.
You are now familiar with your dashboard and you have made your first adjustments. As you see, Plio is easy to use. You are now ready to make your online portfolio. But before, we propose to you: An Easy Method to Get Inspired and Motivated.
This article was the 2nd step of the series: Get your Plio Portfolio Up-and-Running in 10 Simple Steps.