Make a simple and practical portfolio. Your vector portfolio needs to be impressive and persuasive, not fancy or hard to navigate. Use an applet or a flash slideshow to make sure visitors will not have to click on many links and get lost in your website. If you have a lot of content, consider using columns or a mosaic design. Avoid too much scrolling up and down and going back and forth between pages.
Place the best samples on the welcome page. That means using less and letting visitors judge your work at first glance. Either select the most successful samples you have or a mosaic of styles linked to more samples. Showcase vectors that use different graphic programs, different techniques or different styles and write details with each vector. Do not show the work you like the best, but the work that was most meaningful to previous clients. Mention if a vector image you made increased someone's traffic, helped to make more sales or added the touch that convinced people.
Share your knowledge. A portfolio should show your work and show a positive side of your personality. If you are enthusiastic about your work, you are probably enthusiastic about other people's works. Show your interests. Include your favorite resources and the tutorials you think are worth checking out. Create a few tutorials to showcase your techniques and to get people coming back to your website. You have to create interest and interest grows over time. The more people pass your URL along, the more chances you will have to find clients. People often hire through word of mouth.
Focus on one direction. Do not try to attract too many people, but the right kind of people - aim for quality not quantity. The more specialized you become, the more professional you will look, the better you will be at the sort of vectors you are making and the more your originality will transpire and will be noticed. You do not want your portfolio to look like millions of other portfolios. You want your portfolio to have a personality. Some designers will focus on spirographs, others on clip arts, others on Illustrator based graphics, and so on and so forth. Also, if you want to be hired, showcase your skills only in the area you would want to be hired in.
Create a page telling more about yourself. Tell who you are, your goals, your philosophy, your stories creating designs. In order to add humanity and authenticity to your work, include your hobbies and interests that could influence your art. A little bit of human touch is more convincing than a long list of qualifications and could tilt the balance in your favor. You could add a picture of yourself busy at work or doing a fun activity. You could make a movie of yourself or film the itinerary that drove you to where you are now. You could showcase articles that discuss your work.
Make a "Hire Me" button that leads to your information from the welcome page. If you want to be hired or sell your vectors, say it simply and noticeably. You do not want people to think your vectors are public domain. On the "Hire Me" link page, write your techniques and the graphic programs you are comfortable working with. Do not forget to say that you are looking for work and what kind of work exactly you are looking for. Reproduce your complete resume or create a downloadable link to a PDF file that contains your resume. Add a link to testimonials for people who hired you before or bought your designs. Add a link to websites using your vectors.
Make a link labeled "Contact." Place this in a tab, on a menu or on every page in an obvious position like the bottom of the page or at the very top. The link to this page should include an email or a web-based email service. Put your Facebook or Twitter page, your studio address if you have one, or a professional phone number.