Frequently Asked Questions about CreativeWilmington.com
1. Count me in - how do I sign up?
The first step is to click on the "Register Me Now" button at the bottom of this page.
2. How do people find my work?
CreativeWilmington.com's search tools let visitors be as general or specific as they want. Your portfolio will turn up in any search that matches the criteria they specify. Browsing through a category or using the search field are just two of the ways to find you. In general, the more samples and information you enter into your portfolio, and the more current you keep your work, the more likely you are to be matched up with a search. Visitors prefer to look at portfolios with examples, and the most elaborate explanation in the "Bio" section.
3. Are you involved in any way after someone contacts me through seeing work on CreativeWilmington.com?
Not at all. Any work, arrangements or deals that arise from a creative professional's exposure on CreativeWilmington.com are between the member and the visitor only. Our members are independent, we do not act as an agent, so therefore we do not charge a commission or take credit for the results -- but we'd love to hear your good news!
4. Do I need to be on the Internet in order to have an online portfolio?
You'll need to use a computer with Internet access and an email address to register, upload and view your portfolio, but you don't need your own Internet account or connection. Your clients will need access to the Internet to view your work, and you will need an e-mail account if you want people to e-mail you while viewing your portfolio.
5. I already have my own Web site -- why should I put my work on CreativeWilmington.com?
If you already have your own Web site, that's great. We're the first ones to admit that there are things you can do with your own Web site that you can't do with your CreativeWilmington.com site. At the same time, there are a great number of things that CreativeWilmington.com can do for you that you can't do on your own site.
6. Do I get my own web address?
Yes, and you can use it to promote your portfolio on your business cards, ads, letterhead and so on. You do not need Internet access to tell people you have a Web page. Your Web address (or URL) will bring visitors directly to your portfolio instead of the CreativeWilmington.com Home Page.
7. How do I upload my samples -- I'm not online or computer savvy?
When you register, you create a User I.D. and Password. Use this information to login to the User Profile section of the site. From there, you can upload samples of your work and information about those samples, change or update your member information, and modify or delete samples already in your portfolio. If you've already signed up for CreativeWilmington.com, we have a more extensive help section with step-by-step instructions on How to upload or How to prepare samples for upload in the User Profile section when you login.
8. How many samples can I upload and what file types and sizes can I have in my profile?
You can upload up to 9 samples of your work, one sample may be a movie file or music file, and the other 8 files must be image or text files, in the following formats and adhering to these criteria:
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*Files can have embedded links to pages or files located on other servers.
9. I'm worried about people stealing my samples. Is there any built-in copyright protection?
The best protection is that your samples are low in resolution. This means their image clarity is not of a high enough resolution to be clear if used for much else than a screen saver. You may also choose to brand your images before uploading with a watermark or other mark that embeds ownership or copyright information. However, we do not recommend this approach as it disturbs the presentation of the image to viewers.
10. How do I get my portfolio ranked higher in the CreativeWilmington.com search engine?
We designed our search engine results to suit the needs of the people looking for creative professionals. (You want clients to find you, right?) They want to see fresh work, and they want to see complete portfolios. That's why we encourage to write a proper biography, and include all the keywords and description every time you upload your work. That's also why the more work you upload to your portfolio and the more recent the work is, the more interesting it will be to view your Profile.
Our Search bar - This search tool will access your name, location, biography and specializations. Be sure to include all specializations that apply, plus add keywords and unique phrases into your bio. This will bring you up in more searches.
11. I don't have that much time - how long will this take?
Most of the time involved in setting up a Portfolio in CreativeWilmington.com is in the digitizing your images and writing your bio. If you already have digitized images or rich media files in the proper format and if you can copy your bio from a Word document or from another website, then you're 80% of the way there. Our self-management tools let you point and click the files from your hard drive that you want to upload to your portfolio.
12. Our company handles many artists, how can I ensure that someone who views a portfolio will call me instead of the artist directly?
Our sign up form allows a place to include the name of the artist as well as the name of the contact for that artist. All the contact information, such as fax, phone and e-mail, can either direct inquiries to the artist or to you -- it's your choice.
13. None of these answer my question...
Contact Matthew Dols at
910.619.9296 or
mattdols@creativewilmington.com
Membership is only $25 per year. Proceeds go to CreativeWilmington, a Wilmington, NC based 501(c)3 Charitable arts organization.
Copyright © 2006 CreativeWilmington.com, a program of CreativeWilmington, a 501(c)3 Charitable arts organization, all rights reserved.
Site developed and hosted by Modular Graphics & Media, Wilmington, NC.