How to Use Instagram as a Portable Website — Instafolio

Efosa S. Omorogbe
Jul 10, 2017 · 3 min read

Instagram boasts a growing user base of 700+ million monthly active users, no wonder why they’ve introduced new analytic and advertising tools to capitalise on marketers wanting to reach those users. What’s great about Instagram is its grid style layout that allows you to be creative in how your display your photos. Using dramatic crops you can create a visual flow that brands your Instagram profile in unique ways.

Anderson .Paak Instagram

I found myself wanting to build a portfolio website but not wanting to handle the cost of buying a domain or hosting a site and dealing with the issues that brought with it. It quickly dawned upon me how Instagram allows you to have a unique username (a replacement of a website domain name) and infinite storage for video and picture mediums (hosting covered).

What could I do with that?

I had always thought of Instagram as an impressive way to display your portfolio work and I had seen many users creatively style their page. I’ve been designing websites and layouts for years and I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t used it to design my Instagram profile. So using my design skills I mocked up a portfolio design for my profile page and created this:

Instagram is a widely accessible platform and allows anyone with a web browser to view your portfolio (if set to public). The hustler in me translated that to a very cheap website on a platform that allows you to be found by 700+ million people. Who wouldn’t want that? Now that Instagram have incorporated business profiles it makes it even easier to use their platform as a portfolio site with quick to access contact buttons.

Email me (or come meet me instead???)

700+ million people are quite comfortable with using Instagram and on a platform that is media heavy, it’s great for displaying my work to potential clients and allowing them to decide for themselves on whether or not they want to use my services. If they do they have my contact options right in their faces at all times.

So for the budding freelancer out there, consider using Instagram as a portfolio site. It’s free, easily accessible to the world (and 700+ million people already on Instagram), and can be setup as a business profile.

It’s a win, win!


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Efosa is UX & Digital Design consultant, dreamer and a big fan of music. He’s on a mission to help young creatives step into their potential and create their best lives yet — he’s developing an app to make this easier for them. If you’re looking for an extra push in your creative career, you can sign up below for a chance to be one of the first to try it out:

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Designs by EsO

Efosa S. Omorogbe

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A frontend & user experience developer committed to making the world a happier place.

EsO Designs

Designs by EsO

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