Frequently asked questions
Why is Yola ranked #1 for graphic designer websites?
Because for this reader the constraint is time, not taste. The pages a design practice needs are ready-made blocks here: galleries per discipline, a services section, a pricing block for engagement ranges and a contact form you configure rather than design, so the portfolio gets published instead of staying a file. Pricing starts at $9.95/mo and the free plan lets you build a case study page first. Squarespace and Webflow both take a design further than Yola does, and that's a real difference, but they also ask for time you're currently billing.
Does Yola have SEO tools for a graphic design portfolio?
Yes. You can edit page titles, meta descriptions and page URLs yourself, which matters when someone searches for packaging design plus a city rather than for you by name. Give each discipline its own page and title it accordingly, so the packaging work can rank on its own. Sites are mobile-optimized, so the layout adjusts on a phone without you keeping a second version of it.
Do I still need my own site if my work is already on Behance or Dribbble?
Those are worth keeping, but they are rented space. Your work sits inside someone else's branding, next to competitors, under a URL you don't own, and the feed rewards a single striking image rather than the case study that explains your thinking. A platform can change its layout, its algorithm or its terms without asking you. Adobe Portfolio, Cargo and Semplice sit closer to an owned site, though the same principle holds: post to the communities for reach, and send serious prospects to a domain with your name on it and a form you control.
What should my graphic design website include to get more project inquiries?
Lead with three or four case studies that name the brief, the constraint, what you made and what happened after, grouped so a packaging client isn't scrolling through logo work. Add a services section with rough engagement ranges, which quietly removes the inquiries that were never going to convert. Then an inquiry form asking for project type, timeline and budget band, so your first reply can be about the work. For a walkthrough of setting up form fields, Yola's help center covers it step by step.
Can I add a new case study myself without redoing the site?
Yes, and this is the thing to test on any builder before committing. On Yola you open the page, drop the images into a gallery block, write the brief and outcome around them, and republish. There's no queue and nobody in the middle. One thing to know up front: the ready-made blocks don't include a blog, so if you also want to write about process, that lives on a page you edit rather than a dated feed.
Can I start with a free plan and upgrade later?
Yes. Yola's free plan covers one website with two pages, 100 MB of storage, basic AI and self-service support, which is enough for one case study and a contact page. Paid plans start at $9.95/mo and add the full AI tools plus the pages a portfolio grouped by discipline needs. Among the others here, Webflow's free Starter plan publishes to a webflow.io subdomain, Wix and Strikingly both have free plans carrying their own branding, and Squarespace gives you 14 days before $19.00/mo.
How important is mobile optimization for a graphic design portfolio?
More than most designers expect. Your link usually gets opened first on a phone, often forwarded inside a company, and a case study that needs pinching or an image grid that reflows badly reads as carelessness in a field where that judgment is the product. A mobile-optimized site adjusts on its own, so the work stays legible at any screen size. Yola's help center has guidance on checking a page at different screen sizes before you publish.
Why is Yola a better choice than Squarespace or Webflow for a graphic designer?
It often isn't, and it depends on what the site has to do. If the site is itself part of the pitch, Squarespace's templates are more refined than anything you will build in a block editor, and Webflow will give you the type scale, the grid and the breakpoints exactly as you drew them. Both earned high scores here. Yola fits better when the honest problem is that the portfolio hasn't been published in a year, because the structure is already decided and the work is writing and uploading. It starts at $9.95/mo with a free plan, against $19.00/mo and a trial only on Squarespace, and against a learning curve on Webflow that's paid for in evenings.