A model portfolio website that replaces the comp card, and how to build it

A model's portfolio website is the comp card that never goes out of date and the book that fits in a text message. A casting director opens it on a phone between two other links, looks at the digitals, checks the stats, scrolls the book, and either writes to the agency or moves on, in under a minute. This is the FolioPage guide for fashion, commercial, fitness, curve, petite, runway, editorial, hand and parts, promotional, mature and alternative models, actors and dancers who model, and influencers on what such a site has to do, how digitals and editorials work as sets, where the stats and the agency go, the reel, the templates built for it, the plan that fits, and how to have it live this afternoon.

What a model's website has to do

A casting sees hundreds of links a week. The site has one minute and four jobs:

• Digitals first. Clean, current, unretouched: the frames every casting wants before anything else, one tap from the top of the page.
• The book behind them. Editorials, campaigns, runway and tests as sets, each opening full screen, sorted the way bookers search.
• The stats where a card puts them: height, measurements, sizes, hair, eyes, shoe, and where you are based, on the homepage, current.
• The agency, or you. Whoever books you, with the contact that reaches them today, and a line about availability and travel.

A site that does these four things replaces the PDF card in the email and the folder link that asks for access. Everything else is decoration.

The pages that earn their place

A model's site is small and fast on purpose; one page holds the whole of it, and the templates for this category come as one-page sites and as a book with several pages.

For a new face, the homepage alone with digitals, stats and a contact is a complete site. Add the book as sets arrive.

Stats, facts and status

The section library has the pieces a card needs, edited on the page in the template's style:

• A measurements section for the stats, laid out as a card lists them.
• A facts list for hair, eyes, shoe, languages, base city, passport.
• An agencies section for the mother agency and the placements, with each agency's contact.
• A status line for "Available from October, based in Milan, travels EU", the sentence bookers read first.

Change a measurement once and the card, the page and the PDF stay in step, because there is one page.

Digitals and the book: the Portfolio app

In the Portfolio app each set is an item: a cover, a gallery, a description, custom fields for the credits (photographer, client or publication, agency, season), and a category. Categories are the way a booker searches: Digitals, Editorial, Campaign, Runway, Commercial, Tests. Digitals get their own category so they lead the index and are one tap away; featured sets get a flag. The index shows every set in one grid and filters without leaving the page; every set has its own page with the gallery opening full screen and links to the next and previous.

Thirty index layouts and twenty-four set layouts are available. The Free plan holds ten sets and three categories, which covers digitals, editorial and commercial for a new face; Pro holds a hundred sets and fifty categories, Max as many as the book has.

The images: current, fast, full screen

Originals are kept and served for the full-size view; a WebP thumbnail is made for grids; everything is delivered from a global edge network, so the book opens fast on a casting's phone. Image size goes to 2,000 pixels on the long edge on Free, 4,000 on Pro and 8,000 on Max, with uploads of 5, 20 and 50 MB. The library holds 50 files and 100 MB on Free, 1,000 files and 2 GB on Pro, unlimited files and 10 GB on Max, in folders per shoot or per agency.

Export at 2,000 pixels on the long edge and keep the retouched originals elsewhere. Digitals should be dated in the caption and replaced every few months; a casting can tell a year-old digital at a glance.

The reel, and video

A walk or a reel matters for runway, commercial and fitness work. Video files (MP4, WebM) upload on the Max plan and sit in a gallery or a set; on any plan, a button links to a reel hosted elsewhere, so the site stays fast and the reel stays where the casting expects to find it.

The agency, the contact and the links

• The agency as the contact. The contact section and the footer show whatever you enter: the agency's name, email and phone, or yours. The contact form on Pro and Max delivers to the address you set, with spam protection, 1,000 submissions a month on Pro and 5,000 on Max.
• One link for every profile. The Links app puts Instagram, the agency page, the reel, the PDF card and the booking email in one column on your own address, for the link in every bio. Five links on Free, unlimited on Pro and Max.
• The card as a PDF. The Resume app is built for dated lists, and a model's CV - campaigns, shows, publications, training - fits it; it publishes a page and a matching PDF for the agency that asks for one.

Privacy, and a book for one client

• Hide from search engines: any page, on any plan, so a set is reachable by link and not by search.
• A private book: on Pro and Max, a password-protected page with the sets for one client or one casting, sent with a link and a password.
• Your own domain and no branding on Pro and Max; the design editor sets the fonts and the palette site-wide, so the page can be as spare as a card or as editorial as a magazine.

What changes with what you model

Each of these deserves its own guide, and they will follow in the Guides section, one at a time.

Templates made for models

Four FolioPage templates were built for this category, two one-page sites laid out like a card and two books with several pages, all with the Portfolio app switched on and sample sets in place. Three of them show the range:

Preview any of them live on a phone first, because that is where a casting will open it.

The full set is on the Model templates page.

The plan that fits

• Free is a complete new-face site: the card, digitals, ten sets, three categories, fifty files, five links, a folio.page address. No card, no time limit.
• Pro, $12 a month or $108 a year, is the working model's plan: a hundred sets, a thousand files and 2 GB, images to 4,000 pixels, a domain in your name, no branding, the contact form, and a password-protected private book.
• Max, $24 a month or $216 a year, adds video for the reel and the walk, 8,000-pixel images, 10 GB and unlimited sets.

A model with a reel is a Max model; a new face starts on Free and moves to Pro when the domain goes on the card. The pricing page has the full comparison.

Build it this afternoon

The order that works, with current digitals and the sets exported.

The longer version, with the schedule by the hour, is the guide on how to build a portfolio website in a day.

Keep it current

• Replace the digitals every few months, dated. It is the first thing a casting checks.
• Update the stats the day they change. A booking made on old stats is a booking lost on set.
• Add the set the week it runs, and keep the status line true.

Can I show a video reel?

Video files (MP4, WebM) upload on the Max plan and sit in a set or a gallery; on any plan a button links to a reel hosted elsewhere.

Can my agency be the contact?

Yes. The contact section and the footer show whatever details you enter, and the contact form delivers to the email address you set, which can be the agency's.

Where do the stats go?

In a measurements section and a facts list on the homepage, edited on the page, laid out the way a card lists them. Change a number once and the page is current.

Can I keep a set private for one client?

On Pro and Max, yes: a password-protected page, hidden from search engines, sent with a link and a password.

Is the free plan enough for a new face?

Yes. The card, the digitals, ten sets, five links and a folio.page address are on the Free plan, with no time limit and no card.

Other fields have their own page in the Made for section, and every general how-to lives in Guides.