This was started by 37signals (basecamp) and then sold off a couple years ago. Was anyone here using it before the sale & still using it today? How's it changed?
@mscccc would love to know the answer to that myself. Im friends with the person who bought it and he's an awesome guy. I'm a huge Basecamp fangirl. So yea the insights of a core user pre and post acquisition would be super interesting.
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@mscccc — A few years back, I listed myself on Sortfolio and promptly forgot about it. Looks like the onboarding process is now easier for designers, but the the rest of the site hasn't changed much (from what I recall).
Sortfolio's shortcoming seems to be SEO. They rank #1 for a generic query, "find a web designer". When you drill down into locations, like "miami web designers", you are unfortunately not going to find Sortfolio links.
Hi everyone, I'm the owner of Sortfolio; thanks for the mention and I appreciate the conversation!
In regards to changes to the site, the biggest front-end change so far is the addition of Collections. Collections allows users to view Pro agencies' individual portfolio pieces by industry, technology or project type; resulting in a more accurate, relevant search result.
As you guys know from the posts from the Basecamp guys, Sortfolio was not a primary concern for them, and as such wasn't getting all the necessary attention it deserved. We spent a significant portion of the first year cleaning up and modifying the back-end so that we could start rolling out new customer facing improvements.
In the spirit of transparency, I can reveal that we've had some internal management challenges over the past several months that were distracting to the progress of the company. As of a few weeks ago, those issues have been resolved and I'm excited to continue growing the company.
@muldster, you're observations are correct. In terms of SEO, while we do great on broader search terms, there is definitely room for improvement on localized search terms. As a directory, there are unique challenges as Google places more and more importance on local search results, squeezing organic results almost below the fold. It's a problem we're aware of and appreciate it's importance.
You're also right about on-boarding designers. The number of designers on the site has increased significantly in the last 20 months. Accordingly, we also are getting seeing greater spam submissions (which get denied through moderation). We have started an initiative to clean up any listings that may have snuck through, and this week alone have deleted over 50 listings. This should increase the experience for both the designers, as well as the potential clients.
I'm always available if anyone wants to reach out directly; I love getting feedback, good and bad, and answering any questions you may have.
Thanks @eriktorenberg, @mscccc, @espreedevora and everyone for taking a look -
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