Modeling business is a hard road to take for the young and the inexperienced, and the truth is - it doesn’t get any easier later. Only the chosen few who have made it to the top are hunted by fashion magazines and designers and aren’t the ones doing the hunting. Yet, despite the ever increasing pace of life and high competition that aspiring models are bound to be facing today, the age we live in does offer some advantages. Its 2005, and models are in possession of a powerful promotion asset - the Internet.

World Wide Web has become one of the main tools of business promotion in any field, and fashion is no exception. The moment your modeling portfolio has been uploaded to the web, it can be seen by potential bookers, agencies, or customers, which increases your chances of finding a job fast and safely, without spending your precious time and money on emailing your portfolio and pictures to numerous addresses. All the necessary information for your presentation is kept in one place and in the form most convenient for the client. It only takes several minutes to email a link to your portfolio to your potential clients, if you decide to look for job opportunities outside the portal as well.

The most important first step is a right choice of a modeling portal. First of all, you should think of the areas of modeling business that you are interested in most. Try to put yourself in your client's shoes – what will catch his eye when looking at your portfolio? What keywords will he use in search engines? The keywords the potential client will enter determine the range of portals he will choose. There is an easy way to trace the route of your customer:

1. Go to one of the main search servers, such as msn.com, google.com or yahoo.com.

2. Enter a query that will include the possible keywords which your potential clients may use, such as "fashion", "fashion portal", "fashion models base," etc., into the search window.

3. Examine the search results carefully. Portals that occupy the first three pages are the most «clickable» -the most visitable by models, model agencies and clients, who, in their turn, go to these portals in search for models. Therefore, they can be the most useful for you to host your portfolio.

4. Visit these portals and look at their terms and conditions for portfolio hosting. You should pay special attention to:

- portal positioning (if its target audience is unique, especially if you are already hosted elsewhere);

- how your portfolio will be presented, the type and number of pictures you may post, picture sizes and other limitations;

- what additional services you will get and weather they will be of any use to you;

- how much will it cost?

All portals can be divided into two groups: free of charge and chargeable, where you must pay for portfolio hosting. The second group is more professional and its target audience is represented by fashion businessmen.

Yet, there are certain nuances. You could be offered the guarantees of promotion in the model's ratings for additional payment with a promise to increase your chances to receive an offer.

But an agency or client choses a model not for her portal ratings, but for her look, experience and complying with the client's needs, and if you are the type the client is looking for, he will find your portfolio and get in touch with you, regardless of your portfolio ratings.

Therefore, it is more reasonable to chose the portals which only charge for portfolio hosting and which have several tariffs depending on the model's professionalism. In this case you won't need to pay additional costs that actually won't influence your promotion in any way.

And the last thing: pay attention to the way the model's contact info is displayed on the portal, especially an email. If a portal shows a model's email, your email box will be at risk of spamming. Look for the portals with an email form, in this way a portal protects your mailbox from spam.

Established and aspiring models are not the only fashion industry players who may use some promotion. If you run a model management, you may also experience a need to get extra exposure for your agency. The next article, featuring Internet promotion tips for modeling agencies will be published on FashionGates.com on Apri, 29th.