Author: Laura Elizabeth

Laura created Client Portal in 2016 after working as a freelance designer for a decade. Client Portal was born out of the need for a simple tool that allows clients to access their project deliverables. Since then, it has grown into an 8,000+ customer-strong product that helps any service provider, from freelancers to law firms. In her spare time, Laura likes to sew clothes and quilts, play the piano, and hang out with her husband and children.

Product Updates

Portal gallery: what's new in Client Portal 5.10

Laura Elizabeth 28th Sep 2026

Back in version 5.8 I said we were going to build a proper template library inside Client Portal, so you wouldn't have to download a file from our website and import it by hand. It's now been released. From version 5.10+ creating a portal happens on a new screen, with your own templates and a...

Project Management

Create a portal for client onboarding

Laura Elizabeth 25th Aug 2026

If you've set up Client Portal and then stalled on what to actually put in it, build a client onboarding portal first. It's the portal every client needs, it barely changes between them, and it's the only part of your process that isn't tied to a specific piece of work. It's also the easiest to...

Software & Tools

The best client portals for freelancers (an honest comparison)

Laura Elizabeth 22nd Jun 2026

Running a freelance business usually means a patchwork of email threads, Google Drive links and the occasional "did you get my invoice?" message. It works, mostly. But once you're juggling more than a handful of clients, you spend a surprising amount of time just finding things and re-sending them. A client portal fixes most of...

Feature Spotlight

How to collect and manage client feedback in Client Portal

Laura Elizabeth 11th Jun 2026

A question we get fairly often: can you collect and manage client feedback inside Client Portal? Yes, in a few ways, depending on what you need. They all use the comments feature on content pages, so that's where we'll start. Collecting feedback with comments on content pages Everything here relies on one feature: comments on...

Product Updates

What's new in Client Portal version 5.9

Laura Elizabeth 9th Jun 2026

Quick one this time. If you let clients register for their own portals, 5.9 adds a small but rather satisfying touch: portals that name themselves using the client's own details. There are also a few fixes underneath, a couple of which are worth knowing about. The new bit: portal titles that fill themselves in Up...

Product Updates

What's new in Client Portal version 5.8

Laura Elizabeth 5th May 2026

Version 5.8 is mostly about notifications and comments. A few new things, an overhaul of the settings page, and the usual round of smaller fixes underneath. 1) New: Notification for comments on content pages Back in version 5.5, we shipped the ability for clients to leave comments on content pages. Up until now, that's been...

Case Studies

Using Client Portal as a resource hub for a coaching programme

Laura Elizabeth 27th Apr 2026

Cheryl Porcelijn runs Webdesign Mastery, a six-month coaching programme teaching web designers her 'Master Method' - a streamlined approach to project management for solo web designers. Each student gets their own private portal as a companion to the programme. Less course platform, more resource hub Cheryl's student portals aren't trying to replace a course platform....

Illustration of a project scope growing beyond its original boundaries

Project Management

The truth about scope creep (and what to do when it happens)

Laura Elizabeth 23rd Mar 2026

Early in my freelancing career, I agreed to design a 4-page brochure. Simple enough. The brief was clear, the client was lovely, and I delivered the first draft on time. They loved it. So much so that they wanted "just a couple of extra sections." And then a few more. By the time we were...

Case Studies

How one web designer uses Client Portal to keep client feedback under control

Laura Elizabeth 23rd Mar 2026

Cheryl Porcelijn has been using Client Portal for her web design clients for the last six years. She's also the founder of Webdesign Mastery and host of De Podcast voor Webdesigners, a weekly Dutch podcast for web designers. Her portal setup is one of the more thoughtful ones we've seen, and there's a lot you...

Case Studies

How to set up a client portal for a web design project (and a free template)

Laura Elizabeth 11th Mar 2026

If you work with web design clients, you've probably got a rough process you follow for every project. The question is whether your clients can actually see it clearly, or whether it's mostly living in your head and a handful of email threads. This post walks through how to structure a client portal for a...