It's not just the examples of work that need to blow away your potential clients (although they do help) it's the way they're presented. You don't have to be a superstar creative director or web designer; a touch of creativity and innovative thinking will get you a long way. And there are plenty of free online tools, such as Behance, to help you build a portfolio without any coding knowledge.

In this instance, it can be helpful to look at what other graphic designers have been doing with their portfolios. That doesn’t mean blindly copying them, but it does mean taking inspiration from what they’ve done, and how it’s worked for them. In fact, even deciding you don’t like something about their portfolio may help you clarify what you want yours to achieve.