Websites are a voice over’s shop window – no matter how long you have been working. For many, this will be your main marketing tool. It’s almost inconceivable that any other business would NOT have a website. It’s the same for voiceovers – you need one! Here are some tips and content ideas to create a successful voiceover website.
Your website is a place to share your demos and voice skills. It’s where the world can find examples of your work – a portfolio of voice projects – that will grow and evolve as you career does the same. It should be where people can get to know you too – your skills, areas of expertise and your values.
Who is your website for?
Remember – a voiceover website is NOT for you, the voiceover. It’s for your clients. When you are building your website, keep your ideal client in your mind. But what will clients be looking for when they visit your site?
Why would people visit your website?
Clients will go to a website for a two main reasons.
- To listen to and download your demos
- To find out more about you
Your website is a way for potential clients to hear what you can do (your demos & past work). And also, a way to get to know you. So clients can see what you are good at and see if you are someone they want to work with.
Here’s an example:
We are in the middle of re-vamping our garden – we’re adding a small paved seating area and we want to make it more wildlife friendly (more about that to come soon).
I started by looking online for a garden designer – there are hundreds. I wanted someone that was able to travel to our location – that narrowed the selection a little. I also wanted someone that would design something with wildlife in mind – that really narrowed down my options. When I started looking at the few garden designer websites that specialised in wildlife gardens in my area, there were only a couple that – when looking through past projects and reading about who they were – I wanted to work with. My research narrowed my options from hundreds to 2. All thanks to their websites.
People looking to hire voice artists will be doing something similar. They will start will hundreds – if not thousands – of options, but once they start to narrow the search for something like this:
A female, UK based voice over, with a home studio, specialising in audiobooks, experienced in non-fiction, preferably with a Welsh accent, and able to provide a sample demo.
The search for that voice narrows considerably. But – they will only find your website if that information – you’ve guessed it – is on your website!
But I only have a single page website
I would always advise getting a website with more than 1 page, however I also know that having a larger site is not for everyone. My advice (if you really can’t add more pages) would be to think of the following pages as sections on your home page.
But hopefully, this will show that a multi-page site doesn’t actually need much more content than you should have on a single page site. And a multi-page site is much better for SEO. Which in turn means you are much more likely to be found.
The 6 pages you need on your voice website
1. Home page
Now this may seem obvious – every website has a home page after all. But this is about the content on that home page. They are your first impression, and you’ve generally got less that a second (I really do mean under 1 second) to make a good impression.
Your home page should include:
- A short introduction (say who you are and what you do)
- A sample (NOT all) of your best demos. These should be downloadable and have a call to action or button that links to your demos page where you can showcase even more demos.
- Your services (and links to demos) – what specific areas of voiceover do you do?
- Link to your contact page
2. Contact page
Another obvious one – but remember to include things like:
- Your email address
- Your phone number (with country dialling code)
- Your location (country and region)
- Why someone should contact you
- When they can expect a reply
- Contact form (as well as your direct details – not everyone likes a form)
- Links to professional social profiles (NOT your personal Facebook)
3. About page
About pages are picked up by search engines – they are important to have. They are also where someone will look when they are trying to find out more about you. About pages should help build trust and allow people to get to know you better. This is not the place for your CV – use LinkedIn for that. Yes, talk about your experience but do it in a way that shows WHO you are not just what you’ve done. Things to consider including are:
- Your name – remind people who you are.
- A photo – people will feel they know you better if they know what you look like.
- A bit about your experience – link back to your demos and examples of your work.
- Your values – what makes you tick? What do you care about? What makes you different?
4. Privacy policy
These are a legal requirement for businesses. You are a business the second you ask for payment – even if cash hasn’t yet moved, even if it’s only part-time. If you’re a voiceover you are running a business. If you’re selling your services to the UK or European Union you need one to comply with GDPR. If you’re selling to California, you’ll need one to comply with CPPA. There are plenty of free privacy policy templates available. I’ve written a blog with more privacy policy guidance and links to templates to help you. Not having one makes you look unprofessional.
5. Demos or showreels
Your demos MUST be:
- Easy to find
- Downloadable
The longer you work in voice over, the more likely it is you’ll have multiple demos. Make sure each genre demo has a heading, introduction, the audio and the option to download.
If you want to split each genre into sub-genres – great – do it! As an example – you could show your audiobook demo and then have specific audiobook sub-genres such as a romance sample, drama sample, children’s book sample, sci-fi sample etc etc.
6. Work samples / portfolio
Different to your demos – these should be examples of real projects you’ve voiced. Remember – you don’t have to show every single piece of work you have ever done. I’ve got a portfolio section on our website but I don’t show every voice over website I’ve ever worked on. I also don’t include projects from earlier in my career when I worked with advertising agencies. Why? Because that’s not the work I want to get.
Show off your very best work. The biggest clients, the brands you love or projects that you connect to personally. Build this area to showcase the type of work you want to get more of. It’s a curated gallery of your work, not an overstuffed cupboard you can’t shut the door on.
Your next steps
I hope this has given you lots of ideas to help you create a successful voiceover website. I hope that by making some small changes to your copy, you see an increase in traffic to your website. And I hope that in turn increases your bookings.
Make a to-do list of amends for your website and get them done!
If you would like my help to guide you through making changes to your site take a look at my website reviews. I’ll help you make your website more client-friendly and improve the chances of it being found in search results.