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When you become a voice-over actor there are business expenses you will have to budget for. They include professionally produced demos, recording equipment, and advertising that includes a voice-over website. Most actors struggle with how to pay for all this at first until they start making money.
You may think you need to wait to set up a voice-over website until you’re more established but a good website can open you up to surprising opportunities It’s the main hub for your business where people can learn about you and your unique talent.
The voice-over business is much more competitive than when I first started out. Now that so many actors are able to record from anywhere and email auditions, it’s much harder to get your foot into the door, especially if you are a newbie. You can’t rely on an agent as much to promote you. In order to stand out from the crowd, you have to promote yourself and your online presence is ultra important.
Promoting yourself via social media isn’t enough
Even though you may have a well-followed Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook those platforms could shut down on a dime and you would lose all your followers.
Look what happened to Vine, Periscope, and MySpace. They disappeared into the ether.
A dedicated voice-over website is something you have complete control over and will always be there unless you don’t take care of it, forget to pay your hosting or domain renewal fees, or block Google from indexing it.
A voice-over website is not hard to set up
Let me be completely honest with you. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to set up a website for your voice-over business. I’m over 60 and I learned how to set up my own website for practically nothing. I taught myself how to do it by taking a couple of online classes and by watching YouTube videos.
For a while, I made a side business out of website design. Now I make additional income as a blogger and social media influencer writing about topics I love. It beats waiting tables, is flexible, and is easy to do.
I built my site on WordPress because it’s the most functional platform out there
There are several website builders you can use like Wix, Blogspot, Squarespace, or HTML if you’re a geek, but WordPress is the industry standard. It’s easy to use and is built to generate traffic. There are thousands of plugins that you can install in 1 click that will do just about anything you like.
With WordPress you can write a blog, host a podcast, embed video and audio players, display photo galleries, resumes, and much more.
It’s so easy to set up I’ve written a step-by-step TUTORIAL so you can have your voice-over website up and running in a matter of minutes.
Having a voice-over website gives casting directors, fans, and other important contacts a one-stop location to find you online, contact you, and learn more about you. It will direct people to your social media links, media appearances, demos, resume, photos, videos and can help you get listed on Google so you’ll show up before your competition.
When you’re a voice-over actor you are a business owner and your product is YOU so you have to market yourself. A website is an essential part of your advertising strategy because it’s your online business card.
When I started out in the voice-over business over 40 years ago we had to mail or drop off cute postcards, distribute our reels, and check our answering services. Now we can do that all online.
If someone like me can set up a WordPress website, so can you.
