Maybe you’re building your voice over website for the first time. Or maybe you’re redesigning your VO website. How do you design your voiceover website to not just look good, but to actually help grow your business? Specifically, what are the website features you must have? How do you make it easy for customers to do business with you through your website?

My voiceover website, PaulSchmidtVoice.com has been nominated twice for Best Voice Over Website at the SOVAS Awards. I worked in web development for several years, and so I had a big advantage over most voice actors when building out my site.

So in this video I’m going to give you 6 website features you must have on your voice over website to insure it will help you grow your VO, and at the end I’ll tell you how you can get my Top 10 Website Strategies ebooklet that has 4 additional strategies you can use to boost the effectiveness of your VO website design.

Feature #1: Demos Front and Center

One of the main goals of your site is to showcase your demos. Your demos are the centerpiece of your marketing efforts and should get estate on your site.

Demos should be on the home page, as high up on the page as possible. Don’t make potential clients scroll or click to get to them.

All the demos on your site should be:

• Clearly labeled by genre (Commercial, Narration, etc.) and the label should include your name. So, your file label should resemble something like this:

  • PaulSchmidt_CommercialDemo.mp3

• Playable in all major browsers

• Downloadable – users should be able to download each demo

• In mp3 format – the most widely used digital audio format in the world.

2. A Custom Domain and Email Addresses

A custom domain is a unique branded label that’s connected to the IP address of a website. To visit a particular site, you can type its custom domain name into the address bar of your browser. My custom domain, for example, is paulschmidtvoice.com.

Nothing says “doesn’t take their business seriously” louder than a url that looks

like this: https://yourname.wixsite.com/yourname. I can spot an amateur or hobbyist a mile away when I see an email address that ends in @gmail.com or @outlook.com. When you register your custom domain, also setup your custom email – I talk about that in a minute.

I use Google Domains to register and manage my domain names because it’s stupid-easy to use, but you can use any reputable service.

Angela Fitzgerald of Hubspot explains the benefits of a custom domain:

She says domain name registration is required for proprietary reasons — it gives you ownership over your website’s address so that no one else can claim it, and it simplifies how internet users find your site.

But purchasing and registering a custom domain name has additional benefits, including:

• Brand identity: A custom domain name is essential for a consistent online brand identity. Visitors will expect your domain name to match or resemble your company name.

• Credibility: A domain name that aligns with your company name (or your own name) establishes credibility, and makes your website appear legitimate to users.

• Memorability: If your domain is easy to remember, visitors can easily enter it into their search bars, resulting in more direct traffic to your site.

• Differentiation from competitors: A clean, catchy custom domain sets you apart from competing sites with clunkier domains.

• Search authority: In addition to strengthening your brand, custom domain names can also help you establish search authority. As a rule of thumb, the older a domain is, the more authority it has in search. That’s because it’s had time to accumulate quality content, internal links, and backlinks.

For these reasons, it’s important to use a custom domain name from the beginning. If you start on a free website builder like Weebly, WordPress.com, or Webnode, for example, then you’ll be assigned a subdomain — meaning, your URL might look like yoursite.weebly.com.

This is why you’ll want to register your own domain, so that you’re not using the assigned subdomain.

For your voice actor website, I recommend trying to purchase and register yourname.com, yournameVO.com or yournamevoice.com. If your real name is long and/or hard to spell or pronounce, you may consider using a simpler name for your VO business.

And when you set up your email, remember this business is built on relationships. Use your name as your main email address, something like paul@paulschmidtvoice.com. You can set up others, like info@yourdomain.com and whatever, but your main email address you use to work with clients should be your name. It keeps you transparent and relatable and your customers will know they’re dealing directly with you.

#3: A Pickups Policies Page

Setting clear expectations with clients as early as possible in the project goes a long way to providing clarity and avoiding negative surprises down the road. The fact is, despite everyone’s best efforts, projects get sideways sometimes and the more you can plan for that and set expectations before it happens, the smoother your client’s experience will be when it does happen.

A well-structured pickups policy page on a voiceover website offers benefits, both for you and for clients. Here are the key advantages:

• Clear Expectations: Clearly defining what constitutes a pickup ensures you both understand what is and isn't included in the initial quote.

• Professionalism: Having a dedicated policy page signals professionalism and shows that you’re experienced and organized in your operations and that you’re not running this thing with elves inside a tree.

• Avoids Misunderstandings: Clearly outlining when pickups are free and when they aren’t, like when the client gives you a script revision after you’ve recorded, helps prevent misunderstandings and disagreements down the road.

• Streamlines Process: By setting specific conditions and procedures for pickups, it streamlines the process, making it easier and more efficient for both parties.

• Protects the Artist: A well-defined policy helps to ensure that you aren’t taken advantage of. For instance, if a script change is made by the client after recording, the policy can state whether this would come at an additional cost, so that the client knows upfront.

• Builds Trust with Clients: By being upfront about pickups policies, clients are less likely to feel blindsided by unexpected costs or procedures and that transparency can help deepen trust and help build long-term relationships.

• Reduces Potential for Conflict: If a disagreement arises, both parties can refer to the pickups policy as a neutral point of reference. This can minimize disagreement.

• Efficiency in Communication: When a client knows the policy, they're more likely to provide comprehensive and clear information when requesting a pickup. This saves time and reduces back-and-forth communication.

• Consistency: Having a consistent policy ensures that everyone receives the same terms, which can help in maintaining fairness and equity.

• Branding and Image: Consistency, professionalism, and clarity in operations can bolster your brand image, making you even more attractive to potential clients.

Now if you want a good starter, go to my policies page at paulschmidtvoice.com/policies, steal the copy and adapt it for you own business and put it on your site. Please do not lift any other copy from my site. I know where you live and I will hunt you down and throw flaming bags of wombat poop on your porch.

I’ve also adapted NAVA’s AI rider and included the meat of that on my policies page as well.

#4: A Booking Calendar

When a prospect or client wants to meet, that’s most often a huge buying signal! The easier you can make it to schedule meetings, the more meetings you’ll get, and the more you’ll be able to convert prospects to clients.

So, make it crazy-easy for clients to book meetings at their convenience with you!

I use Hubspot because that’s my CRM, and Acuity Scheduling because it’s integrated with my website platform, Squarespace. It’s also better for recurring meetings than the Hubspot tool, which is free by the way, but you can use Calendly, SimplyBook or any other calendar automation software.

Look for a solution that integrates well with your existing calendar (Gmail, Outlook, etc).

Lastly, make sure there’s a call-to-action button on every page that asks users to Schedule a Call that takes them to that Meetings page.

#5: Pro Photography

The choice to put your face on your marketing is a personal one. There is no right or wrong here. For some it may humanize you and make you more approachable to potential buyers. For others, it may subject you to bias, racism, misogyny, or other forms of discrimination or hate.

Make your choice based on your personal comfort level and be grounded in the power of that choice. You own that choice, no one else.

If you choose to put your face on your marketing, invest in professional photography, and I don’t mean a stuffy, cheesy corporate headshot against a paper background, or even worse, a shot of you with headphones on next to a microphone. Nothing can be more cliché and you’ll look like every other talent that doesn’t put any thought into their shoot.

If at all possible, plan an outside shoot with your photographer. Go to the park, the woods, or get outside in your city. Is there an arts or historic district? Interesting architecture? Artsy graffiti? If you have a body of water nearby, can you use that?

Feel free to use settings that you’re interested in and/or spend a lot of time in. Your setting(s) can help visually differentiate you and give your site a unique look.

Let your photographer know that you’ll be using these shots in your marketing and that they should leave room in the frame so that you can superimpose graphics or copy or whatever next to you.

Now if you want even more strategies to up your voice over website game, get my Top 10 Website Strategies ebooklet free. Whether you DIY your site or are working with a designer, you can use these principles as your guideposts to a site that performs at least as good as it looks.

For more information on the VO Freedom Master Plan, VO Pro education community, or my Move Touch Inspire Newsletter for Voice Actors every Thursday, click those links.

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We’ll see ya again here soon. Thanks for watching and reading