In Good Company…
Sometimes you are blessed with knowing the right people, and knowing Joe Davis and Karin Barth is a blessing indeed! While I am fortunate to have worked with them for years on my website and SEO, I am doubly blessed to call them dear friends and amongst my favorite people in the world. When I have important decisions to make about my business, I trust them not just because of their superior expertise, but because they are truly mensch (someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character) in every sense of the word. I have shared holidays and dinners out with them, they have been to my home and know my family, I share personal details of my private life with them, so when I tell you that I trust their guidance for websites… I mean that I fully and completely trust what they have to offer.
So this past Friday, even with just returning from Dallas and the Jewish holidays to boot, Karin Barth made time to speak with me and Diana Birdsall on our weekly Clubhouse “Ask the VO Coaches” about all that we could jam in related to websites and SEO. We had some great participation and all were dazzled by Karin’s brilliant insights. In case you missed it, here is a brief recap of some highlights.
Why Websites Are So Important
Karin put it simply: You want to get your voice heard, your demos heard, and people to hire you. I always tell me coaching students your website is your virtual storefront. She did not use those words but that is how I think of it, and your business really does not exist if your website is not up and no one can find you. A regular to our Clubhouse room, Vijayan, offered that people know that you value yourself and your work once you have a website. He also said that prior to his website, he had an issue with transparency in his country. There was always a middle man. Once he had a website, he was able to interact with clients directly and could negotiate on his own. It was so refreshing to hear his reflections, as I had my own website before my business launched, and I had never considered this issue.
What Voice Actors Need to Start
Karin said in order to begin you need to have had some coaching and completed a professional demo. As a voice over coach and video demo producer, I cannot tell you how happy this made me to hear. She shared an anecdote about a woman who wanted to do a website and had no demos. This lady thought she could just record some stuff on her phone. Karin said in this scenario they advise folks new to voiceover to instead invest in coaching and then revisit a website down the road.
We then asked Karin if voice actors come to them with a Wix or Square space page if they can work that. The answer is yes, but there is an advantage to having a Word Press page. Since June, Google has changed its core web vitals. Word press makes it easier to comply.
Diana then asked Karin if we should be regularly changing our videos for our SEO. I was fascinated because while I typically add new videos, I tend not to delete old ones as I am really proud of the work I have done and get attached to my content. It never occurred to me to swap it out. I also like the idea, personally, of amassing a large body of work. Anyway, Karin explained that the idea is to train the google bots to come to the site. You want to continually add more relevant content so that your site continues to rank.
Features All Voice Actors Should Have
I of course found this interesting:
- Demos: They should be downloadable, not just playable. Karin also mentioned you should be mindful of how you name them. For instance, don’t just label it “commercial demo” because a casting agent could be very confused if they download it and it does not have your name.
- Bio: There are a few important details that Karin mentioned. First, be sure to have unique, original content and not to use the same bio on Linked In, your website, and other places! Next, while folks are often excited to share their backstory, Karin suggests starting with where you are now. What service do you provide? What are your selling points?
- Contact Form: I will tell you I have changed mine over the years but they do an awesome job setting this up for you and Karin also sets up “recaptcha” so you don’t get spam.
- Testimonials: This is so important to help build your trust factor
- Client List or Client Logos: Again, this helps with your street cred.
- Videos: We chatted about how people like to take in information in different ways, and offering video to people who do video production just makes a lot of sense!
Insights From Google Analytics
We also spent a little bit of time talking about Google Analytics and what you can learn from them. Your bounce rate is how long someone stays on your site, and Karin explains you can actually look to see the behavior flow and try to see if there are trends in where they drop off. This can give you an idea if you need to add a different call to action. Basically, the longer they are on the site the better. I found this fascinating.
Final Thoughts…
Those of us who work with Karin and Joe know we are lucky. They know their stuff and there is a reason so many of us turn to them.
As I said before, there were elements of my previous branding that I loved. I loved a lot of the pink. I did not love the contrast between the pink and the black. Instead of the bubbles I had before, we whose to do something that combined my favorite flowers and leopard print. Again, I wanted this to have some edge to it, while retaining some warmth.
As a voice over artist, I have the privilege of voicing projects for the brands we know, love, and use in our daily lives! While every single job is exciting, when a brand name that my family uses all the time, like Dove or Gap or Kind Bar, books me I am ecstatic because those brand names have such huge brand recognition. Why, then, does it matter if I, as a voiceover actor, have a brand associated with my name? What I learned as soon as I began my VO journey years ago is that I am not just voicing projects for these brands. Instead, I myself am also a small business owner and need to create and maintain a brand that my clients can identify with and connect to in order to understand the service that I provide. Branding is essential to success in voiceover.
Now let’s enter the folks at 
As a working mom, when I heard that there was a voice over conference with a focus on “the business of the business” right here at home in NYC, I did not hesitate to sign up, especially when I learned that Carin Gilfrey and Jamie Muffett were running it! From the start, VOcation was extremely well conceived. There is something so special about a conference run by voice actors for voice actors. It goes beyond the over all vibe. From the little details like having talents sign up to announce the speakers, to the clever swag they gave away, this dynamic duo thought of everything.
Any solopreneur can tell you that marketing is essential to maintaining client relationships and growth, and the VOcation team sure had this in mind when they planned key sessions as well. I very much enjoyed Tracy Lindley, Joe Davis, Brad Newman, and Tom Dheere. I have heard Tracy, a LinkedIn expert, speak at other conferences too. To her credit, she always speaks about something different. This time she focussed on strategies for effective messaging. I hung on her every word and ate it up: it’s as if she knew just what I needed and was talking to me! Thank you, Tracy! Joe Davis of voice actor websites spoke about best ways to optimize your website for SEO. Joe’s team has been doing my website since 2015, so I enjoyed getting the most up to date tips from him. Like Tracy, Joe exudes a passion and genuine eagerness to help others, which makes him a true joy to be in the same room with. Good choice again, Carin and Jamie! I confess that I did not get to attend Brad’s break out session but to plan to attend at WoVoCon. I have the slides and they are incredible. Brad is super smart and I trust his business instinct any day of the week. He has been doing my hosting for years and I can’t wait to hear him speak. Last but certainly not least, was Tom Dheere. I was so excited to meet Tom and learn from him. I have a few industry friends who have been coached by Tom. I see why they all like working with him. Tom’s organized approach to Direct marketing would teach any new talent how to build a strong foundation. The marketing components of the conference were great!
Lastly, I have heard from friends who were not at the conference that they had friends who complained about the venue and the picnic lunches. My response is that they need awareness about NYC. There will never be a shuttle in NYC. It is not that kind of city. I heard someone complained it was near the subway. In New York, it is a luxury to be near the subway, so having the venue directly across from the express subway line was very, very smart of Carin and Jamie. Further, space and food are extremely costly in New York. Options for talent were either to go out to eat on their own as I did or the provided lunch. There is always a choice, you just have to understand your options. For those who are not local, perhaps a better approach might be to reach out to one of us in advance next time, I’d be happy to go out for lunch and go shopping:)
