If you’re a voiceover actor with a website, (whether existing or under construction) you need to consider it first and foremost as the storefront for your business. It introduces you to buyers and explains the services you provide. It displays samples of your work and embodies your brand. You want your storefront to attract customers to stay and browse and get to know how you can solve their voice over needs, but in order to accomplish that, your storefront needs to be easy to find. A good SEO strategy can help. 

Three years ago, this was about all I knew about this three-lettered marketing tactic. And because of this lack of knowledge, had the unfortunate experience of being swindled by a company that claimed to provide good SEO services. Happily, I was able to unwind that contract and with help from Joe Davis, owner/founder of Web Stuff LLC (and owner of voiceactorwebsites.com). Since then I’ve had the pleasure of developing a great working relationship with him and in the process received a wonderful SEO education.  In a recent detailed conversation with Joe, I asked him about the best strategies for SEO for voice over actors. Here are my notes from that conversation:

Voice Over Website Size

A good place to start when considering what your website should look like is to consider your website’s size.  I’ve had voiceover students ask me if they need more than a one-page website – is it enough to have demos, maybe a headshot and contact information? Joe’s answer to this question is “it depends on the goal you have for your website”.  

If your goal is for your website to be an extension of your business card – a simple, easy place for you to send voice seekers to hear you and contact you, then a one-page website is fine. Make sure your demos are “above the fold” (meaning that a visitor does not need to scroll down to find them) and playable and downloadable, provide information about your services, and make sure people can get in contact with you.

If, however, your goal is a combination of direct marketing and organic search results, and you want to employ SEO to assist you in that goal, then the bigger the website, the better.  Some caveats to that – you still need to make sure your website is mobile friendly and loads quickly.  When you think “bigger”, think multiple pages and lots of text, rather than tons of video content hosted on your website and animated graphics that slow down page load times.

SEO As A Marketing Strategy

Because SEO is this “seeming amorphous thing”, as Joe calls it, it can be a bit daunting to non-SEO professionals to employ as a marketing strategy, but for a small business, Joe points out that over time it can be a long-lasting and cost-effective way to attract traffic to your website as opposed to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or paid social media advertising.  With PPC and ads, there is a cost associated with every customer gained that can sometimes be quite high.  With SEO, the results build over time and limit your cost exposure per client.

As in most things, it’s also never good to put all your eggs in one basket (strategy).  For example, Google shopping was, up until a few months into 2020, a paid platform for advertising products for sale, and many companies paid to take advantage of it.  Then Google decided to open up the listings and allow free listings as well, thus opening up that market and exposing those who had paid for listings to competitors who now get to list for free.  Those companies are now scrambling to implement SEO strategies.

A word of caution to voice actors who think they want SEO help but haven’t taken the time to get (at least) a cursory education in what it is.  Unfortunately, there are lots of unscrupulous entities out there happy to take your money and make you guarantees they cannot deliver on.  What happened to me was quite awful to unwind.  Joe’s advice is to keep in mind that no one can “guarantee” a quick and easy result.  The ultimate test of any SEO  – is your website improving in google ranking for the search terms you are targeting in a reasonable amount of time (1 week is not reasonable, 6 months is).

SEO Part One – On-Page SEO

There are 2 general “areas” of SEO – on-page and off-page and they’re basically what they sound like, things you can do on and off your website to improve your ranking.  On-page SEO is easier for a voice actor to implement themselves (if they are maintaining their own website).  

The main focus for on-page SEO is text.  While that may seem counterintuitive for a voice actor, the important element (as far as ranking in search engines is concerned), is text, not audio, video, or images.  Google ignores all non-text items, except for what is called their “alt tag” (basically the text name for the image/audio/video) so be sure to give them good, relevant names (or have your webmaster do it). Keep in mind that humans download audio from your site, so name them appropriately for easy recognition later and SEO (i.e. “Kim Handysides government eLearning demo.mp3” and not “govt-el-demo.mp3”).

When writing copy for your website, Joe says you have to “find a balance between what is good for Google and what is good for a voice seeker”.  What you write should include primary and secondary keywords, but also be informative and engaging for humans reading (you don’t want them to click away after 3 seconds on your page).  Use the keywords that you want to rank for strategically in your “h” tags (headers) and body copy.  Use primary keywords in your H1 tag (the header on your page) and then secondary keywords for H2, H3, etc. tags (the sub-headers for sections of your page).

The more relevant the keywords, the better.  For example, if you have a government eLearning demo and want to attract government eLearning jobs, “male government eLearning narration” will allow you to rank higher than a page that is simply “eLearning narration” or “eLearning”. Keywords should also appear in Title Tags and Page Descriptions (the two items that actually show up in the Google search results page).

I asked Joe how one might stand out in the crowd from the many voice actors who are seeing the trend to SEO and working to leverage it.  His advice is to work with an SEO professional if you’re going after really competitive search terms, but a good source of unique terms may be to ask your clients what search terms they use when they’re looking for talent.  You may find there’s a term you haven’t thought of that you can leverage to rank higher.  

The sweet spot for copy on your pages is about 800 words. Joe feels like 500 might be ok, depending on how competitive your keywords are and 300 is the absolute minimum you should start with as that is considered “thin”. But keep in mind that you can always add to your copy, so it’s ok to start thin and grow.  Links to other pages within your website can also help – for example if you have both a Corporate Narration page and an Explainer Video page, mentioning those services and linking to the respective pages is another good strategy (and organic way to increase the number of words on your page).

Finally, a great acronym for what Google wants to “see” in a website is “EAT” which stands for expertise, authoritativeness & trustworthiness.  The more relative your keywords and the more text on the page, the more Google thinks you are an expert with authority (more on that in a moment).  

SEO Part Two – Off-Page SEO

By far the most important element to competitive SEO is having relevant, contextual backlinks to your website from high domain authority websites.  Joe says to think of Google as part relevancy engine (keywords and related information) and popularity contest (who gets the attention).  When very popular sites that have a high authority score (lots of attention) link to your website, they share some of their score with you.  There are 2 levels of authority, both domain and page authority, but without getting too mired in math, they work on a logarithmic scale based on 100. Moving from 10 to 11 is easier than 11 to 12 and so on.  Most voice over websites have very low scores, so sites that can grow their authority score with these backlinks do very well.  This is also why working with a reputable SEO service (like Joe’s) can help because they often have developed relationships with publications and other sites with authority and can help you get featured or mentioned.

Other Strategies To Consider For Your Voice Over Website

No matter your ultimate decision of whether to have a one-page extension of your business card website or to expand to multiple genre pages with SEO-focused copywriting and internal and external links, there are some other strategies you could employ that can help both your search ranking and your appeal to voice seekers.

• Include Testimonials from clients
• Mention your studio specs and connectivity options.  If you have Source Connect, is it Pro, Standard, or SC Now? Do you also have Skype and Zoom available? Can you connect with ISDN? (Tip: If you have Source Connect Pro or Standard, you have the ability to connect with ISDN for a small fee)
• Client Logos (appropriately alt tagged with relevant keywords)
• Contact Information and Form
• Privacy Policy – to be GDPR Compliant in the European Union, you need to tell users what you’re doing with the data your website collects (and it most likely collects some, even if you’re not specifically gathering it for a newsletter, etc).  A Privacy Policy also contributes to the trustworthiness of the EAT factor I mentioned earlier

In coaching voice over artists, I often address the business aspects of voiceover in addition to vocal performance. Breaking in can be difficult, so I like to help people identify a (perhaps) previously unrecognized market niche to explore, to solidify their brand in the VO landscape and isolate a great roadmap to drive their business forward. Finding your niche and building it into your brand will drive the success of your voice over career.

A mistake many people who get into voice over make is not approaching the work with a business mindset.  Often the attractiveness of getting to be “the voice of” some new product, video game or animation is what got them on the VO bus, but they often haven’t fully grasped what is needed to actually drive it down the street. Let alone keep in on the road year after year.

Ignoring the Business of Voice Over Is Hazardous Terrain

To be successful in voice over, you have to recognize you are a solo-preneur, responsible not only for the product you produce (the voice over performance), but every aspect of your one-person shop. Ignoring the business of voice over is hazardous on the road to making a living in this industry.

You are your voice over business. You are responsible for the nuts & bolts of running your biz (equipment, website, invoicing, ingoing/outgoing, systems for CRM, bookkeeping, taxes, etc), crafting and launching all marketing campaigns, maintaining all client relationships, seeking out multiple revenue streams to even out the steep peaks and valleys that come with being a contract worker in a creative field.  You need to be able to step back as the CEO of You, Voice Over Actor Inc. and look at the broader business landscape to figure out if there is a niche you can explore to keep your business fresh and top of mind to buyers. You need to make sure your brand is one that easily comes to mind when someone is shopping for voice over. You also need to regularly check in with your mindset, remembering why you came to this industry in the first place and if you’re still on track.

Interests and Background Can Lead To A Voice Over Niche

Finding the right niche markets can make or break any business. But how do you know where to find them? Look to your background or interests beyond voice over. These non-voice over interests can lead you to finding a new niche to explore for VO. 

Disruptive Advertising likens a niche to a high school clique.  If Voice Over is the school, then think of niche markets as the areas on campus where different groups hang out. The jocks might be at the gym (radio imaging anyone?), while the theater kids might be out in the courtyard singing show tunes (audiobooks, for sure).  Me, I’m a science nerd. So my preferred niche markets are medical elearning and air and space narration. And these are niche areas to which I actively market. I also speak French (no, not good enough to work in it – I speak it with an English accent – but) good enough for anything peppered with French words.  

Speed Ahead of the Pack With A Brand For Your Voice Over Business

Brands are important. They act as a type of shortcut for buyers.  Think cars – I say Bently, Ford or Tesla and before you’re done hearing the name, you know what kind of car I’m talking about. Like with cars, you can speed ahead of the pack with a brand for your voice over business.  But people new to the concept of brand generally stumble trying to figure out what theirs might be. 

Your brand is the aspect of your business (and yourself) that you choose to reveal and promote to your clients. It is your competitive advantage, your value proposition, how you stand out in your industry. Deciding on what you want to highlight and how you want to present it, however,  takes a little digging. Details that come out in my brand include my long experience (a full-time voice over artist since 1991), my vocal and acting range (commercials to TV narrations to elearning & tons of stuff in between), and the fact that my work has won dozens of awards. But it’s more than that. It’s also your reputation and the feeling people get when they work with you.  

The Key Driver to Succeeding Like A Voice Over BOSS

Ok, so you’ve found some niche markets you’ll be perfect for and you understand your brand enough to know what to highlight, what steps are next? There are many moving parts in any entrepreneurial venture, but I find that another key driver to succeeding like a voice over BOSS actually has two parts – set goals and then get organized to work toward them. How? Try my trick: 

1) identify the goal, 

2) list the barriers to accomplishing your goal, 

3) break down the barriers into manageable steps, and voila! 

4) you’ve just created your ToDo list for managing your business. 

There are many resources you can use to find tools for setting and achieving goals – blogs like The Hartford Small Biz Ahead have great advice and often so do the business sections of your local newspapers.

Most online companies, including voice over artist small business owners, market wide and ignore borders. But there may be an opportunity that is ripe for harvest in your backyard that many of us overlook. Businesses that are already remote can still keep pumping out product and services during the COVID crisis. How do you make sure you’re one of them? Go local.

I got a call from my local agent yesterday at 5:55 p.m. asking about my availability to voice a spot tomorrow at a downtown studio. This rush ad is a government commercial about coronavirus. The Hail Mary call made me stop and think about my local community. How could I help local businesses? Specifically, what I can do as a great voice over talent with her own professional studio to help keep some of the local commercial and narration business flowing during a trying time.

Call Local Production Houses and Ad Agencies and Other Suppliers

I have a great relationship with many of the local production houses and ad agencies in my town, having worked at them all for over twenty years and being one of my city’s top go-to commercial voice over artists. Many of the higher tier ad agencies in Montreal, like in Toronto, LA, Chicago and New York haven’t yet adopted the recording remote mentality and I wondered about my friend-colleagues and how the COVID scare and isolation recommendations would impact their livelihoods.

So, I called a few yesterday to find out how everything is going. Most were anxious. Many ad agencies were postponing campaigns. With staff to support, kids to feed, mortgages to pay and a slow-down in revenue coming in, my heart went out to them. I also had an idea.

An Opportunity for Voice Over Actors to Help

Growth is one thing many small businesses struggle with. Lately as my production studio gets busier and busier it has been more difficult justifying leaving my studio to go downtown, battle traffic, find parking, and wait for hours for client approval in someone else’s studio, when I could save all that time and pour it back into other work that has landed in my supply chain. Could this be an opportunity to help these local businesses comfortably move into the online world?

While on those calls to local production houses, I reminded them that I have Source Connect and a state-of-the-art broadcast quality production facility in my own home.  So, for any of their clients who might want to use their services and record remotely this would work. Further, the prod houses could assure the ad agency reps that they and the clients could also work from their homes. To many of us voice over artists who have been successfully working remotely for years, this seems obvious. But to people who are used to working the traditional way, it may not be apparent. My contacts were very happy and thankful for the reminder. I also recommended other local voice over colleagues who have Source Connect in their home studios. Now my production house contacts have a variety of accessible talent to offer their clients. I took this further and drafted and sent an email to all my local ad agency contacts.

Win-win.

Local Voice Over Opportunity with Google My Business

While we’re here, I want to share another local voice over marketing tactic I’ve had recent success with. Have you filled out your Google My Business form? I did ages ago, but then didn’t put much effort into it because I figured it’s primarily for businesses that cater to local consumers. I know my local contacts. We have established relationships and I reach out to them directly. Plus, my home studio business is largely with clients outside of Montreal. However, one or two of my local clients have recently begun to hire me in my studio, so I figured, OK, let me put a little attention into Google My Business.

Helping Builds Trust and Nurtures Relationships

I refined and filled out my form more. I asked for reviews from a few clients. Less than a month later, local inquiries for voice work went from nil to a few a week. Not all of these led to bookings. But some did. And a couple of these were nice and big. The inquiries are still rolling in. Not to put too much of a fine point on it, being available and helpful to your local community during this time may be an opportunity to grow your local voice over market share. Helping, especially during difficult times builds trust and nurtures relationships.

We don’t know where this whole thing is going. Hopefully, COVID will be contained, whether through isolation, flattening the curve or a vaccine. Throughout it all, staying informed, staying positive and staying in touch (remotely) are good strategies. I wish good health for you and your loved ones.