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voice talent

Top 10 Voiceover Blogs to Follow – David Tyler

blogs

Learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is a great way to learn more and stay abreast of what works and what doesn’t. I regularly check out blogs of some of the cream of the crop in our industry. Now anyone can talk can blog, but not everyone creates insightful content worthy of my (or your) time. Earlier this year,  I began my Top Ten Voiceover Blogs to Follow list and released interviews with people on the list.

Released in alphabetical order, we’ve so far heard from J Michael Collins, Dave Courvoisier, Bill DeWees, Anne Ganguzza, Debbie Grattan, Paul Strikwerda, Laura Schreiber and Marc Scott. Next on my list is David Tyler. The voice of CTV, thousands of commercials and a voiceover artist I’ve had the pleasure of knowing well for most of our voiceover careers, David is personable and extremely bright. He thinks outside the box and this comes through not only in his insightful blogs, but in his coaching, in the stories he tells and the connections with people he makes.

 

Voice Over Artist David Tyler

 

David Tyler voice over
Voiceover Artist David Tyler

David, why do you blog about voice over?

 

I blog at davidtyler.com first, to help my clients do their jobs better and second, to help prospects get to know, like and trust me. I rarely post about voice over on my blog, instead I focus on finding ways to help people who might hire me as a voice talent. My blog is called “The Art of Communicating Ideas” and is geared toward the needs and interests of my clients. They don’t want to learn about voice over but want to know for example how to properly setup speakers in their editing/mixing suite so I write about that.

 

Do you have a theme to your blogs or do you wait for inspiration to strike?

Generally, I wait until inspiration hits or when I discover something or read an interesting article that I can credibly add my own spin that will help achieve my goal of getting readers to know, like and trust me. My client base are TV and radio broadcasters, commercial producers, copywriters, eLearning producers and video content creators, so I’m always looking for things that will interest them and/or help them do their jobs better.

 

What are your favorite kinds of blogs to write about?

I don’t think I have a particular favourite except that every post is geared toward better communication. My core marketing message is helping companies communicate ideas. Anything that falls into that theme is my favourite.

 

What kinds of blogs have you noticed get the most attention or feedback?

In my case blogs that have a “how to…” or teaching theme seem to get the most interest. My blog post “The 5 Truths About Commercial Copy Writing” is a good example of the teaching aspect of what I blog about. For my clients who work in radio and for my small business owner clients this is a post that continues to get hits, and it was written in 2015! You should aim to create posts that can withstand the test of time.

 

Do you have anything else you’d like us to know about your blog in particular or your (philosophy and) approach to the industry?

To be honest, my clients have jobs to do and finding & booking a voice talent is the least of their worries. Write blog posts that 1) help them do their jobs, and 2) build trust with them. If you do that they will hire you and more importantly keep coming back.

Before I create any content (blog post, social post or video) I look through my rotating ‘Be8′ list to decide on my angle: Be Useful, Be Generous, Be Entertaining, Be Timely, Be Human, Be Promotional, Be Controversial, Be Engaging. Pick one of these 8 things on a rotating, regular basis and you’ll be on your way to building connection with your audience.

 

Do you have any fav VO bloggers to recommend?

…aside from KimHandysidesVoiceOver.com ??? 😉 My favourite VO blogger is Nethervoice. Paul is the greatest! Love those shoes…

Filed Under: blogs Tagged With: commercial producers, communicate ideas, copywriters, radio broadcasters, storytelling, video content creators, voice over actor, voice over artist, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover blog, voiceover bloggers, voiceover talent

Top Ten Voice Over Blogs – Debbie Grattan

blogs

There are a lot of balls to juggle in running your own business as a voice over artist. Staying on top of industry trends and learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is one of those spheres. I regularly check out blogs (and podcasts & vlogs) of some of the cream of the crop in our industry. Now anyone can talk can blog, but not everyone creates insightful content worthy of my (or your time). Earlier this year,  I began my To Ten Voice Over Blogs to Follow list and released interviews with people on the list.

Released in alphabetical order, we’ve so far heard from J Michael Collins, Dave Courvoisier, Bill DeWees and Anne Ganguzza. As well as following our next blogger for some time, I recently had the pleasure of working with Debbie Grattan on a national commercial, and as well as being inspired with her talent and skill set was impressed with her kindness and professionalism on set. Without further ado, here is number five from my list of the top ten voice over blogs to follow.

Voice Over Artist Debbie Grattan

voiceover industry artist
Voiceover Artist Debbie Grattan

Debbie, why do you blog about voice over?

SEO is the primary we reason we have a blog. But sharing information and writing articles that show my level of experience, professionalism and knowledge also helps in general marketing. Whether it’s sharing articles on social media or among my clients in an email newsletter, having content to put out is a big advantage when you’re trying to get peoples’ attention and have them check out your demos.

 

Do you have a theme to your blogs?

We have a couple main categories that are voice over related. Posts are written either for an audience of other voice over talent, or for an audience of people who hire voice over talent. Generally, we prefer to write content that appeals to the latter group, since that is what will most likely generate business. We also like to write about challenges we face and observations we make as small business owners and entrepreneurs. Much of our success in this business comes from maintaining a clear, consistent state of mind, a positive attitude when facing adversity and the ability to improvise when necessary. So we like to write about those topics as well.

 

Do you plan it out or wait for inspiration to strike?

We do a little of both… We have a planned number of blog posts we intend to publish per month, and we do what we have to do to stay on that schedule. Sometimes we want to highlight a certain topic, for example a specific genre of voice over, and we will write a series of articles on that topic.  Other times we just go with whatever topic idea we like, and find ways to skew it in the direction of voice over.

 

What are your favorite kinds of blogs to write about?

My husband and business partner worked for many years as a personal coach and he often contributes ideas that go in the direction of personal development, success strategies and just noticing what works and what doesn’t. So we like those types of articles, however, the most important topics to cover are those that appeal to the audience of voice talent seekers.

 

What kinds of blogs have you noticed get the most attention or feedback?

The post that has the most number of comments by far, is a post that my husband initially proposed about annoying speech patterns. Just type in “annoying speech patterns” in google and you should see it at the top of the list. He had been listening to NPR while driving the kids to school in the mornings and was on a rant about how these supposedly professional radio people used some very annoying speech patterns. So, that post started as a rant basically, and we seem to have tapped into something judging by how many people read and comment on the post still to this day.

We’ve also seen a lot of traffic on posts that address “male versus female voice talent.” And another hot one at the time it was written was a post on “Is your website mobile friendly?” That got huge traffic back when Google was updating their algorithms to favor sites that were compatible with smartphones. That is an even more important topic now that Google is using the compatibility metric in search results to an even greater extent.

 

Do you have anything else you’d like us to know about your blog in particular?

I recommend anyone who wants to get into voice over or improve as a voice over talent, do a lot of reading of blogs written by successful, experienced voice talent. There is a lot of wisdom out there. But keep in mind that everyone’s path is different and what works for one person may not work for the next person. I am not a voice over coach, yet I get contacted several times per week by people looking for guidance on how to be a voice talent. I always refer them to my blog and then suggest they look for reputable coaches and/or do some workshops. I’ve tried to put my “secrets of success” into my writing, so it’s all there for people to read. But, obviously, just reading it won’t make it happen. It takes consistent right action applied over a very long time period.

 

Filed Under: blogs Tagged With: blog topics, female voice over, NPR, seo, small business, voice over blogger, voice talent, voice talent seeker, voiceover, voiceover blog, voiceover talent

Top Ten Voice Over Blogs – Number 3 Bill DeWees

Voiceover Business

Source: Unofficial Royalty

It’s the second instalment of my list of the Top Ten voice over blogs to follow. For insight and advice into the voice over industry there are a few bloggers who dominate. Yesterday we revealed the first (as in alphabetically first) two awesome bloggers. Today we have two more out of the ten.

Following great voice over bloggers, people who’ve been around the industry for years (this top ten list has a collective 200+ years of experience and wisdom) is an easy way to learn what to do and what not to do to make it as a voice artist.

I reached out to my favs. People I follow and consider among the best. I asked them all the same questions and am posting their responses this. We’ve heard from J. Michael Collins and Dave Courvoisier. Today it’s Bill DeWees. Who will it be tomorrow?

 

Voice Over Artist Bill DeWees

voice over artist Bill DeWees
Voice Over Artist Bill DeWees

I first came across Bill DeWees via his book How to Start and Build a  Six Figure Voice Over Career. Though Bill left blogging years ago for vlogging instead, I find his posts helpful, especially a few years ago during my transition from a voice over veteran confined to external studios within my city to a the owner of a full-fledged remote home studio and seeing my voice over career expand internationally.

 

Bill, why do you blog about voice over?

Someone suggested to me (about 9 or 10 years ago) that I should record a YouTube video regarding how I build my VO business.  I had never vlogged before, but i gave it a shot and got a great response.  I’ve now recorded about 500 videos for my YT channel and have over 30,000 subscribers.

 

Do you have a theme to your blogs or do you wait for inspiration to strike?

My themes are typically taken from questions/comments that I receive via e-mail.  After I posted my first video, people began e-mailing questions to me which has created a never ending source of content.  I have over 200 VO students and I often use their questions as well (not to mention my own personal experiences in the “day to day” of VO work).

 

What are your favorite kinds of blogs to write about?

I tend to enjoy content that focuses more on the mental/psychological aspect of being a talent and running your own business.  Motivation, inspiration and even the psychology of VO performance.  Most people tend to think their success lies in their “gear” or their “chops.”  Their issues typically exist in the gray matter between their ears!

 

What kinds of blogs have you noticed get the most attention or feedback?

Even though VO equipment is not a critically important topic, people LOVE to hear and talk about equipment.  My most watched YT video is a coaching session that recorded in which I worked with a guy with “announcer syndrome.”  I think it really resonated because of the battle we can all have in being/sounding like ourselves, as opposed to what we think others want us to sound like.

 

Do you have anything (else) you’d like us to know about your blog in particular or your (philosophy and) approach to the industry?

I’m definitely a “non-traditionalist” when it comes to VO.  I come from a business background.  My focus is on what works in BUSINESS.  The laws of marketing in business apply to VO as much as they do in any other type of business.  The notion of success as a “great” voice and having an agent is an old and outdated notion.  When people begin to realize this and start to treat VO as a business, frustration turns into progress.

 

 

There we go. Number three from my Top Ten list of voice over bloggers. Another professional chock full of insight into the voice over business.

Filed Under: Voiceover Business Tagged With: actor, coaching, home studio, voice actor, voice over, voice over artist, voice over bloggers, voice over brand, voice over career, voice over industry, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover business

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