FIX THESE 3 ACTOR WEBSITE ISSUES RIGHT NOW
So you’re an actor and you have a website as one of your marketing tools, yay! But do you know if your actor website is actually making a difference in your acting career? As a marketing consultant, I get asked a TON of questions about websites for actors and the truth is, many actors are underutilizing their websites when they could be getting so much more out of them!
I know a lot of you are probably thinking, yeah that sounds great but I know NOTHING about websites and I can’t afford to hire someone to make mine great. Don’t worry! While having website design skills definitely helps, I promise you that as long as you have a working computer and good Wifi, you can absolutely take steps to improve your website and make it work for your career. In fact, I believe so much in this idea that I literally designed an entire module on it in my new online course, Marketing for Creatives 101!
tips for creating your actor website
Today we’re going to cover 3 major actor website issues and how to fix them. So here’s the scoop! All three of these website tips revolve around pretty simple concepts and false assumptions we tend to make about our websites. Once you shift your perspective, it’s a LOT easier to know what steps you need to take to improve. So let’s dive in
Weak personal Branding
A lot of actors mistakenly think that they have to keep their “actor life” separate from the rest of their life. When it comes to actor websites, this belief often results in really weak branding on their website! Sometimes I’ll see actors even purchase and build multiple websites because they are so committed to this idea of segmenting out each area of their lives. But here’s the thing, guys! The world WANTS to see and learn about the full scope of who you are!
The rise of reality TV and the 24/7 access to social media has made the world expect to get a more vulnerable and personal look at who you are and what you do - and that includes representation, casting, and production execs. Long gone are the days when the world wanted actors and celebrities to be shrouded in mystery. These days, the more transparent an actor is, the more the public wants to eat it up. With that understanding in mind, you absolutely can keep your brand on ONE website.
This is especially true if you have multiple skills within the industry like writing, directing, animation, hosting, dance, singing, makeup artistry, etc. The only reason you should have multiple websites is if you have an entirely separate business venture that has nothing to do with you personally (such as a cheese packaging company in Nova Scotia…that can be separate). If you’re smart about designing your actor website, showcasing the full scope of your personal brand can result in a seamless look, less stress and money for you to spend, and actually make your website stronger.
Slow website Loading Speed
Ever clicked on a website and it took a million years for the pages to load on your screen? That’s because the site speed was slow. Most actor websites have a ton of files and media. That’s great! As film and TV actors, we work in a visual medium so it makes sense that we need to showcase many photos and videos outlining what we do. However, this can lead to some issues with your website if your media isn’t loaded into your actor website properly.
There are several reasons for a slow site speed, but one of the biggest reasons it happens for actors is due to those oversized files. A quick and easy trick to avoid this issue is to run your images through a file minimizing tool before adding them to your website. This fixes the problem for you, without compromising the integrity of your media. For videos, always opt to share an embed link from Youtube or Vimeo rather than loading up the video directly into your website.
Not sure if your website speed is too slow? You can (and should) regularly check the status of your site speed with a free tool called Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
Not Enough Content on your actor website
And finally, this is by far the BIGGEST bad actor website habit I see. Many actors end up using their websites simply as a portfolio of their work and nothing else. It might look nice, chic, and trendy but there are very few layers of pages on it, and not much content besides reels, headshots, resumes, and links to videos.
Here’s the thing, guys, if you just want a digital portfolio for your work, we have Actor’s Access and IMDB for that. They’re already up there and casting directors, agents, and other power players in the entertainment industry already know to go there for that information. There’s no need to create a personal actor website JUST to house your acting materials. You should add more content in addition to those items.
Because the savvy actor secret is this...a trendy website might look pretty, but if there’s not a lot of content, Google won’t identify it as a strong website and it won’t get traffic. So that trendy website probably won’t be seen very much. For a little more detail, Google has “crawlers” that periodically analyze the content, quality, and strength of your website. They tend to give you a better “score” if you have more quality content on your website than if you have a very bare-looking one.
What does this look like? Write more! There are plenty of opportunities on your About Me page, a regularly updated Blog, pages with information about your special skills and other ventures you’re also pursuing and so on. Bottom line is, more quality content is better, people!
P.S. THERE ARE THREE WAYS I CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR ACTING CAREER RIGHT NOW:
1. Join The Social Media Script program!
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3. Download my FREE Instagram Guide for Actors:
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