VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

AlannaOBrien · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:22 pm Post subject: Website Critique

Hi! How's everyone this fine rainy afternoon?

If you have the time, I'd love feedback on my website. If you have more time, I'm also open to critiques on my demos.

I say the website first because, funny enough, its only been 4 months since I've recorded these demos and already there's so much more I wish I could have done with them. But growing every day as an artist is a good thing! But even so, due to money I won't be able to re-record them for a while so I can digest any critiques ye have.

Also, for my new website update, I was thinking more yellows and oranges, since my voice as been described as 'sunny'. I went with blue because I didn't wanna scare anyone away with my perkiness. Thoughts?

http://www.AlannaOBrien.com

Thanks a million! I appreciate it all!
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www.AlannaOBrien.com

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:05 pm Post subject:

Your color scheme is good and the anime style character works with the video game and animation genre you're working in.

But I really dislike the Wix.com stuff all over it. It looks unprofessional and temporary. If you can pay to get rid of it, you should.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Jason Huggins · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 5:01 pm Post subject:

The site would not load on my iPad, and according to my analytics, about 30% of visitors to my website are on on a mobile device (either android or iOS).

Maybe you could have a mobile site developed, or have your site coded to accommodate mobile browsers.

***Edit***

It did finally load, but the default sizing is weird. A web guru could fix that rather easily.

I like the simplicity, colors, and ease of navigation.

Also, I agree about the wiz stuff. If you can't get rid of it (because of wix copyrights or something) a decent designer could probably make you something similar for relatively cheap.

Shiromi · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 5:26 pm Post subject:

Dang, I lost my reply, so this will be a bit shorter than my original post. I think it looks great. The anime character fits your voice. The site is simple and easy to view. I do agree that getting rid of the Wix ads would help a lot. Also, if you have the option of changing the colour on the contact form, that might be a good idea. It's super bright, even for someone like me who loves pink.

Hope this helps! Smile

AlannaOBrien · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:37 pm Post subject:

Hi everyone!

Thank you very much!

I'll look into the price of getting rid of the wix ads and see about making that pink on the contact page a little less bright.

I used html5 instead of flash in hopes that it would work on mobile and ipad devices. Thanks for letting me know that, tho it works, its not the greatest. I'll have to figure out a way to fix that - mobile and apple products are so popular and it would be terrible to miss out just because of a little sloppy web code.

Thanks again! I appreciate your time and feedback!
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www.AlannaOBrien.com

AlannaOBrien · Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 7:52 pm Post subject:

JoeActor · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:36 am Post subject:

Cute site - works well on a PC, but be sure it also looks and functions on Mac, mobile, tablets, etc.

I use "JW Player" on my sites. It's compatible with most browsers and platforms.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:42 am Post subject:

I understand the ongoing discussion about Wix and 'free sites' and I have my own site hosted on Wix, but paid an upcharge to make it less apparent that it's a 'free site'. I've had a LOT of people contact me after going to my site and hearing my demos and liking what they heard.

Yes, we want to be as professional as possible in every aspect of what we do, but IMO, a crappy looking site, or poor demos, on a PAID hosting platform does far more damage than a nice looking site (Like Alana's and - hopefully mine) with good demos on a 'free host'.

Perhaps I've lost a potential client or two because I'm on Wix, but if so, I've never heard about it. All I know is that those who HAVE found me via SEO and Google searches have simply said "I went to your site, and liked what I heard".
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

AlannaOBrien · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:10 am Post subject:

You bring up a good point, especially if you hide your wix url with your domain name. Wix does a great job with SEO and helping people find you.

I use godaddy for my domain since it came with a nifty email that forwards all my email to my actual gmail. Its secure and gives me an easy to remember email address. So to upgrade the wix account (and get rid of the ads), I would simply be paying to get rid of the ads, not any of the extra perks such as getting your own domain name.

That being said, I do think getting rid of the ads is a necessary investment. I'll just need to work a little harder so that I can afford it Wink

But when I can, I definitely agree. The ads have to go.
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www.AlannaOBrien.com

Bish · Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:43 am Post subject:

One word. Squarespace. Eight bucks a month and if you pay a year up-front, you get your own domain name. It's a great front-end with lots of templates and an easy content management system. Get a two week free trial for, er, free and play with it. I really like these guys. I need to upgrade mine to their latest and get the native domain name (rather than the re-direct I use now). Applying the (great) look and feel you have now should present no problem.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

Nathaniel Grauwelman · Joined: 13 Oct 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

I like it. It's clean and easy to use. I have a Mac and it looks fine. The only thing may be to drag your header up a bit. All the pages are short and if you drag it up a touch, you won't have the scroller on the side and that's always nice. Love the colors. They fit you.
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www.nathanielgrauwelman.com

Jason Huggins · Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 4:46 pm Post subject:

I'm right there with Bish. I had my site done, but I did look into Squarespace, and you can easily make the site what you like. Modifying is pretty simple too. You just have to learn their system (which is Uber easy).

AlannaOBrien · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:02 pm Post subject:

Thank you!

I'm definitely going to look into getting my own hosting type thing. I just have to figure out how to keep my personalized email- which is why I love rerouting via Godaddy. Hate the company and the service but love my alanna@alannaobrien.com email address.
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www.AlannaOBrien.com

Jason Huggins · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:36 pm Post subject:

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I just switched my domain (I never liked lanceblair.net) and went with webhostinghub as well. Good service. I redirect my mail through Google and also Outlook. I love the new Outlook/SkyDrive and it's easy to just email people secure links to their files when I'm doing short VOs or mp3s. 7G free storage, too. I tried Google Drive, but SkyDrive worked much better for me.

I think your site looks and works fine, Wix or no Wix, but eventually you'll want to get a lot of content (real words, sentences, paragraphs in text) on your site if you want to be found in searches.

Most of the top sites in VO searches either are there because they have high traffic and backlinks, or they look like they were designed by David Foster Wallace-meets-Herman Melville. Loadsa (well chosen) text! Wink

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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!