VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

mythwoman · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:07 am Post subject: VO websites

Hello All,

For my demo I have a commercial track and this Friday I will record my animation track. Now I need a website to put them on. I have browsed through many websites belonging to members here and even spoke to a web designer this morning who specializes in Vo websites. One person I talked to suggested I use a static, html site while another said flash works better. I am not too picky when it comes to design.
Before I agree to anything I would appreciate hearing from some folks here about how they created their websites, what to do, what not to do, suggestions, recommendations, etc.

So please let me know! You guys are great!
Mary

Bruce · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:49 am Post subject:

I created my own from a program called Freeway Express which is meant solely for Macs. It has a low error probability beause you create a word type document in the program and then convert everything to a gif file, so the whole thing is a picture and not a bunch of HTML code.

That being said, I really ought to break down and pay someone to convert the whole thing to Flash and have them add a little better sense of design. Flash's biggest advantage is not the fancy dancing graphics (which can be a big turn-off to a producer in a hurry), but that audio files load and play very quickly compared to mp3's and other formats.

My four and half cents (inflation's a bugger, eh?).

Bruce
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dhouston67 · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:05 pm Post subject:

Great point from Bruce: Flash is terrific, but DON'T animate every page element just because you can. Keep. It. Simple.
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BenWils · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject:

I know that some of the flash players create issues with IE users....meaning they can't play your demo. I t depends on the person's IE settings I believe....I ain't no web expert....I just play one on TV.
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Ben

"To be really good at voiceover, you need to improve your footwork and hip snap."

dhouston67 · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject:

It seems that fewer and fewer sites offer the visitor an option of HTML vs. Flash, or "low-speed" vs. "high-speed". Probably because Flash is up and running on something like 95% of all PCs, probably also because it's more work to create two versions of a site.
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Do That Voice! - The DHV Blog

Dave · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:02 pm Post subject:

Mary,

I'm in the "keep it simple" camp. Seems to me a vo website should showcase audio...not a lot of flashing eye candy. Not to say that it shouldn't be visually pleasing but we're talking audio as the headliner focus.

Whether you choose to have a static (html) site or flash is really just a personal choice these days IMO. Anthony's website is a great example of a good, clean, visually interesting website (www.anthonyvo.com) that just begs you to listen.

It's very easy to spend waaaaay too much money on a website if you are hiring someone to do it for you and you don't know the right questions to ask/what is needed. Some folks will really try to take you for a ride. I'm in the process of re-designing one of my sites now as I just don't have the time to do it myself anymore (www.woodlandsradionetwork.com) and I've received quotes from $35,000 (no that's not a typo) to $1,800.

It is totally possible to do it yourself as Bruce mentioned (I've also used Freeway for Mac...its a snap to learn and I highly recommend it) so if you have a little time and a little creativity you can save yourself a load of money as I'm sure there are easy to use programs for PeeCees as well.

Dave
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. If at first you don't succeed, then bomb disposal probably isn't for you.

mythwoman · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:01 pm Post subject:

Hello all,

Thanks so much for the replies. The person I spoke with this morning offered a standard price of $1100 for a simple website whether it be html or flash. And yes I definitely want to keep things simple. But I don't own a MAC so I am unsure of how to go about creating my own website from scratch, especially since I wouldn't have a clue about where to begin.
And some of the VO websites I have visited (none here, but those I've found on Yahoo or Google) have pop-ups or advertisements which I cannot stand. So I don't want to go too cheap if those annoying signs come up everytime someone looks at the page.

Any more comments? Please, keep them coming, I don't want to make any mistakes (and yes I know thats part of the learning process).

Mary

Hart · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:50 pm Post subject:

Do you have a domain yet? If not, dig through the forums here. There have been many great hosts suggested. Check other people's sites, see what company they use too.

If you want to look at doing it yourself:

There are lots of website templates available out there in cyberspace you can use to get started. Many are free, many are not. Use google/yahoo/whatever and see how many results you get for "website template."

I selected a template from http://allwebcodesign.com/ when building my current site.

The nice thing about using a template is that with most you can use a program like Dreamweaver (which I like) or Frontpage but you can save the money and go "WYSIWYG" by using Windows notepad. That stands for "What You See Is What You Get." Many templates come with instructions on how to change stuff with a basic text editor like notepad. It's very straight forward once you get the hang of it.

There's other options too. Some hosts have "design wizards" that will help you set up a site online. But these are generally very basic.

Lots of free info out there available on HTML, Flash and stuff too. I'm pretty much self taught, and while my site isn't the snazziest around it's cost me very little to run it, not counting buying Dreamweaver. I didn't really need it, but I like using it so I indulged myself.
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Alan B · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:16 am Post subject:

I'm in the process of redesigning my site at the moment. Although I have a basic knowledge of HTML and have used Dreamweaver, I'm no graphic/flash designer.

I discovered this site:- http://www.hooverwebdesign.com a few days ago.
They have a selection of templates you can buy, plus a number of free ones too. Best of all, they have a free online site builder which creates a simple flash site for you step by step. You just enter your text, choose the colours you like and when you are satisfied with the result, it will email you a zip file of your newly created site.

You can tweak the results later in Notepad, Dreamweaver etc if you need to. I believe you have to leave a link to their site crediting them for design, but it seems fair enough for a free service.

Hope this helps.

anthonyVO · 14th Avenue Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 1470 Location: NYC

There's an actor out from LA who does websites for actors - his prices are REALLY low and some designs/packages allow for reels.

-Anthony

audio'connell · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:09 pm Post subject:

Now don't go gettin' a big head, Bruce, but in reality, your web site design is clean simple and professional, not barren or sparse. I remember thinking that when I first saw it when you completed it and its still true.

Simple is good, design can way over shadow purpose sometimes (and sometimes its a case of budget as well...templates are cheaper than custom made, for example). But when you are designing your site, Mary, focus on the purpose...get people to listen to your demos.

* But what about the logo?
--> Demos.

* But the color scheme?
--> DEMooooh's!

* But what about flash...
--> GOSH DARN IT, DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS!!!!!!!!!

* So just get the demos up then?
--> Well, email and, you know, phone number too.

bobsouer · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:04 pm Post subject: Depends on what you need

Mary,

Pardon me for just jumping here, being a new member and all, but here are a few quick thoughts for you.

I agree with Dave's point above, about simplicity. What do you want you site to do? Serve as a place to point people so they can hear your demos? Help people find you, who are searching for the kind of voice you offer, that is, advertise your services?

But, are you also going to need to deliver your voice-overs to clients? If so, make sure you have enough server space and bandwidth to accommodate those large (audio) files. A number of my clients want uncompressed (.WAV or .AIFF) files. And many others are happy with high bit-rate MP3. But, they add up pretty quickly, either way.

And it the case of delivering audio, you're going to need to be sure your site design provides you with a way regulate who has access to the audio, since at least some clients won't want their audio available to just anybody.

This is the main reason I've done my site in HTML rather than Flash. I bought a template design I like (from CoffeeCup.com) and used the CoffeeCup HTML editor as well as the light version of Photoshop to adapt the template for my purposes. This allows me to easily create a private download page for each of my clients, which they and only they receive; because being an HTML site, the creation of a custom page for each client is a matter of minutes at most. It nearly always takes less time than it takes to upload the audio to the server.

And the storage and bandwidth issues are handled with no problem by Powweb.com, where I get 20 GB of server space and 400 GB/month of transfer for less than $8/month. Of course, there are lots of hosting options, that's just the one I use.

Now, if all you want is a place to host your demos, then please ignore the latter part of these comments. I any case, please do post a link once your site is up and running. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Be well,
Bob Souer
704-560-2749 (phone)
866-740-9431 (fax)
rsouer@bobsouer.com (email)
http://bobsouer.com (site)
http://bobsouer.com/blog/ (blog)

Gary · Guest

bobsouer · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:45 am Post subject: Re: Depends on what you need

tackerman · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:51 am Post subject: