Websites For Actors...Will They Help You Book Jobs?

00:00:

Hi, this is Amy Jo Berman with your quick acting/audition tip of the day. Today's tip is an answer to this very popular question, "Do I need a website? Really? As an actor, do I really, really, really, really need a website?" Well, I'm going to give you an answer today. It might surprise you a little bit. If you're sitting there going, "Oh, I don't need to watch this tip. It's about websites. I'm not going to bother with that," I think you should bother because there's some information here that you need before you just decide blatantly not to get a website, and for those of you who actually know that you might want to have a website, you're going to want to pay attention to this tip. So that's what today's tip is about. Let's go get the tip.

00:55:

Okay, here we are today talking about websites. Do you really need one? Do you need, need, need, need, need a website? No. You don't need one. I mean, let's face it. A website isn't going to make or break your acting career. However, you know, I don't want you to just dismiss them out of hand. Do you need a website? No. Should you have a website? Absofreakinlutely. Let me explain why.

01:19:

Okay, a website in and of itself is not going to get you a job. It's not going to get you to the red carpet. "Oh, I have a website. Here I am on the red carpet." No, but neither is any other single marketing tool in your arsenal. A head shot by itself isn't going to get you to the red carpet. A demo reel by itself, no, and all these other things that you do to market yourself. However, here's why you need one, because, now you're probably aware of this. People click on stuff, on Google or on Facebook or on Twitter. People just click links all the time, and people are actually clicking your stuff whether you know it or not, and I'm going to prove it to you right now.

01:57:

Think about this for a second. Think about the last time you went on Facebook say, right? Didn't you click on stuff? You watched somebody's video, you clicked on somebody's link. You didn't necessarily leave a comment. You didn't necessarily like it or do anything, but you kind of clicked and watched, right? Well, guess what? People in the industry who can employ you, producers, directors, casting directors, whatever, they're people too, and they click stuff, right, and so when they click on your stuff, don't you want it to be something that you can control so that you can control what they experience when they're clicking your stuff, because think about it this way.

02:33:

If you, for example, posted your IMDB link, not that it's a bad thing, right, to have an IMDB link, everybody should be on it, but if you use that as your hub and you post your IMDB link, click on it. When you're done with this video, go click on it, and look at what you see. You see your face and a few little words about you, and then all around the edge, there's advertisements and all kinds of other distractions. Sometimes there's videos going on. It's crazy, and you know what that is? That is stuff for people to be distracted away from looking at your stuff and to go clicking on other things. That is not the experience you want people to have when they're click, click, clicking around your stuff.

03:12:

You want them to click on your website link and go where you want them to go, and see what you want them to see in the order you want them to see it, so that they can take in the branded message you've carefully crafted on your website, and by the way, if you haven't done that, that's a whole other video and we can talk about that, but your branding and your message and how you want people to think of you is the experience that they're going to have when you control it by creating a website that has your stuff on it. Do you see the power in that? It's so different than sending them off to here and there where they're going to see all kinds of other distracting things.

03:53:

So, do you need a website? No, you're not going to die without one. Should you have a website? Yes, you really should. That's my opinion as a casting director and as an industry professional and as a social media consultant, and as somebody who understands how to move people through an experience, and as somebody who's advised hundreds and hundreds of actors who have gotten a lot of clicks on their stuff from power players in the industry by using the strategies I teach. I can tell you that having a website is a fabulous tool to have in your arsenal.

04:27:

So if you found this tip helpful, go ahead and give me a thumbs up on YouTube, give me a plus one, retweet me, whatever feels good, but please leave me a comment. I would really love to hear from you, and for more great tips right to your inbox, definitely get on my private mailing list at amyjoberman.com, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.