The days are gone when a photo and résumé were the only marketing tools an actor needed. Today, your website is home base for all of your marketing materials: your headshot, résumé, reel, media, and social media accounts. A professional looking actor website tells the world you're serious about your career!
Here are the 10 things your actor website needs to have:
1. Your professional name in a very prominent place. It might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many times it’s super hard to find!
2. Union affiliations. If you’re in a union (or if you’re union-eligible) give your union affiliations prime real estate near your name.
3. Photos of you. Choose a photo to headline your site and use it on all of your social media platforms. Consistency across platforms helps your brand recognition. You can include a few other headshots on the site, but just a few. You don’t need to put your entire proof sheet on your website. Production stills are OK, too. All of the shots you choose should represent what you’re most castable as right now.
4. A killer “about me” page. This is where you can really set yourself apart from other actors and tell us your story! Remember your “about me” page is more about them than it is you. When they visit your site they’re wondering if they’ll like you and your work. Your goal is to make a connection with them and help them believe in what you’re doing. Write in first person. It’s personal and makes them feel like you’re talking to them.
5. A third-person bio. In addition to your first-person page, it helps to have a third-person bio for press releases, interviews, etc. This is a more traditional bio in PDF format that can be easily downloaded.
6. Your properly formatted, updated résumé. Make sure there’s a PDF version for easy downloading.
7. Media. Embed your reel or performance clips on your site so people can see you in action. Don’t put all of your performance clips on your site. Choose wisely. Pick the strongest performances that represent what you’re castable as right now.
8. Contact info. If you have an agent or manager include their contact information. Make sure people have a way to contact you, too! A simple contact form is a good way to do it. Also remember, anyone can visit your website, so don’t put a home address or personal phone number on your site.
9. Career updates (blog). A blog is a great way to update fans about projects you’re working on. Include behind the scene photos, production stills, or even video clips! You can also talk about industry events, classes you attend, and books you’re reading.
10. Social media links. Include links to all of your social media accounts. Even better, add subscribe, like, and follow buttons. These help you build relationships with people who visit your site.
Bonus tip: Add a mailing list to capture the email addresses of your fans and industry contacts so you can let them know when you have important career updates to announce! There are lots of choices for setting up a mailing list. MailChimp has a free option for up to 2,000 addresses.
Now that you know what your actor website needs, learn five free ways to use social media to drive people to your actor website:
Like this advice? Check out more from our Backstage Experts!
The views expressed in this article are solely that of the individual(s) providing them,
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
