Surprise!
No more brown, blue and green.
Gone are the windmills in the background.
Good old Double Dutch had to make way for the new Nethervoice. It might take some time to get used to, but believe me: it was inevitable. Let me tell you why.
If you have your own domain, do you know how many visitors come to your website in a day or a week; how they found your site; what they were looking at during their visit and for how long they stayed before going somewhere else?
If you don’t, you are in trouble. It’s like owning a store and having no idea how many customers come in and what they’re interested in. You cannot manage what you don’t measure.
As I was going over the Google Analytics stats for nethervoice.com, I had an epiphany. It turned out that in the last six months over 50% of my visitors had used a mobile device to access my website.
With millions and millions of tablets and smart phones sold, that was not exactly a revelation. My epiphany came when I realized that my site was never designed with mobile devices in mind.
DRIVING BUSINESS AWAY
Nethervoice.com looked okay on a 20″ monitor, but on an iPhone it was dreadful. Important information was cut off, buttons had disappeared and it was very user-unfriendly. No wonder my bounce rate was way too high.
Unknowingly and unintentionally, I was driving most of my visitors (= potential clients) away!
Now, do you know what your site looks like on an iPad or an Android?
Would you like to know?
Why don’t you visit this site right now and type your url into the test field. You can select “width only” or “device sizes” to find out what others see when they look at your website using a mobile device. If you’re on a desktop, make sure you enlarge the screen all the way to the right to reveal the iPad Landscape setting.
In my case the conclusion was crystal-clear: I would have to build a new site from the ground up. These were my criteria:
- It had to be mobile responsive to allow my site to automatically change layouts according to the visitor’s screen size, whether on a desktop, smartphone or tablet
- I wanted to maintain it myself
- It had to have a sleek, professional look
- It had to represent who I am and what I stand for
- I wanted to open an online store and make my demos downloadable
My content management system (CMS) of choice would be WordPress. Because my old Double Dutch blog was WordPress-based, I already knew how easy it was to create pages with little or no knowledge of html code. If you’ve never worked with WordPress, here’s what you should know.
The look and functionality of a WordPress site is determined by a template called a theme. Right now there are thousands of themes available, but not all of them are mobile responsive. Most themes can be customized to your suit your needs and reflect your style.
Some templates are specifically designed for bloggers, photographers, restaurants, bands et cetera. Many themes are free, but premium themes cost anywhere between $35 and $100.
The theme you’re looking at right now is called ProMotion. Try changing the screen size manually and see what happens. You’ll notice that the layout changes but that the content remains visible.
EASY DOES IT
The functionality of a theme can be enhanced by plugins and widgets. For instance, the Subscribe box in the upper right-hand corner of this blog and the list of Popular Posts are both plugins. Once installed, they can simply be dragged and dropped to the sidebar as a widget. No programming experience necessary. Because this is open source software, you can choose from a database of more than 18,000 plugins!
The WordPress platform itself, as well as the themes and plugins, are regularly updated. When an update becomes available, it can usually be installed by clicking a button. It’s that easy. If you’ve ever worked with a more traditional CMS, this is like going from a stick shift to an automatic. And since I’m not a computer geek, I prefer automatic.
ENTER THE EXPERT
I do know my limitations, and to make sure the transition would be smooth, I asked Joe Davis to give me a hand. Joe knows WordPress inside out, and he recently helped Dan Lenard, the Home Studio Master, with his new site. It was particularly important to me that my entire archive of blog posts would migrate seamlessly.
Before my new site went “live,” Joe uploaded the theme to his server and put the main building blocks in place. That way I could see what the site would look like as we worked on the individual pages. It’s almost like writing a book: you go through several drafts before coming out with a finished product.
I asked Joe about the biggest hurdle he had to overcome in this migration project. This is what he said:
When working with someone like you Paul, who has such a good understanding of what a website can do and brings out that functionality with plugins, it can be a challenge to make sure they all play nice with each other. The more plugins you have, the greater the risk of a conflict between some of them.
You work a lot with the WordPress content management system. What are the advantages of WordPress as opposed to the more traditional CMS systems?
This may come as a surprise to some of your readers but although WordPress started out as a blogging system, it has turned into the world’s most popular CMS. WordPress is a very fast, easy to use, robust framework to build a site in. With the enormous list of plugins available you can add almost any functionality you are looking for. The way themes are handled by WordPress also provides lots of flexibility for the creative folks among us.
With WordPress, web design seems to have become a lot simpler. But not everything is as easy as it seems. What are some of the things you recommend people get help with?
It depends on what the goal of the website is, but generally I would say the areas that people need the most help with are theme/layout design if they are creating a new design and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). On site SEO can be the difference between a great website that nobody sees and a great website that needs a new welcome mat because so many people have stopped by.
What basic mistakes do you see when you visit websites?
Everyone wants their website to be attractive but it is also important to remember why people are on your site. They are looking for something and that should be as painless an experience as possible. Many times I see websites that have huge beautiful headers with lots of pretty graphics. The problem is users have to scroll in order to see the content and must do so on every page. To add that extra step in order to get to the meat and potatoes, on a platform like the Internet where people decide if they are going to stay or leave within seconds, is not a gamble I’m willing to take. Other common mistakes include poor usability, content disorganization and lack of SEO.
Your main job has to do with SEO. Any tips for the uninitiated to improve their SEO?
There is so much you can do, but you will be ahead of most if you remember these life basics that apply just as much online.
If you are interesting, people will come talk to you! Content, content, content! If you don’t have good content, the search engines won’t give you much attention and humans won’t either.
Speak their language! What does someone do with a magazine they pick up that is in another language? Usually nothing because they can’t understand it (or maybe just look at the pretty pictures) but either way the text is lost. Often people will put important keywords that they want to rank well for… in an image. This is a big mistake. Be very careful what you put in graphics. Search engines can’t read anything that’s in an image and will ignore it.
You are associated with who you pal around with! Relevant inbound links are critical. Regarding linking up: Pretend you are looking for a date. Make sure that person is from nice folks with similar interests. If you are a voice actor don’t have your buddy with the real estate company link to you unless the page he links from has content directly related to your field. A link from an audio production house will have a much better result.
Where can people best reach you?
Well, let’s practice a little SEO here. Please visit us for more information about Voice Over Websites and Marketing. See what we did there? We created a relevant inbound link with relevant anchor text to a special page I created solely devoted to voice over that opens in a new window. And you linked to a relevant page which is good for your site. Everyone wins!
Meanwhile, why don’t you do some site-seeing and let me know what you think of the New Nethervoice. Your feedback is much anticipated and appreciated!
Paul Strikwerda ©nethervoice
We could all use more clients, but where to find them? Next up, I’ll offers you a counterintuitive strategy: stay under the radar!
How timely, as I am just getting ready to revamp my website and was considering using WordPress.
I’m liking the look of the new site and it’s jam packed with great information. May it bring you much new business!
All the best.
You were the first one to comment, Elaine. Thank you so much!
I haven’t heard about hosting companies having trouble accommodating WordPress. They’d lose a lot of business if that were true.
Oh, I almost forgot. When I spoke to someone about using WordPress, he mentioned that not all hosting sites can easily accommodate WordPress web sites. Have you heard anything about this?
Hi Paul, and welcome Nethervoice! Thanks for posting the link to test my site on different devices. I have some work to do!
The folks at studiopress did us a great service by developing that site. It’s simply staggering how many tablets are sold every day. Did computer stores turn into pharmacies?
Hey Paul. Great looking site! Clean and simple to navigate. Congratulations! He question though – you say there’s a box to subscribe in the top right corner but I don’t see it on my iPad. Did I miss it or does it not show on this device?
Hi Paul!
I love the new site. I’m reading your blog and looking at your site from my iPad as we speak. It works very well. I have a question: I literally Just had mt website designed, http://www.VoiceOverGenie.com. It isn’t 100% mobile ready but also has avoided flash of all kinds to help the mobile experience. Are there any small things I can do to help mobile users without rebuilding my entire site?
Thank you for your insights! I am new to the V.O word and soaking up as much information as I can. I really appreciate the ones who have gone before and share their knowledge with those following in their footsteps, what a great industry.
It would be backward not to pay it forward, Bryan. I’m still learning each and every day. Knowledge that is not passed on and put into practice is useless.
Mic Port Pro is the greatest invention since sliced bread!
It’s a nifty little thing, isn’t it?
But it doesn’t taste as good with peanut butter.
Thanks for the feedback, Andrew. Your iPad is probably on Portrait. Try setting it on Landscape and the Subscribe box should show up. Let me know if this works.
You were right Payl. That column shows up in Landscape mode but not in Portrait mode. Yep, it’s an amazing little gadget.
Someone posted a comment about not all hosting providers supporting WordPress. In fact WP is the most supported of he CMS’s and is included as an option in almost all control panel auto installers (Fantastico etc. ). It can be installed on Windows or Linux environments (the latter being preferred) as long as MySQL and PHP and a web server is present.
My other comment is that as you alluded to earlier WP doesn’t have to look like a blog any more, rather it can support a sophisticated website that appears to be a custom designed CMS. I’ve designed many such sites, WP is a very powerful framework and I cannot recommend it more highly.
That’s good to know, Andrew. You had me a bit worried for a while. Thanks to you, I’ve added the instruction to put the iPad on Landscape to this article. According to Wikipedia, WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet’s “top 1 million” websites and as of August 2011 manages 22% of all new websites.
It is true however, that the sidebar disappears on smaller screens. Well, that’s a small price to pay.
You’ve done it again – made us think!!!!
Let me think about that for a moment.
Joe Davis is the man when it comes to your website. I knew he would give Paul exactly what he wanted! The results speak for themselves!
Mazel Tov Paul!
I can’t thank you enough for recommending Joe to me, Dan. One night he even stayed up till 2:30 a.m. to migrate my site. I could not have done this without him. And did I mention he explains programming-related concepts in language even I can understand?
The value of Nethervoice has always been the content, not the look. But now the look is as good as the content. Well done, Paul.
Right now, I am very content with the look, Billy.
Hartelijk gefeliciteerd, Paul!
Hartelijk bedankt, James. I appreciate the touch of Dutch!
As always I love your way with words and your practical view of the world of voice-over. You must be a master at “time management” to be able to do all that you do.
Time is something all of us have got the same amount of. It’s how we choose to use it that matters. I honestly enjoy writing and connecting with my readers. It’s a continuing conversation. Thanks for being part of it, Jerry!
hi, Paul! Q.:if i’m subscribed via feedblitz and regularily get your latest, do i have to re-subscribe to The New Nethervoice? Kindest regards from The Eternal City. Edwin.
No need to resubscribe, Edwin. You’re good to go!
I’m really loving the new look, Paul! Nicely done! And I love the picture of you on the front page with the tulips. 😀 It gives the site – which is wonderfully efficient and clean – a bit more personality. I hope the new site brings you much business. 🙂 Oh – recently inherited an iPad2 from my dad, who upgraded to the newest iPad. I’ve been playing around with Twisted Wave and putting all my music on to Goodreader in PDF form. What a time saver! And so much easier to carry around for music performances than a huge binder. 😉 So being able to check that my site works on an iPad was priceless. Thanks for the studiopress link! All the best, — Jodi
Joe D. was a terrific help, Jodi. He made sure I didn’t lose my entire archive of blog posts (among other things). In a few years from now, we’ll all be carrying our tablets, and a website that isn’t mobile responsive will be ignored. Enjoy your new toy!
Great Job Paul !!-Always a Wealth of info…
Thank you, Mike. If I would make a buck for every time someone clicked on my site, I’d be a wealthy man.
I too Paul, love the new look. Like Elaine, I’ve been mulling a revamp of my site and either using WordPress or doing it myself from scratch in DreamWeaver.
…I think I’m leaning more towards WordPress now… 🙂 Keep up the great work!
-Mike
http://www.woothemes.com gives you the opportunity to try a theme out for free for 14 days. It’s a great way to see if you like it better than DreamWeaver.
After reading today’s blog, I had to check out your new site on my iPhone. It looks great & is so easy to navigate! I appreciate all the information you’ve shared about website design. It’s given me much to think about as I work on developing my own site. Keep up the great work Paul!
Thanks for checking, John. I’m one of the few people on this planet who does not have a smartphone. I’m so glad to hear that navigation is easy. Are you using WordPress for your new site?
Well done, Paul! The new site is sleek and I appreciate you for sharing so much valuable info! I am not seeing a “subscribe” field when viewing with my android phone. it doesn’t matter if its in landscape or portrait mode.
Thanks for the feedback, Don. The sidebar disappears when using a smaller screen. After I read your comment, I added a link to the article itself which will take you to a subscription page.
I’ve added a subscription link to the bulk of the post. That should do it.
I love the simplicity of your new website. I see how how your creative juices were to put work on getting more subscribers; overall great job! Thanks for always sharing great information to the VO World!
You’re so welcome, Faith. It’s amazing how much time it takes to keep things simple. It’s complicated 🙂 Since most people won’t get passed the landing page, I had to make sure my main message would come across. Right now I am very pleased to see that the average visitor spends 4 minutes and 30 seconds on my site.
Looks great, Paul! I admit I Miss the old header – but the new site definitely looks cleaner and sharper.
Once I complete my studio renovation (hopefully next month), I plan to begin a blog and have been considering using WordPress – not only because of its flexibility, but because I’ve heard from SEO experts that it does a better job of getting noticed by search engines (something to do with the way the text and content is structred).
Thanks as always for the insight – and best wishes for continued success, my friend!
Hey there Paul –
very nice and clean presentation. And THANK YOU for the reminder to update the way my site deals with mobile visitors! That’s been on my to-do list for too-darn long.
Always appreciate your sense of presentation and high quality presentation, whether in the studio or on the web. Thanks again!
nicely done, paul & joe. mobile compatibility is the next big challenge i face on my own website. seeing what you’ve done may help my own site builder meet that goal this summer. have been a regular reader, but consider me subscribed. thank you.
“LUV” your new look, feels like you just changed the sheets to your bed, now waiting for the “fresh linen” scented spray mist! (sniff, sniff!) Congrats!
You are my inspiration Paul!
Great post, Paul. Getting people to the site is only part of the battle. Good advice! The new site is great: clean and simple. And the Micport Pro is on my list, too!
Doug
…insight, innovation and a fresh, new look! Another grand slam,Paul…
love it – great clean look, indeed!
I learned WordPress from a great place – wpacademy.tv – and while my VO website was done by the fab Artists Upgrade folks, the website for my book was designed in WordPress by me – benbehindhisvoices.com if you want to check it out. Always tweaking. congrats, Paul!
Thanks, Paul for your generosity in sharing your views and opinions about this unique industry we are involved in.
Since joining the Taji’s Voice Over Casting group on Linkedin, I have enjoyed your comments, but this is even better; keep ‘em coming, Paul. _ Bob _
Technology surely has revolutionized how we do business in the 21st century. It’s all about the winds of change, just like your new website ( minus the wind mills).
All the best
Bob
Thank you so much for all your posts/blogs. I have so much to learn and you really are helping! Thank you!
I recently redid my site for similar reasons. Less clutter. More mobile friendly.
Good job. The new site looks great!
Nice redesign. I especially liked the “See your website on different displays” link. I hope things continue to go well for you.
Clean, sleek, contemporary, functional. I give the new site five stars. Congrats on a beautiful design, Paul!
Congratulations on the new site Paul – looking wonderful Paul – professional, sleek and unique – and still with your own personal stamp on it.
Hope it is a huge success.
H
That’s the thing, Helen: we both know that having a nice window is not enough to run a profitable shop.
People need to come in, stay a while, buy a few items, tell their friends about it and come back for more. If that’s not happening, a pretty facade is not going to make a career. At the end of the day, a sleek site is just a means to an end.
Most solopreneurs realize that it does take time for a business to take off. Like a sapling, it needs constant attention. Success is hardly ever an overnight thing.
While I’ll miss the windmills too, the content will continue to be A+. Congratulations on the new design. I look forward to being able to read while out and about!
The windmills are in my mind, Scott, and they keep on spinning. Let’s see which way the wind will blow next Thursday…
Excellent website, and a great source of information !!!
Hi Paul, thanks for your kind comments. Form follows function, and I hope this site is as functional as it can get.
Howdy pal!
You done did spiff up the place real purdy like.
I know the stress of that kind of refresh so congrats on the successful execution.
Best always,
— Peter
As the guy who invented the guillotine said: “It’s all about the execution.”
Thanks, Peter. Have fun at voice 2012!
Mazel Tov!!!
You always rock the house, Paul!
Debbie
My wife’s my rock and my soft place. I’m sure she’s glad I will have something else to talk about, other than the progress I was making on the site.
But seriously, this process was exciting because it forced me to rethink what was essential and what wasn’t. I let go of a lot of info that was posted on my old site. Now I am studying the stats on Google Analytics to see if this new strategy is working.
Hi Paul!
I love the new site. Your timing is impeccable. I am starting to put together a new site for VO, and Video Production. I have been reading as many blogs as possible on the subject, and as I’m sure you can attest to, it’s not always easy to find quality content.
Thank you once again for throwing out some great info, and saving us some valuable time on research.
Best,
Lee
Glad I could help, Lee. I’m so glad I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel because Joe Davis already knew how to put things in place. He saved me so much time and frustration.
Good luck with your news site. Will you be using WordPress?
Good stuff, Paul – but now the secret is out! haha! I have a web designer for our construction biz (romaniconstruction.com) and when I talked to him about my VO site and sent him links to sites I like, he informed me that they were all using outdated flash technology and could not be seen on a mobile device! So I’ve been aware of this for a while. Still working on all the components, but hope to have tamiromani.com live sometime this summer.
Have a great weekend!
~ Tami ~
The outdated flash technology seems to be a problem for free site-building sites like WIX too. All flash-based websites are practically dead to Google, Apple devices and screen readers. Flash doesn’t scale to screen size!
Without a doubt! I have been fiddling around with DreamWeaver CS6 far too long. I was first tempted to use WordPress after reading a friends blog (Marko Saric), but you just clinched the deal with this post.
Thanks again,
Lee
My pleasure, Lee. As Randye Kaye pointed out, http://www.wpacademy.tv offers courses and tutorials. You’ll find a lot of good stuff on YouTube too. Of course I highly recommend the service of Joe Davis. He has been invaluable to me.
I’ve never been a fan of Flash animation, anyway, only because I feel it gets in the way of what I’m trying to do – showcase my voice. Bells & whistles are nice, but I feel that by using Flash on my webside, I’m padding my resume. As I mention on my own website: “fancy Flash animation won’t help you hear my voice, and expensive graphics don’t make me sound any better.” I prefer to keep things clean & straightforward!
It was on my mind when I thought of what I wanted the top of my landing page to look like. It’s not flash but there’s movement and it takes up premium space. So far nobody has voiced any objections and I like making a big statement right off the bat. Besides, it disappears on smaller screens.
Hey Paul,
congrats on your new website 🙂 It looks just great!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us… and now this beautiful MIC PORT PRO! I’m so excited until wednesday!
Lots of suce$$ in your new phase 🙂
Best,
Linda
Thank you very much, Linda. I am so glad you like the new look.
Great site, Paul! Looking forward to the updates…
Hi Chris, thanks for stopping by. Have a great holiday weekend.
Paul,
The site looks great! Congrats on the update. One might miss the color, but if it updates faster and works across the various platforms, that’s the tradeoff. That goes right along with the shortening “gnat like” attention spans of some readers who won’t wait for the flash to load.
The allure of the Mic Port Pro is a good “here kitty kitty” drawing card as well.
All my best,
Rick
Hello Rick! Surprisingly, the interest in the MicPort Pro is underwhelming. Next time I’ll have to give away a Neumann U87 to get a few more subscribers…
Hi Paul:
Your site really highlights your experience and knowledge in a cutting edge way. Well done.
Question, since I am trying to follow directions to win…: )
What are the steps I can do to get into more markets? I am a seasoned pro, but stink at marketing!
Thanks,
Nancy
That’s a short question requiring a long answer, Nancy. The good news is that I believe that voiceover marketing is not much different from any other form of small business marketing. It’s just a different niche. The bad news is that not everyone approaches voiceovers as a business. That’s a shame because there are tons of business books and trainings out there to help entrepreneurs market their services.
I strongly believe that learning from the best in our business and other businesses prevents us from having to reinvent the wheel. Find a few role models and start by looking at what they do to market what they have to offer. If it works for them, it might work for you!
Nice redesign Paul. I’ve been using WordPress for years. great plugins for mobile, and so simple. Plus, you’re offering prizes! Count me in!
Connsider yourself counted, Jack! Thank you so much for subscribing to my blog.
Hi Paul,
You’re looking quite dapper in this new suit. May it continue to “suit” your needs for a long time to come.
Glad to be a dapper Dutchman, Reuven. Thanks for your good wishes!
Thanks Paul, for another exceptional post. I am just starting with wordpress for my voice over website and new blog, and am thrilled with the results. Some tweaking left to be done, but I am happy to see you have had so much success with it.
Keep up the great posts my friend!
~Lisa
I will, Lisa. Please let me know when your site is up and running!
Hi Paul,
I’m casting my vote for NetherVoice 2.0, though I do wish that my computer would not lag so much when navigating the site.
Also, I appreciate your articles regarding the Voice-Over/Voice-Acting industry. It’s good reading and good knowledge to have and build a base upon. Thanks!
I’m glad you like the new look of the Nethervoice site, Bruce. Most people have told me it loads faster than the old one. I have a DSL-connection and it seems to be fine. Could it have to do with your computer, or do you think it has to do with WordPress?