Imagine This

You are in your car (or walking to the subway) and you suddenly get a call from a casting director. They are interested in submitting you for an upcoming project, musical, or company but need to forward your headshot & resume to the director within the next 30 minutes. You're not at your computer, so you cannot email your materials to them. And you're nowhere near their office, so you cannot just drop by with a physical copy of your headshot/resume. What can you do?

Imagine this: You are networking at an event (like the Tribeca Film Festival) and you have met so many people that you have handed out your last copy of your reel. You run into an agent who has seen you on stage, but comments that he would like to see your some of pieces you have done. He asks if you have a reel to give him. Sadly, you don't, and it will be at least a week until you can get more duplicates made. What now?

If you are a business-minded artist, you would have a website and neither case would have been a problem! You could simply tell the casting director, "Drop by my website, where you can download a copy of my headshot and resume, both formatted for printing." And for the agent, you would be able to say, "Here's my website. Not only do I have my reel posted, but I also have clips from a few of the other projects I have done, including some singing and a few commercials."

Having a website is one of the most important promotional tools an preforming artist can have, second only to a good headshot. A website allows you to provide interested parties with a more full look at your body of work, your personality, and the way you run your business. And it allows them to do it in their own time, at their pace and leisure, which is vitally important in the larger, more competitive markets. The easier you can make it for a CD/agent to get to know you, the better chance you have of making an impact with them.

Now, some preforming artists have "pages" created on industry websites, such as Actors Access, Backstage, Now Casting or IMDB. While these are sufficient for communicating basic information, it is very difficult to allow your personality to come through with these sites. Your website, much like your headshot, is a calling card. After all, their templates are the same for every actor! A website is a reflection of your identity, and the more personalized you can make it, the better off you will be. If you do opt for this, at the very least you should purchase a domain name (www. yourname .com) and link/forward it to your free page. That way, when someone types in your web address, they will automatically be forwarded to whatever website you choose. Some companies charge a nominal fee for forwarding, while others include it with the domain purchase.

A website is a reflection of your identity, and the more personalized you can make it, the better off you will be. That all being said, having a website can be relatively inexpensive if you do your research. One word of advice- before you sign up for ANY service be sure to get all of the costs laid out UP FRONT. At StageLeftMarketing.com We do not believe in hidden fees. With our web design services you will not pay any extra for the amount of videos, pictures, audio files, and content changes you want, you are the boss! StageLeftMarketing.com wants to give you all the tools and recourses you need to help you shine and succeed in your artistic field!

Let StageLeftMarketing.com handle the technical end of your images web presence so you can concentrate on your auditions!