As a performing artist, it’s imperative to have your own website. It becomes your calling card on the information superhighway and a place where future employers and fans can come back to check out you and your talents on a regular basis. Whether you design it yourself or get someone to do it for you, here are eight must-haves to make sure your website is ready for its big debut:

Starting From Scratch? Click Here To Learn How To Setup, Build And Launch Your Personal Actor Website

1. Headshot

Have your gorgeous face glistening on your homepage, since it’s the first thing onlookers should see. Make sure it looks like you and is welcoming — first impressions are everything. Let this photo wow your viewers and inspire them to peek through the rest of what you have to offer.

For example, Paul Thomas Ryan’s headshot on his homepage immediately showcases a website that says, “Hi!” to anyone who comes to take a look.

2. Resume

Your work represents what you’ve already done while giving an indication to the artistic creative member glancing at your site whether you are the talent for them. It’s fine to upload a hard copy as a jpg or PDF or just type it into the web program itself. Just make sure your resume is clear, concise and professionally formatted.

Kelly Reader gives us a fabulous example.

3. Contact Information

Your website does you no good if no one can reach out to you after they look at it. Make sure you have a direct email listed, preferably one you check regularly. Don’t put your personal phone number on your website, since you don’t want any strangers having your digits. Anyone who wants to contact you for work will reach out via email if they need to get in touch.

Also, remember to use an email that includes your name so everyone knows who is emailing them when it pops in their inbox. For example, someone named Joe Smith would want to use “[email protected]” versus “[email protected].”

Dana Aber did something a bit different than email that also works perfectly. Give visitors the option to fill out a form to contact you if you don’t want to give your email out for the whole world to see.

4. Examples of Your Talents

Show off your talents by including performance videos, MP3s and anything else that demonstrates your performing talents and can get you hired. You never know who may be watching and who might want to hire you after watching them.

Dana K. Brown makes an amazing use of her video page with videos showcasing her performance work and specialty skills.

5. Bio

Let viewers know who you are by including a bio that tells people about yourself and shows off some of your personality and accolades. Think of this place as a way to give personal insight into you and your talents that may not be obvious through your resume. Don’t feel the need to write a long bio — short and sweet works just as well, especially when you’re just starting out.

Emy Holden’s bio certainly gives enough information to know she is a professional, while offering some insider information about where she came from.

6. News

Make sure your viewers know all your latest goings-on by creating a news feed or news page. Keep it up-to-date, since you never know who may be looking and who may want to venture out to see you in your latest show.  Make sure each post contains all the information about your latest venture, such as where to purchase tickets, show times, location and any links to other applicable sites.

Carmen Vass has her newsfeed on her homepage, with the fabulous announcement that she has joined the Broadway national tour of “The Phantom Of The Opera.”

7. Extras

If you’ve got it, flaunt it! If you’ve been in the business for a while, you are bound to have positive reviews, accolades, an agent/manager, production photos, union membership and more. These all should be added to your website in an organized fashion. You can create separate pages for most of the above, then add your union status onto your homepage and your agent/manager onto your contact information page. Your website is always a work in progress, so expect to continue to add to it as you pursue your life in the business.

A website by yours truly (Kimberly Faye Greenberg) shows my interesting artistic entrepreneurial endeavors and accolades to ensure people see them right away.

8. Design With Your Personality in Mind

When people visit your website, it should be a reflection of you while still remaining professional, clean and well-organized. This could mean you choose style of fonts, colors or even using graphics that give more insight into your personality and talents. Feel free to have some fun with it!

Bethany Kay has a great branding statement that shows exactly who she is. With a fun and welcoming introduction and design, the website really showcases her sassy personality.

Do you have a performer website? Any tips for how to make it go from good to great? Share your stories with us in the comment below…

TOOLS:

For website hosting, we recommend Bluehost 

For Domains, we recommend Godaddy

For Web Platform we recommend WordPress which is available as a package with Bluehost