website review please (site for actors)

[ablative]

I'd very much appreciate any reviews or comments on our site.

The site offers casting calls and professional help for actors based in Europe. We want to avoid the garish "Hollywood Star" approach and are looking at something more professional. But user-friendly of course. We're aiming at working actors rather than wannabes.

We already have a very large membership across Europe. The site is in English but we're adding other languages (Italian is up, but not yet complete). Although we have all ages and genders, our most active demographic is female - 25-35 followed by male 25-35.

Many thanks!

 

[simon field]

Basic grammar - sentences should begin with a capital letter.

 

[Paul Carmen]

It would help if we understood the user journey a bit more, as to me the home page is not very compelling. You have lots of information; e.g. news, actors already signed but the homepage shows none of it.

In the UK many of these sites show the amount of jobs, or search functionality initially. I get that may be behind a login, but the look and feel of the homepage would be more likely to get me to sign up, with key info, recent successes and casting available highlighted.

The sign up and login are key pieces of functionality, you should make more of them.

I have to view many different pages to find info out what's going on, plus some of these open in new windows, some don't, I ended up with 5 tabs open from a quick 5 minute browse.

 

[ablative]

Good points, Paul. Thanks. Putting the number of jobs & actors on the fp would be more encouraging to actors I think to get them to sign up.

 

[fisicx]

Show me the jobs. I will then decide if it’s worth joining.

Because everything is hidden behind a login I don’t even know the sort of work you offer. For all we know it could be a honey pot for the adult film industry.

 

[The Byre]

Show me the jobs. I will then decide if it’s worth joining.
Because everything is hidden behind a login I don’t even know the sort of work you offer. For all we know it could be a honey pot for the adult film industry.

Jobs are called castings! They're all there under castings.

OK, so the gigs are a bit low-rent and I suppose that is inevitable, as established actors have agents with links to casting directors and others within the film and theatre industries. TBH, if I were to be looking for an actor in for example Berlin, I would phone some people I know in Berlin - the film industry is a small scene and people just know one another!

But for the low-rent gigs, it is a really good website!

Also, you are fighting a bit of an uphill battle as the film and TV scenes in Europe are so hopelessly scattered and of course, right now, every propper feature film is locked down with the main centres for film in Rome, Berlin, Munich, London and Paris pretty much dark and the provinces not fairing much better!

As for the website - so far, so good.

BUT

I could not find and link to who you are (Impressum) and that is a legal requirement and is usually in the T&C and/or the 'Contact us' page.

 

[fisicx]

People use their phones. On a phone you can't see the menu so you can't see the 'castings' link. All I see are the three boxes and these all take me to a login/register page.

The homepage should be the 'castings' page. And it needs to be properly responsive. It looks pants on a phone.

Why the horrible formatting eg:

POLAND: actors (m), 40-65, Polish spkrs, for film in Warsaw [P]

A bit of work with CSS and the CPT structure and this could be so much more enticing.

But look at a casting page on your phone. It's quite horrible.

 

[The Byre]

I just simulated a phone-screen.

OUCH!

It's REALLY bad! In fact, it's bloody hopeless!

I was looking at it on a 4K calibrated movie monitor - there it was OK, but on a smartphone, it sucks horribly! I can well imagine that hard-pressed actors looking for somewhere to post their bios and looking at their phones between rehearsals are put off by that and try somewhere else!

 

[fisicx]

This is why I always tell people to build their sites for phones first then look at it on a desktop

 

[ablative]

I could not find and link to who you are (Impressum) and that is a legal requirement and is usually in the T&C and/or the 'Contact us' page.

Thanks - it's in the T&C but buried a little so we could make that a little more obvious.

 

[ablative]

On a phone you can't see the menu so you can't see the 'castings' link.

Good point; we need to look at this.

Why the horrible formatting eg:
POLAND: actors (m), 40-65, Polish spkrs, for film in Warsaw [P].

Hmmm... yes...

 

[ablative]

I was looking at it on a 4K calibrated movie monitor - there it was OK, but on a smartphone, it sucks horribly! I can well imagine that hard-pressed actors looking for somewhere to post their bios and looking at their phones between rehearsals are put off by that and try somewhere else!

Yep - mobile site definitely needs work! Thx.

 

[fisicx]

Good point; we need to look at this.

You need to rethink the whole site if you want to attract new business. Did you pay someone to build the site for you?

 

[ablative]

This is why I always tell people to build their sites for phones first then look at it on a desktop

That's probably the best thing I've heard all week.

 

[ablative]

You need to rethink the whole site if you want to attract new business. Did you pay someone to build the site for you?

No, it kind of developed over the years. The backend is where most work went in (there is a lot of bespoke coding there). Point taken, though.

 

[The Byre]

Well, on the up-side, I found an actress that might be ideal for a film that is supposed to go into production next year - though the way that the powers that be seem to be at war with young people and the entertainment industry, it might easily never happen!

 

[The Byre]

OK, here's the next problem - I tried registering only to discover that I could only do so as an actor. I thought that perhaps just having a closer look and may see some videos and a detailed bio.

No chance!

You seem to be holding bios and videos to ransom. One does not have that problem with agents!

 

[fisicx]

No, it kind of developed over the years. The backend is where most work went in (there is a lot of bespoke coding there). Point taken, though.

Not sure why there needs to be. There isn't anything complicated about building a job site.

Anyway,
The problem with the site stem from your marketing. The homepage should match the marketing message. For example, if you are advertising on FB offering casting roles then your homepage should show people the latest roles. Actors can then view the role and if interested sign up and apply. But the site needs to be really slick on a phone. That should be your immediate focus.

 

[The Byre]

Next marketing problem - to quote from your own website for casting directors looking for talent "we will be happy to discuss your needs and provide a quotation for the service."

A quotation - to view a few bios? If you want actors to use your service, jobs have to be coming in. I've never heard of someone charging to view bios!

P.S. These are almost certainly not the reactions you were hoping for and it is extremely common for people to post their websites here and hope to receive easy tips to make things better - only to be told that there is something fundamentally wrong with their marketing.

Most websites suffer from being sort of OK'ish when the underlying marketing strategy is wrong - hey! We all do it! Or as Robbie Burns put it "Oh would some power the giftee gee us, to see ourselves as others see us!"

 

[ablative]

OK, here's the next problem - I tried registering only to discover that I could only do so as an actor... You seem to be holding bios and videos to ransom. One does not have that problem with agents!

Hmm. Perhaps the site isn't clear. You can register in any one of 4 groups (actors, cds, agents, other).

 

[ablative]

Not sure why there needs to be. There isn't anything complicated about building a job site.

The profiles, the contact system, the application system. It's a bit more complex actually.

The homepage should match the marketing message. For example, if you are advertising on FB offering casting roles then your homepage should show people the latest roles. Actors can then view the role and if interested sign up and apply. But the site needs to be really slick on a phone. That should be your immediate focus.

Good points. We've made some rushed changes to the mobile site to address the biggest problems but it'll need a good look at. Thanks.

 

[ablative]

Next marketing problem - to quote from your own website for casting directors looking for talent "we will be happy to discuss your needs and provide a quotation for the service."

A quotation - to view a few bios? If you want actors to use your service, jobs have to be coming in. I've never heard of someone charging to view bios!

Again, perhaps it's the wording. You don't need to pay to view bios or anything for that matter. Just register.

Payment is for a completely different service altogether.

P.S. These are almost certainly not the reactions you were hoping for and it is extremely common for people to post their websites here and hope to receive easy tips to make things better - only to be told that there is something fundamentally wrong with their marketing. Most websites suffer from being sort of OK'ish when the underlying marketing strategy is wrong - hey! We all do it! Or as Robbie Burns put it "Oh would some power the giftee gee us, to see ourselves as others see us!"

Oh of course we'd all you all to love it... but the suggestions on how to improve it are even more valuable!

 

[fisicx]

Good points. We've made some rushed changes to the mobile site to address the biggest problems but it'll need a good look at. Thanks.

The problem is the theme. Enfold is very dated and poorly responsive. You are also using ACF which is bloated and slow along with a bunch of other plugins that clog things up. It's why Google scores your site performance at 10/100.

A decent jobboard plugin or better still a bespoke theme would make your life so much simpler and the site faster and easier to use.

 

[ablative]

The problem is the theme. Enfold is very dated and poorly responsive. You are also using ACF which is bloated and slow along with a bunch of other plugins that clog things up. It's why Google scores your site performance at 10/100.

A decent jobboard plugin or better still a bespoke theme would make your life so much simpler and the site faster and easier to use.

The theme is scaffold (not sure if that's a derivative of enfold) which is pretty lightweight and ACF was necessary for the membership system. We've migrated fields from usermeta/postmeta to their own table for some of the systems but not all yet. TBH the job board plugins just didn't do what we wanted which is why we opted for ACF and building our own. Plus more control, of course.

 

[fisicx]

This is where I disagree. A bespoke membership system is a simple thing to build. It would be faster, lighter and much more user friendly. Relying on ACF and the many other plugins you have installed is what slows everything down.

Yes you are correct, it is the scaffold theme - it's everything else that clogs up the site.

But this doesn't change the basic problem of the site which is you aren't selling the castings. You have made if difficult to find and filter the roles. Even some basic categorization would help. The other problem is you are listing closed castings in the search results. You need to edit your search template to filter these out. It's a simple wp_query attribute.

 

[fisicx]

Have you looked at the competition? For example:

https://www.mandy.com/
https://castings.thestage.co.uk/

The both let you easily drill down to location/type and display the info very clearly. There are issues with both sites but it's the categorisation that sets them apart from yours.

 

[The Byre]

Hmm. Perhaps the site isn't clear.

It isn't!

Imagine you are the casting director's assistant and your boss tells you to find ten extras, a young girl with a lisp and five young men who can dance. You have a few minutes to sort out how to go about it and online auditions to be at the end of next week. Clarity has to be your number one priority!

Here's a very common scenario - a film is ready to go. The lead - an older woman - was cast before even the script was finished. On the strength of that lead, the money is ready! Design and studio time and all the other bits and bobs are being booked. The AD and the accountant are running budgets and schedules. One problem - they still can't find the right actress to play the lead as a young girl. It's a small role but it is key to the whole film.

The director and the CD are looking in all the usual places and just the right face looms up on your site. "That might be her!" says the director. "Get her on the phone! I need to see a video of her."

Then he reads that you can put a package together and that his CD has to jump through hoops. They keep looking!

Rule Number One - NO BARRIERS & NO SILLY RULES!

If you want to sell something, putting up silly barriers and making the customer jump through needless hoops means they go elsewhere.

Story - a guy I used to know in the 90s was cycling home from The City where he worked on the trading floor of a large bank. He was about to get married and his bride-to-be wanted to blow about £25k on their wedding. He saw a wedding boutique and wheeled his bicycle inside. The woman in there got sniffy and asked him to leave his bicycle outside. He did. He took it and himself outside and didn't go back. There is hardly a shortage of wedding planners in London!

 

[ablative]

The idea was that we show some of the profile but to encourage signups (which are free anyway) we'd ask them to sign up to see more. I can see how that might not chime with what you're saying though.

Arguably the biggest site in our field does that (and actually won't even let anyone see the actors at all!)

 

[UKSBD]

Arguably the biggest site in our field does that (and actually won't even let anyone see the actors at all!)

And the people who use it probably know it's the biggest, know how the information is provided and are already signed up to use it.

Until enough people know how your site works, know it is trusted, know the information is good, you need to make it simpler for users to find the information they are looking for.

Can you not have demo sections to see how it works for signed up users?

 

[The Byre]

The idea was that we show some of the profile but to encourage signups (which are free anyway) we'd ask them to sign up to see more. I can see how that might not chime with what you're saying though.

The big difference is that I tried to sign up and it wanted to know my acting name and to post a picture of myself. If someone is casting a movie, they hardly need an acting name.

I suspect that there is some sort of sign-up for CDs and others with acting gigs in the back pockets, but I couldn't find it. And THAT is a website problem - and a big one!

The problem with all these free sites for actors is that nine-tenths of the 'talent' is untalented. Such is life - and the person looking for actors for film is primarily looking for images of people whose image fits a role. Posting a gig for an igénue on an open platform invites applications from one hundred women in their 30s and 40s who are hopelessly unsuitable.

Arguably the biggest site in our field does that (and actually won't even let anyone see the actors at all!)

As @UKSBD (who actually is a real duck!) said, they are the biggest - but more importantly, that is not the point. The problem is not the signing up, but the convoluted nature of the website that makes signing as a non-actor into a puzzle to be solved!

You may think it's simple, but that is like the menus on bad DSLRs that tell you to first go into X-mode and then press button Y to access the Z list of functions that are to be found when you press the B-button.

I suspect that the key to taking a bite out of 'The Stage' and 'Mandy' is for actors to get gigs via your site. They talk to one another and word will spread that it is the site for getting gigs. To do that, CDs and others must find navigation pish-easy!