Do Voiceover Directories Work?

In short: Mostly Not. Well not for well-paying voiceover jobs anyway

Many of the voiceover directories are over-subscribed and any producer who is trying to find a voice is not very likely to pick you. You are just one of hundreds or thousands of voiceover artists who are listed.

Then have a look at how many of these directories are on the first couple of pages when carrying out a search for voiceover. Apart from the widely-respected voiceovers.co.uk there were none. In fact, just searching today I got to page 5 before one voiceover directory was listed.

When I tentatively started pitching for voiceover work in 2002, I got listed on as many free voiceover sites as I could. Then plucked up the courage to spend some actual real money on voiceovers.co.uk; my first voiceover gig followed shortly afterwards.

There are dozens and dozens of directories: Voice123 (voiceover artists bid for the work - how low will you go?); Voices.com; Opuzz; BigTalent; thevoiceoverdirectory.com; the voiceworks; voicefinder.biz and Bodalgo. As far as I know I only secured one client (who spent thousand of pounds) from all of these websites combined. They are free for a reason.

And then there is another site which I discovered recently called voicejockeys.com with a 50 per cent commission rate and terms and conditions from the dark ages.You do wonder how many of these voiceover websites have your interests at heart. Or do they just treat you like a number as fodder for their own potential clients?

From my own experience, it's much better to spend your money on your own decent website and pay for Google Adwords. In the short term, this is the only way to get onto page 1 or 2 of Google.

However, the BigFish Media website is now near the top of page one of Google in the organic (free) listings - thanks to regular blogging, a good reputation (gained through hard work, repeat business and client satisfaction), using social media, (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In etc) and six months of dedicated work by the team behind our Search Engine Optimisation process.

And we don't have to pay for adwords for our voiceover business anymore.