Have you ever been to a NYC diner? The kind with the menu as long as a phone book? I’m talking pages and pages of yummy food to choose from… Kinda overwhelming, isn’t it?
Well, the same can be said of too many photos or too much information on your actor website. In my experience, there’s a lot that goes into crafting a site, but one of the most important steps is the fine art of editing. Knowing what materials to utilize, and what to leave at home can be game-changing. I know you love all of your photos, reviews, and credits. But trust me – if you put everything on your website, your visitors will get overwhelmed and as a result, will move on.
How can I be so sure? Check out this study about choice by Sheena Iyengar, a professor of business at Columbia University and the author of The Art of Choosing. In the study, they set up a booth of jam samples with either 24 or 6 flavors. The large assortment of jam got 60% of people to stop and sample, while the small group got only 40%. BUT – and here’s the incredible part – 30% of the people who sampled the 6 flavors actually bought jam compared to a tiny 3% of the people accosted by 24 flavors.
Is your website suffering from too much of a good thing? If you have more than 6 headshots in your gallery, use your inner editor to get rid of shots that are redundant or don’t speak to who you are in the industry now. Is your bio so long visitors have to scroll down a few times to read it all? Make some edits so there aren’t so many words. Give your audience less to look at, so they’ll actually look!
One of the rules of showbiz is “Always leave them wanting more.” Let that be your guide when you create your actor website!
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