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Every so often I like to take a moment to recognize how vast the voiceover universe is.\u00a0 So many articles, ideas, and tips on how to succeed in voiceover\u2026.I have come to realize that we all have a niche within this niche here.\u00a0 For voice actors, your niche might be the professional conversational guy nailing down those corporate narration auditions, or you could be a warm and friendly mom type, booking up all those national network spots for Cheerios and Kleenex.\u00a0 For coaches, the niche is a bit different. \u00a0My niche(s) are audition preparation and proven techniques for the commercial voice actor.\u00a0 I am grateful for those out there who have made a niche out of voiceover marketing<\/a>.\u00a0 It truly is an entire universe of information, strategy, and work for those ready to take it on.\u00a0 The important thing to take note of here is that the majority of you out there competing for voice work absolutely cannot avoid this part of the business.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have an agent, you\u2019re not in a live-casting market, and you need to find your own opportunities every single day.\u00a0 And there\u2019s more beyond the marketing alone.\u00a0 There\u2019s keeping up with voiceover trends and the future of the voiceover industry.<\/a>\u00a0 Thanks to the online presence of voiceovers nowadays, things are changing entirely from the way they used to be.\u00a0 Joe Schmo in Nowheresville can now make money with his voice.\u00a0 From his closet.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 OK, back to the marketing.\u00a0 These are the must-do basics to begin your voiceover career and pursue work:<\/p>\n 1-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get professional voiceover coaching.\u00a0 Learn.\u00a0 Grow.\u00a0 Improve.\u00a0 I personally like the idea of students getting trained by at least two different people and more importantly, two people with different perspectives such as a coach like me with a background in Casting, and then from a successful voice actor currently working and booking jobs.\u00a0 Two perspectives double the possibility of improving and collecting useful techniques and strategies.\u00a0 Do your research, get second and third opinions.\u00a0 Vet everyone you are considering paying money to.<\/p>\n 2-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Make your demo.\u00a0 DO get your training first, and without upfront payment for a demo.\u00a0 DON\u2019T sign up with a school or coach that also takes your money for the demo as part of the training package before you have even discovered whether you have talent or not.\u00a0 I discuss this in great detail in my article How to Make a Great Voiceover Demo<\/a>.\u00a0 Read this and you might save yourself hundreds to thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n 3-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get your demo up, on your website.\u00a0 Oh, yes, then MAKE a website if you don\u2019t have one.\u00a0 There are more than likely thousands of experts out there to help you with building a simple website, so I don\u2019t have any references that would be useful.\u00a0 That\u2019s another universe entirely.\u00a0 I will say that you need a very simple site, and that you should probably have your demos right there on that first page or else super easy to find, along with some powerful descriptive words for what kind of voice range you have.\u00a0 For example:\u00a0 smart, conversational, witty, warm, real, etc.\u00a0 Your demo is your calling card.\u00a0 This is how you prove to the voiceover community that you possess skills that are valuable and necessary to bring copy to life.<\/p>\n 4-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pick a pay-to-play site and try it out for a year.\u00a0 The two biggies are voices.com and voice123.com.\u00a0 There will be compliments and complaints about these sites always.\u00a0 Glance over them both and see which site\u2019s functionality looks better and give it a try.\u00a0 You are casting a wide net and this is your first throw.<\/p>\n