Boy oh boy, did WoVO ever prove the old adage that you can’t please all the people all the time!
Almost two years ago, now, we launched an idea to let our members list their profiles and demos in an online directory that we hoped would get noticed by audio producers. VoiceOver.biz It was our little way of saying thanks to our members.
It was not:
- meant to compete with the P2P’s on their turf
- meant to be the sole reason anyone would join WoVO
- complicated
- costly
- a competitive bidding service
- to be a jobs listing service
- going to get in-between the client and the talent
Early on, we decided to partner with the highly-innovative demo player designed by Bob Merkel called VoiceZam. We had to come up with a way to standardize everyone’s demos on the site, and Bob was willing to work with us to integrate with our system at practically no cost. At first that cost was $5. Then WoVO promised to pay that back to members on their annual renewal. Now it’s nothing.
Listing your profile/demo on VoiceOver.biz does not make you a full-fledged “Premium” member of VoiceZam. Instead, it makes you a “partner”. You get many of the features of the VoiceZam player, but not all. This, of course is how Bob gets his payback for our arrangement. He gleans a few new Premium members here ‘n’ there, and everyone is happy.
But NOT everyone was happy. There were billing issues through PayPal. Some members thought we were openly endorsing a vendor’s product, and that it was a conflict of interest. Others had the darndest time getting the VoiceZam configuration to work for them. The naysayers were a handful, but it left us wringing OUR hands.
On top of that, WoVO was determined to begin a big VoiceOver.biz marketing campaign to people who hire voices. The problem was, that very few people had finished their profiles. They were claiming proficiency in voice categories for which there were no demos.
If we were going to invite a bunch of voice-seekers to notice our site, it had to be tidy, and live up to its promise.
A couple of weeks, ago, then, we set a deadline for people to spruce-up their VoiceOver.biz profiles. Add some demos. Match the demos to the categories. Bring it up to snuff.
That request re-ignited issues with VoiceZam. It required we make some changes to VoiceOver.biz, and it meant that Bob had to change the way his website handled billing. All that is now 90% complete, and the deadline is upon us.
Still, questions remain.
To that end, WoVO is inviting any and all WoVO members with questions/problems on the VoiceOver.biz site and/or the VoiceZam integration IN the site, to join us for a free webinar this Thursday. Bob Merkel will be there. The innovator behind VoiceOver.biz/WoVO board member Dan Lenard will be there, and I will be there, too. We may also be joioned by other WoVO board members.
Here is your personal invitation to join us Thursday, May 19th, 11am Pacific: https://zoom.us/j/616245165.
No registration is required, but there are only 100 slots available. First come, first served. All we ask is that to attend you are an active WoVO professional member. You WILL be able to ask questions.
See you there!
CourVO
