VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:52 am Post subject:

The dog logo. I like the idea of having a dog in your logo. it's different from the generic mic/headphones/lips things. So keep the dog, but perhaps not *that* dog. Find something that would make a better logo, if that makes sense.
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Bailey · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:22 pm Post subject:

I like the dog that Scott is using. I think it conveys the type of voice a client may be looking for. Smooth... easy going... contented... not a barker.

If Scott was doing the "GIANT used car TENT SALE", I'd say go for a nice barker...

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todd ellis · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:29 pm Post subject:

could the dog wear a hat?
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 4:59 pm Post subject:

bunny slippers.
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Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:09 pm Post subject:

FWIW, the dog IS housebroken.

And neutered.

That's why he sleeps so much.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

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Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:57 am Post subject:

Thanks again to everyone who offered suggestions.

Changes have been made:

- Moved the demos to the home page to make them easy to find. Changed out the player to perhaps make it more intuitive, plus it enabled me to put 'proper' names on the demos (e.g.: "commercials" instead of "spots)
- Got rid of the address on the contact page. Just phone number and contact form.
- Kept the dog. Sorry folks, I can't lose it. It's me. It's my branding.
- Will work on arranging the hosting so that I can have it go directly to my domain name and not forward to the wix sub-domain.

Thanks again, everyone!

www.voicebyscott.com
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Pam · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:33 am Post subject:

Scott, like the site's look overall. I'm not going to weigh in on the branding but to strongly encourage you to get the wix off your address as soon as possible. The way I understand the web search bots work and how you come up in the rank order (learned BTW at Faffcon 1...can't wait for Faffcon 2 to larn me some more good sh!t!!!) is that wix gets all the credit for the hit on your name, not you. I'm in the process of rethinking my sites to move them to a self hosted CMS system to improve my search-ability and rankings. Remember this is your storefront, what would you think if the McDonalds arches had a big WIX banner right over them?

But I love the overall look and simplicity of the site. Well done.
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cyclometh · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:35 pm Post subject:

I went to it once and it worked, but then I clicked the link in the thread a second time and I got a box that said "Login Failed" and a blank olive background.
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:27 pm Post subject:

I'm not getting the wine glass motif, especially with the dog.

It really is mixed signals.
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Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:38 pm Post subject:

Oh Mike, geeze, it's SO obvious!

If you want a narrator who sounds like a drunk dog howling....

Okay, seriously:
- When working with Nancy Wolfson a few years back to develop my branding, I came up with the dog. Why? Warm, fuzzy, comfortable. The last thing I wanted on my site was another damn microphone. The dog became my branding, signifying something friendly, comfortable, cozy.

When I built my previous website, the banner across the top had the dog, some well-worn books and a couple of wine glasses, all signifying class, elegance, quiet comfort.

On the website re-make, I wanted to carry over some of those elements. The dog is still my 'branding' and is on everything from my letterheads to my business cards. The wine glasses hopefully signify a sense of class, elegance.

I dunno.

Sometimes maybe we overthink things. I think clients just want to know: Is this the right voice for my project? And they listen and decide very quickly yes or no.

I can tell you I got an e-mail today thru the new site's form from someone I've never done business with in the past, asking my availability and a few other questions, so I guess the dog and wine glasses didn't turn them off.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Jen Gosnell · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:44 pm Post subject:

Scott, I like the changes. Good for you. FWIW, I think removing your postal address is no loss whatsoever.

One further tweak I would suggest is to consider a different color for the font on the names of your demos. When the drop-box is expanded down, the fourth demo name is unreadable to me (though after intense scrutiny at very close range I was able to make out that it said "e-learning"). The word "characters" below it is also somewhat difficult to read though not to the same degree. It's true that once clicked, the names become black and easily readable, but IMO they ought to be so without needing to be clicked.

Finally, and somewhat related - this may be a nit-pick, but in the player I wonder if you might consider changing the words "Now Playing" to "Current Selection" or something like that. The reason being, even after the user selects a demo to listen to, the demo *isn't* actually playing until you actively click the "play" button (at least, not on Safari). In my mind, ideally, the demo would immediately start loading/playing once the user selects a demo to listen to (i.e. clicks "commercials") and no click of the play button would be required for that first listen. To me, that is an extra click.

Those last comments above mostly articulate my expectations on how the interaction should work, based on a combination of what the text on your site leads me to anticipate plus experience at other sites. (And perhaps on being somewhat of a nit-picky perfectionist in general. Wink

)

And re: the URL - If what Pam said about Wix getting the hit count for rankings and not you is true, I think that's a big incentive to get that all straightened out. Thanks for mentioning, Pam - I hadn't heard that before, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Jen
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Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject:

Jen, I'm aware of the issue with the drop-down names being a bit difficult to read, but I can't change it, which is frustrating. That's the only option we have in Wix with this player, and it was the best player to put on the home page.

Thanks for all the other positive comments, too.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com