What are pay-to-play sites? These are audition sites, where you pay an annual fee to audition for as many projects as you would like. Clients go on the site to post a project they need a voice for and members audition for it. It's not a bad way to get a few clients here and there but make sure you don't put all your eggs in this basket. Spend plenty of time on direct marketing. Get in touch with talent agents, production directors, eLearning companies and video production departments inside corporations.
P2P sites have done a masterful job marketing themselves and manipulating talents into believing we need them. We don't! P2P sites can be somewhat helpful but I see way too many talents spending far too many hours on them. Can you imagine if you used half of that time marketing directly to potential VO buyers?
The more comfortable you become just sitting in a P2P site auditioning all day, the less likely you're going to put much effort elsewhere. Don't get institutionalized! Spend a couple of hours a day on them but allocate the rest of your day on direct marketing.
Don't put P2P banners or links on your VO website. All you're doing is promoting 10,000 other talents! Imagine a prospective client finding your site. They then see the banner and click it. Poof! You just lost a potential client for good because you linked your site to a P2P site. Please don't do it! Your VO website should be all about promoting one person. YOU!
Be careful with contests that P2P sites throw at you! All they do is benefit the site's SEO while providing very little for you. They try to get you to post links to their site and blog about their services. They claim that you'll get great exposure by participating but actually, the opposite is true. THEY'LL get great exposure and loads of valuable SEO, while you're stuck with a $5 coupon to join their service. Be careful.
I am not a hater of P2P sites, but I see too many talents who are primarily focused on this one area. P2P sites seem to dominate discussions in voiceover forums on social media because some talents don't think there are other lanes to drive in. By spending all day in P2P sites, you miss out on endless opportunities. Focus on direct marketing. It works!