Top Ten Ways to Use Audio on your Site

by Jeanette S Cates, PhD
The Technology Tamer

Audio can provide an added dimension to your site. It creates a warm atmosphere where visitors feel like they know you. And it can enhance your reputation as an expert. Here are the top ten ways you can start using audio on your site.

1. Welcome people to your site. Toward the top of the page, add your photo or a short statement saying "Listen to a short welcome message" then a button to start the audio. Keep it brief and tightly targeted to the people you've brought to the site.

2. Make your bio more personal. If you're using a one-page sales letter site, there's a section on why they should listen to you and probably a photo. Add a caption to entice them to click. For example, "Here's 3 ways I can help" with the audio button. This audio doesn't have to echo what's on the page - it can actually have an anecdote or an example to illustrate the written material.

3. Provide client testimonials. One of the most powerful techniques for using audio is to ask your clients to record a short audio testimonial. Ideally you can capture this with a tape recorder at a live event or have them call and record it on the phone. The audio testimonial, combined with a photograph, gives a powerful picture of who you are and why a newcomer would like your services or product.

4. Answer questions. If you have FAQs, consider answering some of them with audio. Sometimes it's easier and faster to explain something verbally than to write the entire explanation.

5. Offer a guarantee. Let them hear the warmth and sincerity in your voice as you share your guarantee.

6. Give them a sample of your presentation. You can record this sitting in your office or use a clip from a live performance. Either way, your visitors will be able to hear your style and form a closer bond with you as a presenter.

7. Provide the latest information. Record a weekly update on news from your industry, then add it to your site. It gives people a reason to return to your site and gives you the status of being the most up-to-date expert.

8. Offer a mini course using email with audio explanations. Instead of all of the material being written, you can change the pace and put a lot of information into a short space by offering some segments via audio. This is especially effective if you want to share a short meditation or visualization exercise.

9. Demonstrate your coaching or consulting techniques by using a short audio clip from a client call.

10. Walk them through a process. If you have a form you want visitors to complete, use audio to walk them through the sign up. Remember to pace your remarks so they can easily complete the tasks as you're talking.

Audio is easier than ever to add to your site. For a complimentary report on How to Add Audio to your Site, send an email to mailto:audioreport@TechTamers.com.

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Dr. Jeanette Cates works with solo entrepreneurs to help them turn their knowledge into gold. She is a professional speaker, con

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by: Ronni Rhodes
Why Aren’t You Using Audio?

By

Ronni Rhodes

As use of the Internet continues to grow geometrically, we see an increased demand for information to be provided by a variety of media. Viewing options can range from simple text to PDF documents to video clips. Unfortunately, each option requires more and more resources and technological know-how. As convergence moves inexorably forward, we have to ask ourselves if there is a practical way to combine the best of this technology and still provide the user with a satisfying Internet experience.

The answer, at this stage of Internet evolution, is audio.

Voice, by itself, provides the means to enhance a user’s enjoyment of the Internet. Voice conveys many of the intangibles underlying the written word. A voice can touch the human spirit and deliver a message on its’ own merits. Audio can build community and maintain relationships.

Audio is the most mature of the streaming technologies and doesn’t have the bandwidth requirements associated with video. Any Internet user connecting at 28.8k or better can enjoy FM quality sound without experiencing buffering and other annoyances that can affect video at lower bit rates.

It is common knowledge that people only retain 20% of what they read, but they do remember 70% of what they see and hear. That fact in itself increases the value of an audio message delivered from a website for the typical user. And, the implications of how audio can increase Internet enjoyment for the handicapped are overwhelming.

Streaming audio provides Internet businesses with unlimited opportunities to reach their audience and to simplify their interactions. Streaming audio broadens a product’s appeal and helps to stimulate sales. People are comfortable with audio and have few qualms about using it in their day-to-day lives.

Retailers can integrate audio into their operations in several ways. Use it to enhance product descriptions and deliver product information in ways far more persuasive than plain text. Booksellers can have “special events” that offer audio excerpts from selected titles. Art dealers can use voice to give value added information on an artist or a period of history depicted by an artist’s work. (Think of those audio tours that museums offer.)

Organizations that specialize in selling educational tools can use audio clips for potential clients to preview and evaluate the material being offered. The ability to sample the product is a potent and practical selling aid.

Business-to-Business sites and corporate Intranets can also harness the power of audio. The need to provide up-to-the-minute information for employees and customers can be well served with streaming audio and the telephone. Integrating audio into the corporate communications mix is a tool that is easy to use and addresses the need to communicate with a distributed work force.

In both the retail and business-to-business marketplace, audio can and should be used to maintain those all important customer relationships. Voice messages add a personal touch that intrigues the listener and encourages them to remain on the site.

Employee training is greatly enhanced with audio. Use it to orient new employees and keep the information archived on the site for easy reference. Sales training can also be archived and quickly retrieved when needed. The ability to offer customized audio training materials on a 24/7 basis makes streaming audio a very versatile and efficient learning tool.

Some words of caution are also necessary. Audio, just like any other value-added technology, has to be used judiciously. It should be employed for a specific purpose and to enhance the text based message being delivered. Think of your audience and how you’d like them to interact with your website. Keep in mind that your visitor may be coming to your site while they’re at their place of business and plan accordingly.

The future of streaming audio is bright and filled with promise. More and more Internet users have become familiar with streaming audio and use it everyday. Internet radio broadcasts are extremely popular and are now being employed as effective advertising vehicles. Audio e-mail messaging is becoming widely available and is being positioned as a practical business tool. Consumers are attaching audio messages to greeting cards and experimenting with Internet telephony. Streaming audio will allow the average Internet user the ability to create content that conveys the power of voice and the emotions that it conveys.

So…why aren’t you using audio?



About the Author

Ronni Rhodes is the owner of WBC Imaging, an Internet company that specializes in web site enhancement utilizing streaming media technology. With her husband, Don, a digital media engineer, they work with companies to incorporate streaming as part of successful and meaningful sales and marketing programs.

Please direct all questions and comments to:
Ronni@wbcimaging.com
520-742-5780
http://www.wbcimaging.com

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by: Quentin Brown



February 1, 2004


Internet streaming audio is the most prevalent form of multimedia on the Internet today according to Creative, one of the leading companies in the sound hardware field. Over the last few years, streaming audio has moved from being a curiosity to a business strategy that is adopted by many media organizations.


Streaming Audio has always been available to the big corporate sites and techies. Now every one can use simple software to produce their own streaming audio from a web site.


Marketers and business people have always known that a well-placed audio stream can increase sales and signups to their products and services. The problem has always been that the average person could not afford the high cost of special servers or programmers to be able to use this technology.


There have been a number of products around that provide streaming audio however as they have grown and developed so have the plugins required for listening to the streaming files.


With the new software available today anyone can add audio to their web sites without the need for any large plugins and complicated software. Simply add your audio file and choose a component to activate the stream and click go. These programs output all the necessary files, which you can then use to embed in your web pages with a quick copy and paste.


The web visitor can simply click and listen, even over a standard 56K modem.


So now that you're considering adding the sweet sound of audio to your site, where might you want to use it?


Depending on your website's content and theme, there are a variety of ways to incorporate your audio into it. For example:

You might place a welcome message on your front page, summarizing your site's highlights, informing visitors of what they'll find, and thanking them for stopping by.


If you have an "about us" page on your site, you might want to record a brief message to accompany your background info. This will help people feel as if they're actually meeting you.


Since testimonials are a great enhancement to any site imagine if you actually added them in your customer's own voice. If you use one of the phone recording services you could give them the number and they could easily record how they feel about your products/services.


If your site has been featured in an online interview or radio show, imagine including this audio in your site. Just think of it as your very own live press room.


Perhaps just adding some pleasant music for your visitors to listen to as they view your web pages.


There are many features that these new programs provide the user.



Produce as many files as you like.

No need for expensive programmers

Many allow you to host them on your own server - you're in control.

Greatly reduce the size of your audio file.

Streams over most modem connections

Easy to use interface

Added components for more variety




So now that you're actually thinking of recording something and adding it to your site, how do you do it? There are many different ways, some more expensive then others. Let's examine some of your choices a little more closely.


1) MP3 Sound Stream: http://mp3soundstream.com/


Creates streaming audio from MP3 or Wav files. Produces high quality output for only $39.95.


2) Audio Player Pro: http://www.audioplayerpro.com/


Starting at only $47.00. This produces a code that you can paste onto your website that will enable the viewers' default player.


3) Audio Generator: http://www.audiogenerator.com/


Streaming audio using just your browser. Easy to use, you can phone in your message or use MP3 files. Excellent sound quality. After recording your message paste some code onto your site and a button appears with your audio. $29.95 monthly.


4) Sonic Memo: http://www.sonicmemo.com/


Includes a step-by-step tutorial. You'll have to create your own MP3 files and upload them to your server. If you record WAV files, you'll have to first convert them to MP3 format. This software sells for $97.00.


5) Instant Audio: http://instantaudio.com/


Just record a message by phone and your website or e-mail is instantly audio-enabled. To check their sound quality call the phone number listed on the site, leave a message, then hit the play button on the site to listen. This service will cost you 29.95 a month.


Your site has been sending non-verbal messages for years; now it's time to break free and let it send a message everyone can hear. Adding audio to your website is not only easy to do, it can help you gain the trust of your site's visitors, thus increasing your conversion rate. So stop wasting your time and money, and start getting the sales you may be missing.


--


Quentin Brown


CEO MP3 Sound Stream


Streaming Audio Made Easy


http://www.mp3soundstream.com






Quentin Brown has been involved with Internet Marketing for the past 7 years and continually helps people to resource and equip their online businesses for success. His latest offering is Streaming Audio Made Easy. http://www.mp3soundstream.com

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