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Make Your Web Site Talk
Have
you noticed the latest online craze? No, it's not how to make a million
dollars overnight, although that idiotic idea is still floating around...
it's adding voice to your website. "Ma Bell" meets the Internet,
so to speak. If you spend any amount of time online I'm sure you've seen a
number of sites employing this technology.
So who's behind this phenomenon and what's the benefit of adding voice to
your website? I'm so glad you asked. In the cold, impersonal world of the
Net, your voice adds a touch of warmth and personalization that can
increase credibility, thus raising your conversion rate. Sound good? (No
pun intended.) Of course it does.
So now that you're considering adding the sweet sound of your voice 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 voice
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.
One thing to consider is the quality of your voice. If it's not all that
pleasant to listen to, you may want to employ the help of a friend, or you
could hire a "professional" voice-over service. View our voice-over
services and examples of work.
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:
Creates streaming audio from MP3 or Wav files. Produces high quality
output for only $39.95.
2) Audio
Player Pro:
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:
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) SoundNails:
This program converts several MP3 files into the popular Flash format. The
sounds can then be played in streaming mode without the need of a player
like (Windows Media Player or Real Player) in a user-friendly way. 30 day
free trial is available, with two versions offered ranging from $10.00 to
$65.00.
5) Sonic Memo:
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.
6) Instant Audio:
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.
Other Resources of Interest:
Free
ebook that shows you how to add audio to your site at absolutely
no cost to you. The book is re-brandable if you sign up for the affiliate
program.
Internet Audio
Guy:
Some pretty good resources here on adding audio, and if you subscribe
to the ezine, you receive a 22-page free report entitled "Web
Pages with Sound and Video."
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.
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