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Audio On Your Website

Everyone is talking about audio on your website. Everyone is rushing to add audio to their web site. And why not, the promises are astounding.

Triple your conversion ratios! Double your opt-ins! Increase visitor session times!

Who wouldn’t want to add audio to their web site with those promises! But once again everyone is being told what to do… but not how to do it. As a result I’ve heard some lousy web audios on many a web page. As with any other sales tools, audio has a right and a wrong way to do it. Let’s discuss the wrong ways for a moment.

It is the rare web page that can pull off audio that plays instantly after the page loads. I have not met that rare page yet. But I am sure it can be done. Most of the instances of web audio playing automatically on page load that I have encountered, have sent me running for the little ‘X’ in the corner of my browser.

Why?

Aside from not having a button to turn it off at the top of the page, it is way too startling! It creates an unpleasant experience for the visitor to associate with your web page and offer. I never recommend anyone I design for to do it.

Secondly, I usually have my speakers in use when I am on the computer. I am listening to music or a recorded seminar. Imagine someone’s voice piping in unexpectedly over Lou Rawls! On one occasion I had my speaker volume up way high (because the particular recording I was listening to was such bad quality) when I clicked through to someone’s web site and ‘OH MY GOSH!’…

Had I been a few years older it might have been the death of me!
I felt as if this person had knocked down my front door and come in screaming about his product! I may have wanted his product but now he’ll never know! It was like ‘spam to my ears’.

If you really want to push it with audio that plays instantly, I suggest that you try to have the sound fade in with about 4 seconds of intro music. Give the visitor a second or two to understand that they are about to listen to something important. I haven’t seen this technique done yet but I imagine giving a short 5 second announcement about the audio clip instead and let your visitor 'opt-in' to listen to the clip would not annoy your visitor as much.

Audio on web pages may be new but audio as an advertising medium is not. Remember radio? They perfected the art of selling without visual aides. How do they do it? They don’t try to sell you in the commercial.

They simply attempt to build curiosity or they try to capture leads. They never waste the 30 second spot spewing off about the product’s features and why you should buy it. They generate the lead, build product and brand awareness, make you curious then sell you on the web site, phone or in the store.

Keep this in mind when producing audio for the web. If your sales page is designed to sell… let it sell! Don’t repeat yourself in the audio. Introduce yourself, explain where things are or how they’re expected to navigate the web page, tell the visitor what to expect or what to do. Speak clearly and loudly, make them curious enough to read more but whatever you do, do it in 30 seconds or less!

People have very short attention spans. The web is interactive, if you are talking on your audio for 90 seconds or longer your prospect is not listening after the first 10 seconds!

Bottom line; don’t just add audio because it is the thing to do. You need a reason. Are you hoping to increase sales? Are you hoping to increase visitor session times? Are you hoping to add more subscribers to your list? Focus on your goal when you write your audio script.

Then track your visitor after you add audio and test, test, test! Audio is not a magic quick fix. It is not always appropriate nor is it always necessary. Remember all audio is not good audio!

 

7 ways you can use audio on your web site today ;

  1. Welcome people to your site with a nice audio greeting. In the first fold of the web site prominently posted toward the top of the page, add your photo or a short statement introducing your audio clip and the start and stop audio buttons.

  2. Add audio to your Biography- Don't simply repeat things you've already written, entice them to listen to your voice by giving them some information like '3 tips to reduce your taxes'

  3. Customer testimonials- Testimonials are very powerful motivators. It has been proven that people respond better to sales pitches with testimonials than with out. Ask your clients to record a short audio testimonial.

  4. Record your guarantee on the order page. In this case an audio clip that played automatically might actually work. Announce a special bonus or remind your customer of a particular benefit they will achieve, ex; "You are just moments away from building your first web site, simply fill in the form, click on the link below and you will have immediate access to..."

  5. Record daily tid bits; Quote of the day, prayer of the day, joke of the day all fit this bill . You can even provide industry news. This gives people a reason to return to your web site and tell others to visit your site as well.

  6. Offer an audio mini course- Video is expensive and difficult to figure out how to create, edit and upload it to your web site. An inexpensive alternative is audio tutorials. Show images and provide audio clips with each one instead of mounds of written material.

  7. Demonstrations- Post actual recordings from radio shows or interviews that you have done. Demonstrate and showcase your talents.

 

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Copyright 2004-7 by Michelle

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