Add Audio to Your Web Site and Increase Your Sales up to 35%!

Ok, you've got your site built, you have traffic coming to it, a good product at a reasonable price.... hmmm... what else do you need?

What else could increase your conversion rate?

Audio!

All right I know what you're thinking... "Why should I go to all of the trouble of adding audio to my web site?"

Because it can increase your sales by up to 35%!! That's why.

Adding streaming audio it isn't as hard as you have been led to believe and you don't even have to pay a monthly fee either. You can start with sound recorder (Pre-installed on every Windows computer) and the free microphone that came with your computer.

Some of the things you can do with audio to enhance your site are:

* Create audio greetings

* Create audio testimonials

* Narrate tutorials

* Create audio ezines

* Add audio files for your visitors to download

* Create audio articles

* Add your band's music clips as tempting teasers to get buyers

* Read children's stories

* Tell Jokes

* Sing...

* Add music as a background to your web site (Tastefully - please!)

This list goes on and on.

Let's quickly cover a couple of the items on the list and see what the advantages are.

Create Audio Greetings:

Well, I think this one is fun. Don't you often wonder what that "Guru" sounds like? Or even what a web master who has created your favorite web tool or ebook?

Adding an audio greeting is actually about the easiest thing to do if you want to improve your sales. For most web sites, when done tastefully, the sales can jump up to 35%! People just trust you more and feel like they know you a little better if they hear your voice.

Also, excitement is contagious. If you are excited about your product, ezine or membership site you can hear it in your voice when you talk about it. SO CAN YOUR CUSTOMERS! And more importantly, your potential customers.

Audio Testimonials:

What can I say about this compelling reason, but this... what would be more believable to you - a web site with a bunch of written testimonials or a web site where you can hear the actual voices of current / previous purchasers explaining what benefits they got from the product? How do you even know for sure the written testimonials are real?

It's hands down the one with the audio.

All you need is Audacity (Which is free at http://audacity.com) to edit down too long testimonials - actually, is there such a thing as too-long testimonial? Maybe not - and the ability to have customers send you .wav files and a small picture of themselves.

NOTE: You can get a free script from Will Bontrager at http://willmaster.com that will allow you to accept files from your customers OR you can set up a seperate ftp account at your server for customer uploads. See other articles in this series to learn how to implement this.

Piece of cake!

There are a couple of other steps to adding the audio to your site, but I will get to that in other parts of this article series.

Create Audio Ezines:

Have you ever heard Jim Edwards "I Gotta Tell You" ezine? (http://igottatellyou.com) Or watched the multi-media ebook and ezine how-to tutorials in Epublishing Express? (http://epublishing-express.com)

It is so much more compelling to hear someone explain exactly what to do than read a dry ezine (No offense to all the other thousands of ezine writers out there) or ebook (Ditto to you ebook writers) and you learn much faster.

Did you know that you only retain about 10-15% of what you read once? But that retention goes up to 60% if you hear it at the same time and flies up to 80% for a multi-media presentation.

How many fewer customer service calls and emails would you get if you customers were retaining 80% of what you were teaching them? I can tell you... a lot!

Think of all the extra time you would have to promote your business, create new products (Audio and multimedia products of course!) Heck, even spend more time with your family and hobbies.

How much happier would your customers be if they were able to duplicate your success and complete your tutorials, assignments, or follow your direction?

Again - a lot! How many more of your customers would buy other products from you if you were successful in teaching them or helping them with your first product? I think you can see where I am going with this...

So, know that you know how important audio is how do you get started? The first thing you can do is go to http://easy-web-site-audio.com and sign up for the free Audio Tips Ecourse and get a new tip every three days on creative audio uses.

That's a good start :)

Remember those audio testimonials?

Here are some other free resources for all of you ebook and ezine writers to get you started: (Some long links may wrap)

Microsoft: http://microsoft.com (Free)

Additionally you can access lots of free content add-ons, tools, and tutorials when you go straight to the media section on the Microsoft web site.

Find it at Media Player v.9: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.aspx (Free) Here you can upgrade to Media Player 9 (To store all of your audio files you have made in the easy access audio library) which is free.

Media Player 9 is the preferred media player for listening to streaming audio along with Real Player which is also free.

There are a lot of add-ons for the program, especially you want to get the one that converts your MP3s into smaller WMA files and save space on your computer. (It is a free teaser, they will probably try to get you to buy the full Plus! collection, but you don't have to!).

Visit http://www.microsoft.com/plus for more information on the PLUS! product if you think in addition to converting audio you might want to let the kids play around with Media Player too. :)

Remember all that extra family time you are going to have since you won't have hardly any customer service issues?

Real: http://real.com (Free)

Get the Real Audio player basic program which allows you to play Real Audio formatted files. A lot of online content is in this format.

Don't forget if you are adding Real Audio to your web site to get the free "Producer" which converts other types of audio files (> wav and .MP3 for example) into Real Audio files for uploading, streaming, etc.

Producer Basic (Free): http://www.realnetworks.com/products/producer/basic.html

If you want to stream from your computer or server (Warning advanced topic!) you can use the free Helix Server Basic. Helix Server Basic (Free): http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/servers/eval/mbps.html

Also use the free PresenterOne to add audio and video to your PowerPoint presentations and stream them from your web site! http://www.realnetworks.com/products/presenterone/index.html (main page) and the free version is at:

http://forms.real.com/rnforms/products/tools/presenteronebasic/in dex.html (Approx. 20mb) since it requires Producer (Real Audio product with a free version see above) it includes it in the installation.

So if you are thinking of enhancing your PowerPoint slides and are going to download this, you don't need to download Producer separately.

Shoutcast: http://shoutcast.com (Free)

Start your own radio station for free. And obviously link to it from your web site and broadcast tutorial and educational content on your niche topic. Free to record and free to broadcast.

Live365: http://www.live365.com (Fee)

You can also start your own radio station starting at only $7/month.

Pirate Radio: http://pirateradio.com (Fee)

Purchase software for $29 one-time fee that will having you broadcasting in about 1/2 hour.

Keep your eyes peeled for more audio/video/multi-media related articles in this series. We will be talking about different types of audio files, conducting interviews, recording tutorials, adding audio testimonials to your web site, and more. :)

By the time we're done you will be an audio / video master!

"Techie" Teri Mramer is the busy web master at TreeFree Publishing, The Editor of Epublishing Express- The only ezine that teaches ebook and ezine publishing with screenshots and videos! http://Epublishing-Express.com Also author of "Easy Web Site Audio!" The Easy Web Site Audio tutorial! e-Manual comes with 15 how-to videos. Add audio to your web site in about an hour! http://Easy-Web-Site-Audio.com

How to Stream Media around Your Home
PC World - 15 hours ago
You've no doubt already fine-tuned your existing audio setup, but why stop at optimizing the audio potential of just one PC? Connecting all your computers ...

Mint 220 Wireless Digital Music Station: Made For America
Hartford Courant, United States - 14 hours ago
The Mint marks a new generation of speaker docks by adding a USB transmitter that mates with a PC or Mac for streaming audio up to 45 feet. ...

Trimming the costs of your high-tech life
Seattle Times, United States - Oct 11, 2008
Wireless phone service, in turn, offers easy cost savings if your plan includes excess minutes, video or audio streaming, or navigation services you rarely ...

International Datacasting Corporation to Showcase Latest Products ...
MarketWatch - Oct 10, 2008
The product also includes a new transport stream to IP transcoding capability ideal for IPTV applications - Expanded SFX Pro Audio Receivers - The latest ...

Sony Ericsson seeks India patent for new audio headset
Hindu, India - Oct 9, 2008
... to handle voice call by wireless connection to a phone and also to receive streaming audio such as music from a streaming audio source, it added. ...

BBC News
MySpace Music Offers Free Streaming and MP3 Downloads
NewsOXY, FL - Sep 24, 2008
The new music service is offering free and unlimited audio streaming and DRM-free MP3 downloads. EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music ...
MySpace Music sets launch date Variety
MySpace Music attracts criticisms from indie labels Utalkmarketing
MySpace Music goes live in the US musicweek.com
WELT ONLINE - Digitaltrends.comall 862 news articles

Aggies to stream sports of all sorts
Greensboro News Record, NC - Oct 11, 2008
"We provide the audio and video sources; he encodes and decodes the information and distributes it to the server, which allows it to go to the public. ...

SonicSwap Puts Your iTunes Library On The Web For Streaming And ...
Washington Post, United States - Oct 9, 2008
The site pulls audio and video through the YouTube API, and while it comes up with a few false matches (playing back bad cover versions or karaoke), ...

Minghella Directed 'Madama Butterfly' Returns to the Stage ...
Broadway World, NY - Oct 10, 2008
In addition to providing audio recordings through the new Met on Rhapsody on-demand service, the Met also presents free live audio streaming of performances ...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Bob Wolfley column: Conspicuous by absence
Trading Markets (press release), CA - Oct 9, 2008
To get the audio streaming, users need to register at the site for free. Ted Davis and Dennis Krause will be on the call. Guests include former Bucks ...

Streaming Audio Recorders

1. i-Sound WMA MP3 Recorder 6.x - On Sale www.abyssmedia.comi-Sound Recorder turn your computer into... Read More

Teleseminars, Audio Downloads, Podcasts: Listen Up So You?ll Learn and Earn More

Internet Marketers love audio. You can't blame them. They used to have to spend weeks,... Read More

Dont Use Web Audio The Wrong Way

Have you ever wrestled with a set of instructions, but then got so frustrated with... Read More

Audio Websites -- Web Developers: Make Money Now

Are you a website developer looking to establish a long-term relationship with a web content... Read More

Why I Hate Flash Audio and What I Did About It

I love spoken-word audio. I've been listening to seminars, lectures, and books on tape for... Read More

Add Audio to Your Web Site and Increase Your Sales up to 35%!

Ok, you've got your site built, you have traffic coming to it, a good product... Read More

Why Arent You Using Audio?

As use of the Internet continues to grow geometrically, we see an increased demand for... Read More

Five Tips to Become a Soundbite Genius

1. Speak in soundbites to everyone.Getting key phrases for concepts and ideas across clearly is... Read More

Adding Streaming Audio to Your Website

Adding streaming audio to your web site can help you enhance the message you send... Read More

Why Publishing MP3 Can Cost You A Fortune

This was news to me. It might be news to you too:MP3 is NOT free... Read More