Make Your Website Talk

By Merle Stinnett

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 our 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. Do a search at Google and you'll find
plenty of options. One such service is
http://www.jennifervaughn.com/

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) SoundNails: http://www.soundnails.com/

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 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.

6) 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.

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 rebrandable if you sign up for the
affiliate program.
http://www.novasoft-inc.com/ebook.asp

Internet Audio Guy:
http://InternetAudioGuy.com

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.

Merle has been "working" the Net for over 8 years and has a Special Gift just for you. Download my FREE E-book "50 Easy Ways to Promote Your Website". Get your copy now at http://www.WebSiteTrafficPlan.com You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included.