In the previous lesson, we talked about how to put video on your website.
Today we’re going to make your website talk by adding audio to it.
(Watch this video…)
Main points:
1) Builds trust.
2) Adds another level of communication.
3) Keeps visitors longer.
1) Interviews, podcasts, etc.
Podcasting is syndicating your audio recordings using an RSS feed, such as feedburner.
For info about putting your podcast on Itunes, see:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatson/podcasts/specs.html
2) Welcome to website
Consider split-testing an intro audio on your website to see if it keeps visitors longer.
3) Testimonials
Boosts the power of the testimonial by giving it more credibility and adding that extra dimension. See video for example.
Recommended resource for collecting customer testimonials:
Audio Generator (I’ve used it to collect over 1000 testimonials)
4) Guarantees
It can be effective to put an audio button in your money back guarantee area, so your visitors can hear you giving the guarantee with the sincerity of your own voice.
5) Ordering instructions
Your audio can explain how to order.
6) Opt-in instructions
This can be especially helpful if you’re doing double-opt-in. After they enter their name and email, you can verbally tell them to go check their email and confirm their subscription. (See video for example)
7) In an exit pop
Sometimes it helps stop people in their tracks if a voice says “Stop… I have something for you!”
8] Spoken transcript of your written content
Some of your visitors might prefer to listen rather than read. You could record yourself reading your content, or you could use a computer generated voice such as:
Ispeech (free text to speech tool)
9) Mood music*
Not recommended. See video for example of bad music, and how it can be done tastefully in some situations.
First you need a microphone. I recommend getting a plug-and-play USB mic. I paid about $100 for mine, but you can get a decent one for under $30 at Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, etc.
Three steps:
1) Record an MP3 file
You’ll need some recording software. Here are some good free programs:
Audacity (my top choice)
Free Hi-Q Recorder
If you’re installing Audacity for the first time, you’ll need to download the LAME MP3 Encoder file:
http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/
or http://lame.sourceforge.net/
If you need help with it, check out: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/
(see video for demo of recording)
2) Generate a flash player
There are plenty of free MP3 flash players available:
Dew Player: http://www.alsacreations.fr/dewplayer-en
Dew Player for WP: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/dewplayer-flash-mp3-player/
1-button player: http://www.strangecube.com/audioplay/
WP Plugin: http://www.1pixelout.net/code/audio-player-wordpress-plugin/
Non-WP Player: http://www.macloo.com/examples/audio_player/
Player generators: http://flash-mp3-player.net/
Multi-track player: http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/
3) Embed it on your website
(see video for demo)
Free flash player used in demo: click here to download (unzip it, and then just upload the SWF file along with your MP3)
Upload your files and paste the embed code into your web page.
Embed code from demo:
*If you’re putting it on a WordPress blog, be sure to fix the URL’s in the embed code to locate your SWF and MP3 files at their absolute location.
Action steps:
1) Think about how you can incorporate audio into your online business.
(Hint: I gave you 9 ideas)
2) Add some audio to your website.
In the next lesson we’ll be talking about privacy policies, disclaimers, and all that fun stuff.
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below.
Have a great day!
Great info Eric. I know I should implement it much more… Thanks.
Marian
Great info E! i will have to see where i could put the video and give it a test…rock on!
http://www.hiltonheadislandnightlife.com
http://www.thegolfersniche.com
Eric
thanks for these awesome tips!
Great lesson again Eric. Can I use my web cam mike for doing audio?
I looked forward to this lesson and I can’t wait to add audio to my site.
How do you get white noise out of your audio recordings?
Charles
Hey Eric,
Great Tip! Wish I had it a week or two ago before purchasing software that allowed me to do the very same thing. You know the saying “if it’s free it’s for me”.
Keep up the geat tips!
Alan
you’re welcome!
Yes you most likely can. Good thinking.
Super info@!! I really appreciate the links you have added to make it easier for all of us
Primarily I just try to avoid it. A higher quality mic helps a lot. You can run filters on your audio to remove it in sound editing software, but that can often have undesirable side effects like a “tinny” sound to your voice. So the best solution is to record in a quiet place and get a mic that doesn’t pick up much background noise. You can also try turning down the record volume while you’re recording.
Hey Eric,
I still need to go out and buy a microphone. You’ve given us a lot of great info in the past couple of lessons. Now I need to make some time to implement them. The video tutorial of PBM is on my list of things to do. My goel is to have it done by the end of next week.
Thanks again
Eric,
Thanks so much for your continued information during what certainly must be a crazy schedule.
I’ve followed most of what you’ve instructed us in, and my site is gradually developing into what I hope is beneficial to both public and Christian school teachers.
Here’s my question: may I give you a bit of a promo on my site and then put a text link in to direct my site’s visitors your direction?
Thanks,
John
Eric,
I wasn’t expecting this lesson to come so quick after the last one 😉
Thanks for the jam-packed wealth of resources you gave us with this video. I had downloaded Audacity about a year ago and there it just sat on my desktop waiting to be used and figured out…and now the day is finally here…lol
I did find myself having to do a little back tracking this week and leaning on some of your earlier videos again…such as marketing mindset, goals and visions. I can remember at that time wishing we could just get to the juicy stuff…but now I REALLY see how necessary and in order everything planed out by you really takes us step by step in the direction thats necessary. I’m getting to a point where I’m able to work more on projects more than ever before rather than just sitting in front of ebooks and other various traiing all the time. It feels great!
Thanks,
Gary
🙂
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thanks Eric for your lovely info regard imploding codes for mp3
thanks a lot 🙂
nizar bin sirri
Luca,
Looking forward to seeing your PBM video when it’s done!
Speaking of videos, I made one today with animoto…haven’t quite got it down to perfection yet but very much impressed with the program. You can view it at:
Hi John, absolutely– I always appreciate referrals 🙂
thanks Gary, I’m glad to hear it!
Hi Eric
Yet more great info as usual … thanks!
I have a question wrt video. Occasionally videos stall part way through. You can see that they only load up part way and stop. I try again later, days later, on a different browser but still they stall. eg Lesson 41 stalls at 11 mins. Several lessons have done this, and other videos from other marketers. Probably only 2%.
Any advice would be extremely welcome! Especially as I’m dead keen to see/hear the rest of your great advice and content on audio!
Many thanks
Mike
Hi Eric,
Thanks for mentioning converting text content into speech for free with iSpeech.org. To confirm that, we do have a free voice, and we also have premium voices that are priced very reasonable. Thanks again,
Heath
sure thing, thanks for stopping by 🙂
I really wish I knew the answer to that question. Most people can see the videos fine, but every once in awhile a few people have trouble with certain videos.
Usually it’s the longer videos that people have trouble with, so I suppose that’s a good reason to keep videos shorter when possible.
One possible reason is if your computer runs out of virtual memory and can not keep streaming the video. In such case, I think a solution would be to close all other programs. Close your browsers windows and clear internet history and temp files.
Reboot your computer to make sure there are no unnecessary programs running in the background. (a possible problem could be if you have adware, spyware, or even just normal software trying to communicate with the internet in the background)
Then open just one browser window and try again with no other programs running.
Sometimes it helps to simply try in a different browser (Firefox vs. Internet Explorer, or vice versa). But I guess that hasn’t worked for you.
Another potential fix is to upgrade your browser’s flash plugin to the latest version.
Perhaps could you try a different computer?
If you discover a solution please let me know.
PS- I decided to make a troubleshooting page for this topic:
I will update the page as additional solutions are discovered.
Audio is also great for your opt-in “Thank you” page to thank people for opting in and to instruct them to check their email and confirm their email address.
It’s a great lesson and I’m looking forward to my Lesson #43 asap. God bless!
Regarding Mike’s problem with videos loading, I had the same problem. A tech friend suggested clearing the cache regularly. It worked.
This is a great presentation on Audio. You have an excellent speaking voice. Have you taken a voice-over course?
Eric, Your lessons on Word Press are great! I think I will finally be able to install WP!
I want to do a series of video for my blog – kind of like a diary or journal. Is there a simple way to put a date on each video>
Thanks so much for this great series!
Barbara
Hi Eric
Thanks for this you make everything so clear.
Best Wishes
Denise
I don’t completely master the site nor to perfectly put it into rotation by my own . also it’s beyond my reach to hire basical stuff and tools to supplement my site with . I’ve not been the disigner anymore . Thanks to great R. Morris I did acquire the site and I was given the right of owner-ship as affilate . I can’t see how to add extra improvements as audio-video . thanks dear Eric and my I count on you !
YOu music comments were ineresting… both the first example and the MGM were equally bad, yet you seemed to like the MGM one. So you made your point
I always wanted to use audio in my websites, but I didn’t have many ideas about how to do it. Thanks a lot for putting all this information in one place.
depends on what you’re using to make the videos. If you’re using Camtasia, you can put text on the video easily with a text call-out.
If you’re doing screen capture videos, you could physically display the date somewhere on your computer screen.
thank you 🙂 No I haven’t taken a VO course
Yup… proves my point that not everyone likes the same music 😉
I started using audio on certain posts and works very well I may try this way above to see how it works.
Another great video Eric..I had already been using audacity to put audio on my website… But,I was wondering about the lame thingy… Now I can encode mp3s as well. Awesome!
Well Eric they just keep getting better and better.
Thanks again
RobT
my email address is —–. the email address ——-is no longer in use,thank`s.
Vaughn, please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email from me, but then simply change your email address and do not unsubscribe. Thanks
Hi Eric, nice post. I wanted to mention that there’s another free text to speech website well worth mentioning called YAKiToMe! at http://www.yakitome.com. Unlike the site you mentioned, which charges for premium voices, the YAKiToMe! site has all the same premium voices (and more) for free with unlimited access and no gimmicks. This should save your readers a bundle of $. I find the site quite useful, myself.
Eric,
I used wp plugin and is working fine.
For static sites: we embed the code in index.html
If we want to put that on pages other than home page, is it any different?
Thanks.
Hello Stan,
You can add audio to any of your webpages, and don’t have to do anything different.
Eric,
thanks for the audio tip. I never thought about it.
Dyuane
can this same method be used to put audio on email?just corious
My answer is the same as my answer to your question about embedding video in email 😉
Yes you can embed audio in an HTML email, but I wouldn’t recommend it…not yet anyway. Most email clients won’t play it, and it may trigger virus alerts.
Instead, what you could do is embed a jpg image or a text link that says “click here to listen”, and link it to a page with the audio on your own site.
Hi Eric ! and Again Thank you.
A quick question: Having installed WP in the root of my HostGator space, where do I put the code generated by Flash mp3 player?
and the .SWF ? and the .mp3?
I really apreciate your work here.
Best Regards,
Riccardo.
Help! I cannot Log in in my WA Site Anymore!
Yesterday I changed the Theme, it looks better now, BUT There in NOT the Log in link in the META anymore!
I Went to wordpress.com but my admin+password credentials aren’t useful. They let me in the first log in details I gave when I first downloaded WP.
I looked Everywhere but I’m once again stuck!
Eric please…
Thank you.
I would suggest making a new folder for it, within your public_html directory. You could call the folder ‘audio’.
Then you will just have to adjust the URL paths accordingly in your embed code.
It’s OK, the theme just doesn’t have the link in the sidebar. Just go to yourdomain.com/wp-admin
I Knew It was simple and Possible, But I was going CRAZY!
I also contacted WP support who replied:
“Hi,
Because the blog is not hosted here at WordPress.com, we have no control over its accounts, so we are unable to directly assist in this matter.”
Thank YOU, again Eric.
I know Jesus will continue blessing you and your family.
Riccardo.