Seven Ways to Warm Your Prospects Using Website Audio

Gone are the days when putting audio on your website consisted of subjecting your visitors to gaudy musical fanfares and various clichéd sound effects. Fortunately, audio has now become a lot more sophisticated and new techniques that allow audio to be streamed have made it possible to use your own voice as a highly effective marketing tool.

Most visitors to your website will have computers with audio capabilities. Using your own voice, you can deepen the impact of your sales message and develop a stronger connection with your visitors. Many websites using streaming audio to promote and sell services claim that audio increases their conversion by as much as 300%!

Why is audio such an effective marketing tool? It's simple really. It's a well-known fact in consumer psychology that the more senses you engage, the easier it is to communicate a message and motivate a sale. Senses evoke emotion and emotions are memorable. When it comes to surfing the Internet, the sense of hearing is far more powerful than the sense of sight. Internet surfers remember only 20% of what they read, but remember an amazing 70% of what they hear. Visitors respond to your voice in way that cannot be achieved with words alone, no matter how great your copy is. Audio's power comes from its ability to reinforce your message by engaging your visitor's most powerful senses.

Listed below are some of the most powerful ways to use streaming audio on your website:

Introductions: Use streaming audio to introduce yourself, your website and some of your key products or services to your visitors. Doing this removes some of the anonymity of the web experience and helps develop trust between your and your prospect.

Testimonials: It's a proven fact that testimonials that include a photograph appear more credible to visitors that those with text only. Testimonials that include text, a photo AND an audio note are the next best thing to having satisfied customers call your visitors and tell them personally how great your products are!

Assurances: Placing audio notes at important points in your website, such as order forms, or payment links, is an excellent way to reassure visitors about common concerns. Streaming audio can be use to explain the payment process, security issues, merchant account details and any other concerns visitors may have relating to your website.

Instructions: Streaming audio buttons allow you to quickly provide instructions to visitors. A great example of this can be found at http://www.ezinearticles.com. An audio note that explains exactly what you must do to make a successful submission supports each step of the article submission process!

Tips: Over 80% of web surfers will click on link offering a tip? Why? Because they know a tip is a short piece of useful information. Reading a tip is not like reading an instruction manual. It's a chance to gain some information quickly. Provide an audio tip on your site each day and you'll find people just can't get enough of pressing that play button!

Teleconferences and Seminars : Streaming audio is a great way to provide your visitors with playback on seminars and teleconferences.

Thanks You's: Create a streaming audio message to send in emails every time a client or prospect buys your product or service. Acknowledging a purchase personally is a fantastic way to build up customer loyalty and boost repeat sales.

Finally, a brief word of caution! Audio is an effective tool when used responsibly. Don't hit your visitors with audio as soon as they arrive at your site. You never know where people are accessing from or what other sound may be running on their computers. I've read about visitors being really annoyed by audio that played without invitation because they were listening to CD's or were sitting in their workplace. It's important that visitors have control over the audio. A simple invitation to click is all it takes. You'll be surprised at how many people are driven by curiosity and will feel compelled to click the play button. Also take time to prepare your message well. Try to animate your voice and inject some personality into your message by being conversational rather than formal. Most important of all, be confident and be yourself!

This article may be reproduced in its entirety only if unaltered and the resource box is included.

Tracey Meagher is the founder of QuickandEasyAudio.com, a website that reviews all the latest resources and tools available for adding audio to your website. Visit http://www.quickandeasyaudio.com to receive free audio resources that will help you add audio to your website in less than 60 minutes!

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President-elect Barack Obama gestures during a news conference at his transition office in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, where he introduced Nancy Killefer, not shown, to the newly created position of chief performance officer. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)AP - Pointing with concern to "red ink as far as the eye can see," President-elect Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to tackle out-of-control Social Security and Medicare spending and named a special watchdog to clamp down on other federal programs — even as he campaigned anew to spend the largest pile of taxpayer money in history to revive the sinking economy.



Palestinians pray over the bodies of  people killed near a United Nations school Tuesday, during their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. Israel's military paused its Gaza offensive for three hours Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach besieged Palestinians, and the country's leaders debated whether to accept an international cease-fire plan or expand the assault against Hamas. With criticism rising of the operation's spiraling civilian death toll and Gazans increasingly suffering the effects of nonstop airstrikes and shelling, Israel's military said it opened 'humanitarian corridors' to allow aid supplies to reach Palestinians.(AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)AP - Israel resumed its Gaza offensive Wednesday, bombing heavily around suspected smuggling tunnels near the border with Egypt after a three-hour lull to allow in humanitarian aid. Hamas responded with a rocket barrage.



Illinois U.S. Senate Appointee Roland Burris smiles as he meets with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - Roland Burris said Wednesday he should be able to join the Senate "very shortly," after talking to newly supportive Democratic leaders and working on lingering legal obstacles. Talking to reporters on the second day of a Washington power odyssey that would intimidate many, the 71-year-old Burris declared himself happy and said he was pleased with his meeting with Sens. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin.



President-elect Barack Obama is welcomed by President George W. Bush for a meeting at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, with former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, Bill  Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)AP - Confronting a grim economy and a Middle East on fire, Barack Obama turned Wednesday to perhaps the only people on the planet who understand what he's in for: the four living members of the U.S. presidents' club.



New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson answers questions from the press regarding his withdrawal as the nominee for secretary of the Commerce Department Wednesday Jan. 7, 2008 in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Craig Fritz)AP - One of Gov. Bill Richardson's close friends and advisers worked as a consultant for the California firm at the center of a federal pay-to-play probe that derailed the governor's appointment as commerce secretary.



Republican Norm Coleman along with his wife Laurie and several supporters announces he is suing to challenge the results of the U.S. Senate recount during a press conference Tuesday Jan. 6, 2009 at the State Office Building in St. Paul, Minn.  Coleman lost the recount to Democratic  candidate Al Franken by 225 votes. (AP Photo/Dawn VIllella)AP - Minnesota's grueling U.S. Senate race, already dragging on two months past Election Day, has now moved even further from the voters — and into the hands of lawyers.



This undated handout illustration provided by The Johns Hopkins University shows the massive 30-foot wingspan of the toothless pteranodon, left, was surpassed by that of Hatzegopteryx, right, at 40 feet or more. Pterosaurs, sometimes weighed more than 500 pounds, and yet they soared above the other dinosaurs. Experts couldn't figure out how  because no bird can get that big could get off the ground. A new study has figured out how they did it: By leaping into the air from all fours - unlike any other flyers in history (except the vampire bats). (AP Photo/Johns Hopkins University, Mark Witton)AP - The Jurassic version of jumbo jets — huge flying creatures weighing hundreds of pounds — is a mystery of dinosaur-era flight: How did something so big get off the ground? A Johns Hopkins University biologist thinks he has figured out the answer.



In this photo provided by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Shannon Eubanks, left, her new baby Kathleen Conley Eubanks, and husband Gaston Eubanks share a moment in the hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C. Tuesday Jan. 6, 2009. Eubanks waited until she reached the 39th week of her pregnancy to schedule a Caesarean section to deliver her daughter. A study in the Jan. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine shows that babies have fewer health problems if planned C-sections are done during the week before the due date. (AP Photo/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Stephanie Crayton)AP - Babies do better after a scheduled Caesarean section if they're born no sooner than seven days before their due date, a new large study of U.S. births shows. Those delivered earlier had more complications, including breathing problems, even though they were full term, the researchers reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Even just a few days made a difference, they said.



AP - An eastern Pennsylvania man may face up to 37 years in prison for tearing open a neighbor's door with a chain saw. Police say 34-year-old Robert Kane began sawing through the front door of Jamie Zaleski's apartment in Scranton while Zaleski and several friends ran out the back.

In this Nov. 30, 2008 file photo, New York Jets coach Eric Mangini looks up at the scoreboard during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The Cleveland Browns have agreed to hire Eric Mangini as their head coach, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)AP - The Cleveland Browns will hire Eric Mangini as their next head coach, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press. Mangini, fired last week by the New York Jets, will be introduced at a Thursday news conference at the team's headquarters in Berea, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Mangini's contract has not been finalized. Mangini reached an agreement with the club Wednesday, the person said.



An Israeli soldier jumps off an armoured personnel carrier (APC) after crossing into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip January 7, 2009. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)Reuters - Israeli aircraft and tanks pounded the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and troops battled Palestinian guerrillas on the ground as U.S. backing for a proposed truce raised expectations of an end to the 12-day-old offensive.



President Bush greets President-elect Barack Obama at the White House, November 10, 2008. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)Reuters - The U.S. budget deficit will swell to a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal 2009, congressional forecasters said on Wednesday, the result of an economic recession that has cut tax receipts and caused massive government bailouts of banks and automakers.



United Auto Workers (UAW) President Ron Gettelfinger (C) addresses the media as UAW Vice-Presidents listen at the UAW Solidarity House in Detroit, Michigan December 12, 2008. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)Reuters - United Auto Workers bargaining teams are arriving this week in Detroit as the union gears up for negotiations with General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, which are mandated to cut labor costs under a $17.4 billion federal bailout.



Senate-designate Roland Burris talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as Senator Richard Durbin sits in Reid's office on Capitol Hill, January 7, 2009. (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - In an abrupt switch, Democratic leaders began talks on Wednesday to swear in Roland Burris, appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.



Eggs are stacked up at an egg farm in San Diego County, July 29, 2008. (Mike Blake/Reuters)Reuters - An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning has made 388 people sick across 42 states, sending 18 percent of them to the hospital, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.



A man walks past a store advertising a sale in Virginia, November 28, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - Job losses and plans to lay off workers hammered the struggling U.S. economy in the final month of 2008, according to private reports that could foreshadow surprisingly grim labor market data from the government on Friday.



A door gunner on a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter keeps a watch on the terrain during a resupply mission in eastern Afghanistan December 25, 2008. (Bob Strong/Reuters)Reuters - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told Congress that a planned buildup of U.S. forces in Afghanistan could add $5.5 billion to U.S. war costs in the current federal fiscal year, officials said on Wednesday.



Bernard Madoff is escorted in a vehicle from Federal Court in New York, January 5, 2009. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)Reuters - Accused swindler Bernard Madoff should be jailed for violating a court order by mailing $1 million worth of diamonds, watches and other jewelry to friends and family, U.S. prosecutors told a court on Wednesday.



Smoke billows following an Israel air strike in Rafah near the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. Israel on Wednesday approved an even tougher war on Hamas, warning residents to flee southern Gaza ahead of planned bombing of cross-border tunnels, as the Palestinian death toll passed 700.(AFP/Said Khatib)AFP - Israel on Wednesday approved an even tougher war on Hamas, warning residents to flee southern Gaza ahead of planned bombing of cross-border tunnels, as the Palestinian death toll passed 700.



A local worker controls a gas valve and the gas pressure at the gas-main center of FGSZ Natural Gas, in Vecses, Hungary. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday laid down terms for a resumption of Russian gas shipments via Ukraine to Europe as tens of thousands of Europeans suffered heating cuts amid freezing weather.(AFP/Attila Kisbenedek)AFP - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday laid down terms for a resumption of Russian gas shipments via Ukraine to Europe as tens of thousands of Europeans suffered heating cuts amid freezing weather.




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