Putting Sound to Work
Play audio version of article
Axiom’s blog articles have often ‘spoken’ of the increasing importance of graphics, audio and audio-visual material on the web. Various fortune-tellers of the web’s future have told us that by this or that year, the web will be nearly all graphics, animation, live-action webcasts or video presentations. The internet of the future will be watched or listened to far more than it is read like a book or newspaper.
Right now, this is beyond the technical or time resources available to most amateur webmasters. If they are running a small business, professional practice or non-profit, they will have little time to devote to producing video material. However, there are ways to put sound to work on your website without a lot of technical skill. You have almost certainly seen someone listening to an audio presentation on their smart phone or mobile device. Producing an audio version of a blog article is within the technical ability of most people.
If you are not familiar with Audacity, the free audio recording and editing software, you can download it from audacityteam.org. Many people feel that Audacity is the best piece of free software available anywhere. There are numerous free lessons available on YouTube and the Audacity site to teach the basics of making your own audio material.
Once produced, this material can be placed on the web in a number of ways, each contributing to your overall branding strategy and digital marketing solution. The directions for doing this are available at various social media platform sites, including Facebook and YouTube. If you are using the most common web content management system (that is WordPress, by far), you can find extensive instructions for uploading and embedding audio into your website at WordPress Audio Instructions. The WordPress content system will produce a neat looking player app that can be embedded in your website.
If you are not up for recording your own material with Audacity, there are a number of free or reasonably priced applications for converting text to mp3 or other audio format files that can be uploaded to your site. Check out the free on-line service, fromtexttospeech.com or the downloadable software, “Dragon NaturallySpeaking,” both of which convert text to mp3 files. The free or inexpensive programs use the standard Microsoft voices of “Microsoft Mike” or “Microsoft Vera.” Other software provides a range of natural sounding voices, but the quality of free programs has improved dramatically and the extra expense may not be worthwhile.
There are some cautions to using this technology. Axiom does not think that it is a good idea to have an audio presentation load and play automatically when you download a webpage. The unexpected sound can be annoying to the user and those around him or her. Also, audio is not a substitute for quality content. Quality content is still the heart and soul of a good webpage (see Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Axiom 9/10/18).
Audio can easily become a key part of your branding strategy, helping your website to achieve the digital marketing solution you need. Unlike professional video, most people can master this technology in a few hours and post their first audio in a day or two. Nevertheless, any effort like this requires time and effort. If you do not have the time or inclination to devote to this, Axiom can provide digital marketing solutions that work and branding strategies that make your business stand out. Your business deserves more than a cheap web design, and Axiom is more than an internet marketing agency. Axiom Administrative Services has the professional skill and small business SEO skills needed to get your web presence the ranking it deserves.
Our business marketing team can combine traditional marketing tools like direct mail advertising with local SEO services to build your branding strategy. Please visit Axiom’s small business services page by or call Axiom at 800-888-6348.
