InternetDay Newsletter, 15 April 1999
Adding voice messages is a relatively new technique for
adding interactivity and personality to a website. By adding
voice, you can go beyond conventional text and graphics and
connect with your visitors like never before. Do you have an
online business? Marketing research has shown that voice
can increase your online sales up to 34%!
I can help you add a voice message of 30-45 seconds length
to your website. I do not claim to be an expert, and I will let
you judge by the quality of my welcome message at
http://www.goldvisions.com.
The message is in Real Audio
format, the most commonly used audio format on the
internet. You may download the latest version of the Real
Player at http://www.real.com if
you have not already done
so. The message we will work with will not play
automatically (it will not be "embedded") when your page
loads. It will be triggered to play with a link, I believe it is
better to have a linked message because it does not play
everytime a visitor views the same page, it won't tax your
loading time, and it will not catch your visitor by surprise.
Ok, here we go:
Opening Words:
To ensure best quality, keep about three
inches away from the microphone and set the input volume
a bit above mid-line. Speak with a bold and friendly voice.
Also, be proactive and encourage your visitors to do
something, like bookmark your site or subscribe to your
newsletter. Finally, remember this message is for Real
Audio
5.0 and above. A small percentage of people
will miss out on
your voice.
First Step: 99% of us have the first
tool and it's very easy to
use. It's called Sound Recorder and it
can be found under
Program-->Accessories-->Multimedia in Windows. Record a
message no longer than 45 seconds at the highest quality
(CD quality under Edit-->Properties). You have just
recorded a high quality, high memory (about 5 MB!) WAV
file. Save it as "voice.wav".
Second Step: Download Real Encoder
from the
http://www.real.com. Drag and drop
the WAV file or open it
directly into Real Encoder. Select the
"Real Audio 5.0 16
kbps Voice-Wideband" compression format. In about 5
seconds you will have compressed your original 5 MB WAV
message to around a 50 KB .ra file! Go ahead and upload
the message to your site.
Third step: Use Notepad
to make a file with nothing but the
exact url of the message written in it. Example:
http://www.yourpage.com/voice.ra.
Save this file as
"voice.ram" and upload it also.
We're almost there!
Final Step: Make a link like this
in your page:
http://www.yourpage.com/voice.ram.
The .ram file is sort of
a jump file to the .ra file. If you link the .ra file directly, it
won't work. So there you have it! An HTML version of this
report is available at http://www.goldvisions.com.
I'm glad to
be of help and open to feedback!
Article by Fawad Ahmed of Goldvisions. Fawad is a
second-year medical student at the University of Florida
School of Medicine, Vice-President of Ultra-Lifestyles and
webmaster for: http://www.goldvisions.com and
http://www.ultralifestyles.com Goldvisions: Internet Gold, is
a one-stop internet marketing center for marketing tips,
higher ranking, and better web design, Ultra-Lifestyles:
Ways to Wellness and Wealth, is the home of the Trimpatch
Weight Loss Patch.
Copyright - EGO 1999
Letzte Änderung am 16. April 1999