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Websites fall into one of two broad categories. They either provide information, services and products for free (resources), or they provide one or all of the same services in exchange for money (businesses). There are of course, a number of hybrid sites that offer both.

This article is aimed at those that operate an on-line business, but feel free to read on if you don’t!

Okay, so you have a website that offers a product or service for a fee, you have sweat blood and tears to optimise your website, and your pay-per-click advertising is bringing prospective customers in. Fantastic news. You have a major problem however, conversion rates are less than woeful and there is many a time when your ‘Cost Per Customer’ actually outweighs your marketing spend. Running a business this way results in only one outcome, i won’t spell it out because it’s a dirty word.

This brings me onto the point of conversion rates, how do you increase them? If i had the definitive answer i wouldn’t be sat here writing this article, i would be scuba diving off the Great Barrier Reef but i digress. What i do have, is some very useful information relating to a currently very underused on-line marketing technique, streaming website audio.

I’m sure we have all stumbled upon some pretty awful websites, you know the ones, with the animated dog running from side to side, with the MIDI version of the Star Wars soundtrack blaring out at you. Erase those images from your mind, we’re not going there today (although i may tomorrow, for nostalgia’s sake)

I am referring to targeted audio, produced by professionals with one result in mind, more profit for your business.

Audio on the internet is a minefield, with all kinds of compatibility issues & users connections speeds to contend with, up until now that has been a good enough reason for websites not to get involved. What was needed was a universal audio player, so everybody on the web could listen to audio without the need to download files and listen through an external media player. Well, utopia is just about here.

Flash audio is the answer to many a website’s dreams. 96% of all internet users have the flash plug-in already installed on their computer, flash audio also streams right on the page, no need for downloads. File sizes are tiny as the player interface is the only component downloaded, with the audio loading as it plays in real time.

So with that major obstacle finally overcome, the only real question left is “how can my website use audio to it’s advantage?”

Look no further than your radio or TV set. The guys behind these adverts know what works. Now you can apply the same methods on your website. To give you a statistic, websites that sell products benefit in a huge way from having sales related audio on their page, with recent figures showing up to a 33% increase in sales. Think about it, you can’t control what your visitors read but you most certainly can control what they hear.

You can take advantage of methods the TV and radio marketing wizards have been using for years.

Jingles are another massive pull for websites. Brands the world over make use of ’sonic logos’ to create memorable names, facts and numbers. In a website environment the power of this is magnified. For starters, visitors aren’t expecting to hear a jingle when they visit your homepage so the novelty factor in itself is a good enough reason for them to recall that all important domain name. A good quality jingle will also separate your business from the rest of your probably fierce competition, it strengthens your on-line brand and re-enforces a prospective customers confidence in your business, knowing you have gone that extra mile. From a vanity point of view, there’s also the show off factor!

If you have a website that is full of drop down menus and text boxes, it can be confusing for the novice users out there, remember not everybody is as up-to-date with buying on the web as you are. This is where streaming instructional narrative comes in handy, verbally walking the customer through your site, explaining the way it works and the process they should follow in order to make a purchase.

Testimonials from customers are a good confidence builder when selling your company and a great number of people read these before making a decision to buy from you. Imagine the power of having that testimonial spoken by your customer, that really does erase any doubt in your prospective customers mind that the testimonial may not be legitimate, put yourself in their shoes and think about it.

There are a hundred and one uses for audio in a web environment, all you need do is put your creative hat on, or find a company that will take you through the process from end to end. Whatever it is your website sells, it will benefit from having targeted streaming audio, end of story. Remember, people buy from people, not computers.

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