Audio Streaming InformationAudio streaming is known as a one-way audio transmission over a data network. It is widely used on the web as well as company networks to play audio clips and internet radio. If you own your own web site, you can find many uses for audio streaming and now is a great time to get started. Audio can greatly improve the quality of your web site. Some web owners like the idea of adding background music to their web sites, but most of them are concerned about slow loading pages and large file sizes. There are ways that you can get around this and some of them do not require large files to get good results. It is a known fact that a well-placed audio stream can lead to an increase in sales of your product or service that you are offering on your web site. The problem in the past was that the average web owner could not afford the technology to put audio streaming on their site. Times have changed because now, you can buy simple software to produce your own streaming video from your web site. You do not have to be an expert in order to use the new software that is available out there today. There are no large plugins required and it is not complicated to set up. All you have to do is add your audio file and choose a component to activate the stream and click go. The software programs will put out all of the files that you will need and then you will be able to copy and paste them into your web pages. When a visitor shows up at your web page, all he has to do is to click and listen and he will be able to enjoy the audio streaming that you have created. Labels: Audio Streaming Information Internet Talk Radio - A New Platform of EntertainmentYou will be stunned to know that more number of Americans are tuning into online radio increasingly day by day. Among the new generation internet radio is much popular. Research reveals that among all the age groups, the most popular method for listening to internet radio was via a home computer followed by a work computer. Somewhere around thirty eight percentages of teenagers use a mobile device for listening to internet radio and a remarkable twenty two percentage were able to access Internet radio in their cars. A great advantage of internet radio is that one can record any music from his favorite radio station and will capture the music using the capture mode. Even the received stream of a radio station can be separated automatically into individual songs. And this feature is possible only when a radio station is listed. Similarly you can edit the list and can remove the list entries whenever needed. All the internet based talk radio stations also provide online technical support, which can be contacted in case of any difficulties in viewing any programs. Although the concept of internet radio is totally new, but still a lot of web based talk radio stations have made their presence felt in this world. The primary reason for such growth can be attributed to its low operational costs and flexibility in its usage. Various means have been now used to transmit text, music and video audio via internet. The radio talk shows are very popular since it allows users to interact and express their thoughts and decisions via internet. Lively conversation makes people more interested. The different talk shows on internet radio are highly popular since people organizing or hosting those talk shows have enough knowledge about the topic of discussion. The arguments, suggestions and inferences that all took place in a talk show are highly impressive and appeal also to wide group of audience. Internet talk radio is gaining popularity day by day due to its easy mode of transmit. It can be accessed from anywhere at anytime.Labels: Internet Talk Radio - A New Platform of Entertainment Audio Streaming and the Top 5 Don'ts For BusinessAudio streaming can allow you to provide a personal touch to your sales letter for visitors. It can add that voice of reason, compassion and opportunity that simple words on a screen just can't do. The truth is many of your online visitors will scan your presentation. They will gravitate toward bullet points and only read what seems most important. Are you afraid customers might miss something? You can embed an mp3 audio file into your sales page that can help customers catch the most important parts and they are delivered in a way that only you can. Of course you can always hire a professional to voice the project for you. Sites like voices and voice123 as well as RadioDaddy have been used to successfully gain this type of audio from a professional voice talent. The good news is you can also do it yourself. You can purchase a USB linked microphone for less than $40 and use a simple mp3 audio file. A quick search engine visit should bring several free recording software alternatives for you to consider. You may also be able to find a secondary host for your mp3 file and then embed the visible link in your sales page. This can be a quick and inexpensive way to make your audio stream possible. Most online business owners only think of audio streaming as either podcasts or Internet radio. Some have not even thought of the potential for audio streaming in a business environment. Yes, there are businesses that are developing podcasts - and they are gaining a following as they offer quality infotainment. They mix a little important stuff with a few fun items and the listener is often left encouraged to come back again next time. Let me write just a bit about a few things you don't want to do when you decide to provide an audio stream of your sales pitch. 1. Do not attempt to 'wing it' unless you are exceptionally good. Script your approach and read it out loud (and often) before attempting to record. 2. Do not try to make your sales pitch hard sell. It's a simple back click for the visitor and they aren't afraid to use it. 3. Do not come across as dull and unenthusiastic. Ask a trusted friend or family member to evaluate the presentation. If you're first read is boring it's time to rerecord. Try some coffee before you read again and smile when you talk. 4. Do not read the entire sales letter. Prioritize what's important and include a call to action. Remember your visitor will often scan for what they feel is most important. If you read it all they will likely get bored. Make liberal use of your bullet points and minimize any verbal expansion on those subjects. 5. Do not apologize for what you may feel is inexperience with audio streaming. If you bring this up you are unintentionally saying, "I don't know what I'm doing - don't trust me." Audio streaming has a growing place within online business. The cost to get started is minimal and it could transmit to a very lucrative conversion rate. Labels: Audio Streaming and the Top 5 Don'ts For Business IBuzzPro For BeginnersFinally, someone's come up with an easy to use voice broadcasting platform for professional marketers and newbie's who want to appear professional. The iBuzzPro voice broadcasting system allows you to send a recorded voice message up to one minute in length to as many as 10,000 leads in as little as 30 minutes. This technology doesn't come cheap. As I said before iBuzzPro is for serious marketers only or those who want to be. The 'average joe' home business owner that hasn't made a dime in his business yet may not think the start up costs of a little less than $800 is worth it. Then again..what is your time worth? Let's assume you're one of those big thinkers and in fact you already own the IBuzzPro software. You just haven't pull the trigger yet on your first broadcast. Why? Nervous? Well, the only thing you really need to know to get started is... Start Small. This system is a monster and will have your phone ringing within five minutes of sending a broadcast with people wanting to know more about your product or service. Broadcasting to as few as 3,000 leads could have you so overwhelmed with incoming calls that you won't have time to call them all back and we know what that looks like to the person calling you. It looks like you can't handle your business. So start small with a broadcast of 100-200 people until you know what you're doing and have a system in place to handle the call volume comfortably. Keep Sorting The key is to spend only one minute or less telling them where to find more information on your product or service. This is usually where they will get the "full" presentation of your offer. Don't spend any more time than that on the phone with any one person. You're still in the sorting process and you'll have lots of people to talk to. You want to do everything in your power to get back to people who requested more information the same day they call. Remember what we said earlier. This also takes away most of the "phone fear" that kills so many of our businesses before we even get them started. Some of us will literally rearranged the furniture in the office, fold the laundry, mow the lawn, wash the car and run to the grocery store for Mrs. Johnson next door before we have enough courage to pick up the phone and make a few cold calls. If you're in a business where you need to sort through massive amounts of people on a daily basis voice broadcasting just makes sense. There is an art to making money with it, but once you've got it... you've got it.. Labels: IBuzzPro For Beginners Audio Streaming - How to SucceedStreaming multimedia is a form of multimedia, which itself is media that uses different forms of content. Combinations of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms are typical modes of multimedia presentation. The streaming variant is being sent, in a continuous flow, to the user of the content by the streaming provider. In this context, examples of the content stream include audio and video. The streaming refers to the method of delivery of the content flow rather than to the nature of the content. Apart from telecommunications networks, most systems for delivering content are either streaming, such as radio and television, or non-streaming, such as audio CD's, video cassettes, and books. The term 'to stream' means, quite simply, to deliver media in this particular manner. History The first attempts were made, in mid-20th century, to display media on computers. However, due to the high cost and very limited capabilities of computer hardware at that time, development did not proceed at any pace for many years. By the 1990s, personal computers had become sufficiently powerful to display a variety of media forms. The main technical problems associated with streaming at that time were: "Having sufficient CPU power", which refers to the central processor, that can execute computer programmes, "and also bus bandwidth", which is the capacity of the system to transfer data over a connection, "in order to support the required rates of data flow." "Creating low latency", which allows delays too swift for human detection between an input being processed and the corresponding output providing real time characteristics, "interrupt paths in the OS", or operating system, "to prevent buffer underrun", which occurs when a buffer, which is a storage device used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data between devices used to communicate between two devices or processes, is fed with data at a lower speed than the data is being read from it. However, computer networks had still not developed fully, and so media content was normally processed over non-streaming channels, such as CD ROM's. Between the late 1990s and into the next century, there were significant advances in the internet, such as: An increase in network bandwidth, especially in the last mile, which referred to the final leg of delivering connectivity from the communications provider to a customer. Greater access to networks, especially the internet. The application of standard protocols and formats, such as TCP/IP, HTTP, and HTML. Significantly greater commercialisation of the Internet. With the advent of powerful home computers and advanced operating systems, these advances in computer networking enabled streaming media to become a practical and affordable proposition for the nation at large. Another advance was the introduction of stand-alone Internet radio devices, which are hardware devices that receive and play audio from internet radio stations or the user's PC or other embedded media servers. For the first time, this provided listeners with the ability to listen to audio streams without the requirement of a PC. In general, multimedia content is large, so media storage and transmission costs are still significant. In order to compensate for this, media is generally compressed, such as in a ZIP file format, which provides compression, and also acts as an archiver, storing many source files in a single destination output file, for both storage and streaming. A media stream can be either on demand or live. In the case of on demand streams, the content is stored on a server for long periods of time, and is available for transmission on request. Live streams, on the other hand, are only available at one particular time, such as in a video stream of a live sporting event. Labels: Audio Streaming - How to Succeed Do You Want Audio on Your Website? Consider These PointsHave you been thinking about adding audio to your website? Here are a few things to consider before you do. First, a word of warning... There are several inexpensive programs making the rounds that allow you to record your audio, add background music, even redirect your listener to a different page at the end of the recording. Do they work as promised? Yes, and no. Yes, you can easily produce a very acceptable audio. Getting it to work on your web site is an entirely different matter. You had better be familiar with FTPing and have at least a basic knowledge of HTML, or you can end up wasting days, even weeks, before you are through. For example, what works on Mozilla Firefox doesn't always work on Internet Explorer and visa versa.
Labels: Do You Want Audio on Your Website? Consider These Points Adding Audio to Your Site - "Why" and "How" AnsweredFor those of you that surf the 'net often, you might be noticing audio clips that are popping up. Some will start playing as soon as you enter a site, and others you are beckoned to click "play" to hear their message. Adding an audio clip to your website gives a personal touch where reading text is hard to portray. It puts a voice to you representing your product or service and can make a big effect on how you are perceived. It assists your website visitors so they can gain a better understanding of what you offer - just as a face-to-face meeting would - having an audio clip helps your web audience build that important relationship with you. Audio also enhances your professional presentation - in most circumstances. In my opinion, having an audio clip (whether it is music or a voice-over) automatically play when a web page is opened is not a good idea. It is forcing the visitor to listen to something they may not have cared to hear and more importantly, it interferes with the music or radio program they are playing while surfing. It is best to provide an invitation to listen to the audio clip when it is appropriate to introduce it in your website content. This way, you are making your visitors feel comfortable and you appear professional and trustworthy at the same time. From a marketing perspective, audio can act as an "attention grabber". You have the ability to guide your website visitor through your site and talk about the product or service you have to offer. The audio clip can also be a powerful motivator to explore and discover your site. There are several ways to utilize audio on your website: *Personal Messages: Add a personal greeting by means of introducing yourself, your products or your services. This is a quick way to capture their attention as opposed to counting on them to read all of the text you have provided. In fact, simply do that - read what you already have written on your site! This will give your visitors a lasting impression once they hear your voice. *Promotional Message: Promote a sale, special give-away, or announce a brand new product you want to let everyone know about. Your passionate message speaking about how much you truly believe in your product or service will be sure to catch people's interest. *Audio Testimonials: Ask your clients to record a quick sound byte for you and post this audio message, along with their name and website address (or contact information) and it becomes a powerful way to tell others of your credibility. Your visitors will be more apt to believe the testimonial if it's attached with a live voice of your client. Your client also wins by giving them some extra exposure of their business. *Audio Instructions: If you offer a product that needs some instruction, provide an audio clip that explains the steps involved. You can accompany it with a picture of what you're talking about. Seeing and hearing how something works is very powerful and will give people the confidence they need to purchase what you have to offer. * Audio Invitation: If you have a free e-newsletter, it's important to try and get as many people to sign up for it as possible - they are your target market just waiting to hear more from you! By using an audio message inviting people to sign and explain what they will get for their efforts (answering the "what's in it for me" question), can be very effective. Be sure to mention that you are giving away a free item to anyone signing up - such as a free article, e-book, or piece of artwork etc - people love receiving something free! How to Put Audio on Your Site Digital audio can come in many different formats, but the most common and safe format to use is MP3. There are several ways to going about creating these MP3 files - some more expensive than others. I'll detail a few here: *Recording the audio on your home PC: There are lots of audio recording software available for you to install and start recording your message. All you need is a good quality computer microphone, a quiet room and you're good to go. Here are a couple of software suggestions: - Audacity is a free, open source audio software program you download and install yourself. * Using an on-line service: * Hiring a Professional: With this option, you hire a local audio recording company and go into their studio where they record your voice-over, do edits to make it sound professional and perfect, add some background music and then your audio file is ready to be burned to CD or uploaded to your website. As you can see, there are many options to consider on how to go about adding audio to your website; in my opinion, give the free open source software a try first and see how that works. If you find it's too difficult to manage and you want an easier way, try the services offered. Once you have your audio clip created, simply contact me or your web developer to have it added to your site. Labels: Adding Audio to Your Site - "Why" and "How" Answered |
