The Audio & Video Flair Phenomenon
One of the most powerful things you can do to increase sales in your online business is add audio and video to your web sites. Better known as “Multi-Media”, audio and video adds a flair of professionalism to your business that makes all other attempts to increase conversions pale by comparison.
When added properly, media flair can triple and even quadruple your websites performance. You must properly produce and utilize the media in the appropriate part of your page flow.
In this article series I’ll cover the do’s and don’ts of media flair production and utilization. You’ll learn the most effective methods and resources for producing, editing and serving your media. You’re about to discover that having a professional looking website with an incredible sales video and audio message is well within your grasp.
As you know, video sales pages are becoming more and more common in the Internet Marketing community. Many of the biggest product launches we’ve seen recently didn’t even utilize any sales copy at all. Instead, they simply implemented a sales video with a big bright “add to cart” button to the right of the video.
Not only are videos replacing sales copy but we are seeing a trend where information products or “ebooks” are now really becoming “Vbooks” or video courses. Conference calls are now becoming “Webinars” and video sites like YouTube Fiddler and UStream are exploding.
Many sites also utilize audio without video. Visitors can press buttons to play and listen to customer testimonials. In some cases, smart marketers place auto play alerts for other important messages later on in the page flow process. Autoplay audio is a flair that can really be useful to accentuate an alert like an exit pop up or even confirmation page instructions after someone enters their contact details.
Messages like “Thanks for entering your name and email address – please go check your inbox and click on the confirmation link to proceed.” These audio alerts play a crucial role in the building of your business
Another auto play audio example would be an exit pop like: “WAIT – before you go, press cancel to stay on this page and see this one time limited offer!”
The list of possibilities goes on and on, as a matter of fact you are only limited by your creativity when it comes to “Flair”.
Media on websites is a broad enough topic to fill an entire 300 page book, so I’m just going to break it up into bite sized chunks of useful information that you can start implementing right away. Here we’ll talk about the 6 components of media production and provide you with some resource links to help you get started.
Component #1 – The Content Of Your Recording
Whether creating audio or video its always best to have a script or outline prepared. This is particularly important when you are new to recording. Its important that you prepare with the end in mind. Write down what you want to accomplish, or what you want the viewer to do after they watch and plan your content to that end.
If its a sales video you should follow the 5 steps to a sale with an Introduction, a Short Story, a Presentation, a Close and a Rehash. However, if you are recording an exit pop you want to be concise and assertive to grab the visitors attention and prevent them from surfing off your site.
People love to be entertained and educated not overburdoned or pressured. If you come up with fun, unique videos and audio flairs you’ll keep your visitors engaged and interested.
Component #2 – The Quality Of Your Recording
Clarity is a must. Whether audio or video, the clearer it is the more likely people will pay attention. Avoid hand-held microphones that create motion noise and static. Always be sure to record at an appropriate level so that playback volume is suitable.
When recording a video be mindful of your surroundings, avoid complex scenery that will distract the viewer. Plain solid back- grounds are always better because all the attention is on you.
Always uses a stand for your camera. The shakiness of a hand- held recording takes away from the professionalism of the video.
Component #3 – The Production And Editing Of Your Recording
Always, play back your recording several times to review the content and quality. If editing audio, consider doing several “takes” and opening them with Audacity. Use this editing program to cut and paste portions of your recording until you have it just right.
If you are using music in the background of your video, be sure to keep the volume at an appropriate level to blend well with the vocal track. If the music is too loud it will drown out the vocal and distract the viewer.
Component #4 – The Delivery of Your Recording (Player & Skin)
Regardless of whether it is just audio or just video you will need to utilize a delivery method for your media flair. For video, consider a dedicated player instead of a service like YouTube. This will always portray a more professional look.
A player is a software application that runs on your website and presents the media file to the visitor. The player sits in a “skin” the skin is the visual border of the video player and includes the play and pause buttons. You should always use skins that match your website template and theme.
You wont need a “skin” for an audio player but you will need a player you can use Impact Web Audio to create the buttons that you place on your website. If you are going to auto play your media flair, you should fade in the sound so it doesn’t startle the visitor.
Component #5 – The Serving Of Your Recording
You have many options when it comes to serving media. Many are free like YouTube and Google Videos. However these free media servers usually advertise other videos within their player thereby giving the visitor the option of leaving your site. (not cool!)
You can upload the video file to your own server and use your own player, that is typically the best option but ONLY IF the play-back speed is acceptable. If you have a slow server and the video buffers alot, you may want to consider a paid service like AmazonS3 (Simple Storage System).
Component #6 – The Placement Of Your Recording
The most important thing to consider about placement is your desired effect. On a sales page, I recommend that the video be up at the top of the page just beneath your headline with the action button to the right of the player. Make your recording concise and follow the 5 step sales process outlined in component #1. I’ve seen this formula used in recent launches with much success.
Utilize as many types of Media Flair as possible on your site because it keeps the visitor engaged and wanting more. A sales page is much more than just a product image with a purchase button at the bottom. It is a slippery slope that requires you to grab the visitors attention quickly and sustain it. The more professional your media flair, the more engaging your site and the more profitable your bank account!
About the Author: Omar Martin is an internet marketing and sales expert. Omar & his partner J.I. Starr help internet marketers succeed online by adding multi-media to their websites. You can get 22 FREE audio flairs by going to https://www.voxflair.com