Whether your online business is shiny and new or seasoned to near-perfection, the addition of occasional or regular quality audio content can shake things up as well as add new potential streams of revenue.
On the flip side, adding less-than-good-quality audio content can actually hurt you. In some cases, quite badly.
Let’s Start with the Flip Side
People who are truly part of your Tribe will forgive a lot of things. Because they are also likely True Fans, they actually care about what you think, write, and say. They want to learn from you, but that does not mean you can erect barriers to them and expect them to stick around.
Loading audio onto your site that demands that people must struggle to understand your words is like trying to type on a keyboard on which the keys have been rearranged. You can do it; but it’s such a distraction/hassle/pain-in-the-backside that you are so distracted trying to do it that you aren’t really paying attention to what you’re doing.
When people don’t pay attention to the content because they’re so incredibly distracted by the quality of your audio, everyone loses.
Your Tribe loses because they don’t get what they came for – your insight/wisdom/bad humor.
Your potential Tribe loses because they showed up to find out more about the buzz surrounding your innate coolness, only to be ridiculously disappointed.
You lose through loss of audience (existing and potential), revenue (through refunds and future potential sales), and self-respect (because none of us actually wants to suck).
Now for the Good News
As amazing and wonderful as the written word is (believe me, I’m a total word geek), there is quite a lot lost in the course of writing most blog posts. It’s not that they’re not communicative; in fact the really good blogs floating on the sea of the Web are very well-written. But they’re not meant to be the sort of prose that conveys emotion in the ways that a well-written novel does.
It’s a different form of communication, and as such, sometimes the power of the emotion you want to convey in your enthusiasm for your area of expertise can get lost in the midst of trying to bold or italicize appropriately.
By adding an audio component to your palate of communication tools – be it an occasional video blog, a podcast, the ubiquitous teleseminar, or an audio-based class – you are able to more fully express your unique vision, business, or teachings. You can add the specialness of “you” to the offering that may be missing when using only the written word.
Offering audio content also allows you to include things like interviews, example sessions that highlight how amazing your business offering really is, or teaching your Tribe new skills that utilize narrated screen navigation activity (you know, geeky stuff).
It also allows you to more easily convert your business model from one-to-one to one-to-many through audio classes, recorded teleseminars, and a general Mindful Biggification of your work.
Super Secret Hint That I Probably Shouldn’t Tell You For My Own Sake
Adding audio content isn’t for everyone. Really, it isn’t. It takes time and effort to do correctly, and if you’re not willing to put in that effort and time I’d strongly suggest you stick to text-only delivery of your wisdom and wit.
The honest-to-goodness thing is that adding good quality audio content really can help you.
It can give you the opportunity to expand your business’s footprint without being a complete time suck.
It can give more people the opportunity to tap into your business’s core competency, usually for a lesser cost than one-on-one coaching does.
It can allow you to expand the horizons beyond what is possible with just you and your keyboard.
But again, if you do it, you need to be mindful about it. Your recording space, your body, and your equipment must all work together to not cloud your incredible content, but instead become almost invisible to listeners because it’s so good.
You really can do it.
If you choose.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Audio adds tone of voice, sarcasm, and basically personality to your website. Don’t just stop at audio on your website, create a podcast to drive traffic to your website. Podcasting has grown by 45% in the last year.
Christy;
Well said, especially concerning how the written word can be very lacking in emotion and thus open to mis/re-interpretation. In face to face meetings the words we choose are only about 7% of the actual communications. Tone of voice and pace (something the written word rarely transmits) account for about 30%+. Body language the balance.
When someone reads a memo, blog or any other text, unless they know the writer personally, they miss 90%+ of the potential communications.
Audio is my next step for blogging. One of the reasons I blog is so that prospects get a sense of who I am as I write with ‘my voice’. But an audio blog will make that measurably superior.
Keep up the good words!
Dave, you’re absolutely correct that podcasting can drive traffic to your site. However, not everyone can (or is willing to) invest in the time required to really do podcasting well. Even occasional audio components can make a tremendous difference. And for those whose primary income stream is teaching or coaching, audio-based teaching/coaching products can radically increase your reach.
Bart, I can’t wait to hear you one of these days! You’re right, you can miss a tremendous amount by reading only the written word. Particularly in our let’s-cut-corners-and-make-it-fewer-than-140-characters culture.
Audio isn’t always the right solution for everyone, but it’s something everyone should at least consider as they grow their business.