Thread: Audio Content

For my latest blog post I decided to add some audio. What I found was that a simple link to an MP3 file (when clicked) causes the browser to play back the file online. I tested with the latest versions of Firefox, IE, Chrome, and Opera. So there is no need for flash.

To record the audio I used Audacity, then converted the microphone audio to mono. Then exported to MP3. Then upload this file to my blog (or wherever you have a website).

Then I linked to the file using a graphic image of an MP3 icon with the link set to open in a new window.

I got motivated to do this after reading somewhere that readers of blogs love to hear the actual voice of the blogger. Of course we can easily record a web cam video of ourselves and upload to YouTube, but I think that you need acting skills to pull this off, but with audio, you can read from a script and do quick re-takes to get a good version to publish.

Interesting. I was just thinking about doing something similar with a short story site and downloadable MP3 files.

Let us know how well it works out for your blog.

Audacity is a pretty cool freebie audio file editor. I used it to digitize and archive a large number of family interviews that I did as part of a family history research project about 20 to 25 years ago. The tapes were reaching a point where they were deteriorating rapidly. Audacity is so easy to use that the archiving was a no-brainer.

For basic needs Audacity is great. If you want to add background music and fade it in and out I think Sony Acid Music Studio is great having tried the trial version and it's not very expensive, plus it comes with royalty-free sound tracks.

For my blog I am thinking to add an audio clip to my e-mail subscribe form too.

I've heard good things about the Sony software.

Another aspect to this is to get visitors to download the MP3 files from your site to play in their car on the way to work and back. I think that I did this back in the day when I was commuting to and from a place of work or on plane travel.

So you could package your audio files to fit in with typical commute times e.g. 20 minutes of killer SEO tips to listen to on the drive to work and revise the info. on the return back home.

So, people read your blog post and like it, but to drill it into their minds, they can download the MP3 to play on the ipod, in the car etc.

Edit: I forgot to say that this kind of Audio is known as a PodCast

You have sharing the really great information with us.
Bundle of thanks for it.

Have you also distributed your audio to other sites? perhaps for any possible SEO benefit or social aspect? Secondly, would you consider creating your own Podcast channel in iTunes? Just wondering