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STREAMING_MEDIA_-_Leveling_the_Playing_Field_for_Small_Business_-
| STREAMING MEDIA - Leveling the Playing Field for Small Business -
Statistics tell us that there are 5,000 new websites coming
on-line everyday! And, sadly, they all have one thing in
common...they are all starting to look the same. Our company,
pursuing its own marketing efforts, has the need to look at
thousands of small business websites, and they seem to have the
same ingredients: a few pictures, lots of text, and maybe an
animated gif. With the web surfer becoming much more "web savvy"
than he was a year ago, and with the baseline computer system
being a 250mhz multi-media capable Pentium, users today are
expecting not only information but an entertaining web
experience as well.
RealNetworks, the pioneers of streaming audio and video over the
web, tell us that 86% of web site visitors will stay to listen
or to watch a streaming media presentation! They have had
65,000,000 downloads of their G2 player, and Media Metrixs
reports that 15,000,000 people experience a streaming
presentation every week. With these statistics, the time is now
for small business to take the initiative and leap into these
new web-marketing techniques.
Streaming Media is the current breakaway technology of the
Internet. As the broadband technologies of cable, satellite, and
fibre optics evolve, the full media experience on the Internet
is not far away. The capability of sending audio, video, and
other forms of multimedia 365/24/7 is revolutionizing the way
people communicate with each other and is sending the
advertising industry into a tizzy. A business can now put a
half-hour audio presentation on its' web site for one full year
for less than the cost of an ad in their local Sunday newspaper!
Putting a streaming audio presentation on your web site is
simple. Record your presentation on a high quality cassette tape
and send it to an encoding company. (And who can better talk
about your product or service than you can?) They will digitize
your recording and optimize it for smooth and effective
streaming performance. They will then send you back, usually via
E-mail, web-ready files to be put on your web site. (Some
companies will also offer you hosting services on their G2
servers; then it's a simple process of adding one link to your
site!) If you're uncomfortable with doing your own recording,
you can send your script; most encoding companies offer
professional voice talent. This can add to the cost of your
presentation, but some people prefer this to doing the recording
themselves.
Utilizing streaming audio adds far more than just a personal
touch to your web site - it sets you apart and gives your site a
leg-up over your web based competition. With audio, you can
highlight the uniqueness of your product or service and offer a
more detailed explanation of features that could not be
adequately described with text. This is also a welcome and
appreciated service for the visually handicapped web surfer.
For those businesses that have content that they would like to
keep private, such as inter-company announcements or bulletins,
your encoding company should be able to password protect your
presentation. If you have audio content for sale, such as
motivational materials or training tools, your streaming audio
provider can arrange to provide subscription services. It is
even possible to make your audio presentation so that it cannot
be copied or reproduced in any way.
For a long time, museums and other exhibitors have known tha
About the author:
Don Rhodes, owner of WBC Imaging, a company specializing in web
site enhancement utilizing streaming media technology. Mr.
Rhodes is a broadcast engineer who believes that the Internet is
the media delivery system of the future. Please direct all
questions and comments to: info@wbcimaging.com WBC Imaging
520-742-5780 http://www.wbcimaging.com
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