Did you know audio can destroy your sales and make your visitors leave your website faster than ever before? Even if you think your audio is good and you’re doing everything right you could be making a huge mistake. What I have seen first hand, and what I am about to share with your may save your website from total disaster.

Based on real world experience working with web audio, I have seen countless examples of great web pages with audio and horrible web pages with audio. By selling a web audio software program I have had a chance to learn behind-the-scenes information on what really works, and what really doesn’t work.

Therefore, I would like to share with you these 10 mistakes you must avoid when placing audio on your website.

Mistake #1 – Volume

Yeah, your audio may sound good on your computer, but no one is gonna listen to your audio using your computer. You need to make sure the volume level is set at a level so it’s not too loud or too quiet on your listener’s computer. This is one of the most common mistakes, and there’s no bigger turn-off than going to a site and listening to an audio message and you can’t even hear. So how do you correct this? Your best bet is to set all your volume levels at a medium setting, then compare your audio to other streaming online audio. How does yours compare? Then, go to a forum, or ask your friends for feedback. Get about 5 to 10 people to listen to your audio message and critique it as well as tell you what they thought of the volume level. This will give you great insight to your message as well as the sound level you should be using.

Mistake #2 – Your Voice

You may think you sound great, but in most cases you don’t sound as good as you think you do. Not only could your voice turn visitors off, but the way you talk can also be a factor. If you talk like you’re 102 years old, or you have a heavy accent, it’s not going to work to your advantage. In fact, you may think it sounds good, but if you really want to get the most out of your audio then you need to hire a professional. I thought I sounded great when I had my voice on my site AudioMakerPro.com. However, I realized it wasn’t as good as it could be. I decided to hire a professional. After doing so my conversion rates skyrocketed! It made all the difference and gives your site a professional sound that you just can’t do yourself. If you want to take your audio to the next level and do it right, then hire a voiceover pro. There are many instances however where you need to record your own voice, such as a personal message from yourself. When you must speak it yourself keep it brief, to the point, and do your best to make yourself sound professional.

Mistake #3 – Not Using A Script

When you write out what you are going to say before you record it you have a chance to correct errors, re-write things more efficiently, etc. Your audio will come across much more polished and professional if you aren’t going “um”, “and”, or “uh” every other sentence. If you hire a voice-over professional to do your audio you will have to write out a script for them to use, so why not do it when you’re recording your own voice.

Mistake #4 – Saying Too Much

Keep your message brief and too the point. In most cases an effective audio message can be one minute or less. Companies spend thousands on commercials that are 30 seconds long and extremely effective. You should think of your audio as a short commercial and keep it to the point. People’s attention spans are short, you don’t want to lose it by talking about something your listeners don’t care about.

Mistake #5 – No Call To Action

When using audio to help sell your product isn’t the point to get your visitor to do something? You may have a great message, but so what, if you’re visitor doesn’t act on it, it’s worthless! Make sure you tell your listeners what to do, even if it’s only to read the rest of the page. Engage your listener and make it loud and clear what you want them to do.

Mistake #6 – Involvement

You need to get your listener involved in your web audio message. If you can get them to scroll, click, think, or do anything, you’re that much closer to getting them to buy. A great way of getting listeners involved is to ask questions. Anytime you ask your listener a question they have to think about the answer. Don’t you agree?

Mistake #7 – Not Maximizing Audio Placement

Whether you want to build relationships with your website visitors, sell them something, or just connect with them, there are many places where audio adds to the overall experience. Unfortunately many of these audio opportunities are neglected. Here are a few ways you can use audio to your advantage… Popup windows, a perfect place for audio, especially if you want to capture email addresses. Thank-You pages, the pages people arrive on after they purchase your product or subscribe to your newsletter are the greatest places to simply say “Thank You” in your own words, in your own voice. Email messages are fantastic opportunities to use audio also. When a reader clicks on a link inside your email they can be taken to a page with your audio playing automatically, your picture, and links to products or services. Anytime you have something you want to say that’s very personal or needs to be as effective as possible try using audio.

Mistake #8 – Background Music

In many instances, especially in introduction audio messages you will want to add a bit of background music to your message. If done right it can make a great addition to your message and make it more engaging. Done incorrectly it’s going to overshadow your message and your listeners will miss your point. Adding background music to your audio message in an effective manner is really going to depend on your audience. This is when you use your five or ten friends I mentioned in mistake #1 to give you feedback. If you decide to use background music keep it simple, don’t have a 5 to 10 second musical introduction before you start speaking, keep it short. Your background music should add to your message, not take away from it.

Mistake #9 – Not Engaging Curiosity

A great audio message invokes people to take action, it gets people excited, it builds a bit of desire, it makes them want to find out more. Even the simplest of messages can invoke curiosity. When creating an audio message for your main page or for your newsletter subscriptions make sure to invoke some curiosity, lead your listener, give them enough information to get them to take action, but always leave them wanting more.

Mistake #10 – No Tracking Whatsoever

If you’re using audio to increase results you need to test to see if your message is actually helping your efforts. If you aren’t tracking it’s like throwing darts at a wall with no bullseye, you’ll never know how close you are getting to your target. A simple split-test is enough to determine whether having audio or not is helping. Believe it or not, sometimes it won’t, and if it doesn’t it is usually your message that’s the problem. Either way, you need to test, plain and simple.

I guarantee that if you avoid these mistakes and follow the advice given your audio messages will increase your bottom line. I hope you realize that simply using audio isn’t going to help your site. Like anything else, you need to put forth the effort into creating a great audio message to yield great results.