1. All right, so what's a Web Announcement?

A Web Announcement is a short audio message, produced professionally for delivery over the internet using the RealAudio plugin. It can be attached to your page and played automatically whenever the page is hit. You can also embed transport controls, like stop and play buttons, and a volume control, if you like, and this can all be accomplished in HTML using EMBED tags. If you're a little more adventurous, and can program a little Javascript, you can even have your page randomly play one message from several possible ones, so your customers hear different messages each time they hit.

2. Aw, c'mon ... nobody uses SOUND on the Internet!

Actually, millions of internet users have downloaded the FREE RealAudio plugin, which works with Netscape 2.0 and above, Internet Explorer, and even the latest versions of America Online 3.0. These three browsers cover over 90% of all internet users, meaning that your audio message is available to a majority of your website customers.

3. But don't you need an expensive web site with a Realaudio server to do this?

Thanks to the new RealAudio 3.0 technology, you can now play streaming RealAudio from any web site, without any special server software.

4. But, ... I'm not sure how I should write the copy for this ... or how to get it to play automatically from my website.

That's why we include a copy of our FREE report, "How to make the most of internet audio announcements" when you order. In it you'll find lots of tips for writing great messages, as well as complete step-by-step instructions on how to add automatic streaming audio to your web pages.

5. Why would someone go to the trouble to hit my website and then not read it?

Let's face it. Websites are GLANCED AT, not read cover-to-cover like novelettes. And your product or service has a lot of different features and benefits, doesn't it? Features and benefits you want your customers to know about, and have packed into your web pages. By using a recorded announcement that plays automatically, your prospects HEAR the most important information before they even GLANCE at anyhing!!!

6. But I thought you could only put small sound clips on the internet!

Thanks to RealAudio's streaming audio technology, full-length audio recordings are possible, and are limited only by your budget and available web space.

7. Yeah, but aren't these files really big? Is all my web space going to be eaten up?

Thanks to RealAudio's aggressive compression technology, sound files stored in RealAudio format can be as much as ten times smaller than other sound files, such as Microsoft WAVE files. In practice, a 30 second "Radio Commercial"-style spot only takes up about 65 K of disk space, which is about the size of a large graphic.

8. But what about bandwidth? Is my ISP going to complain?

The amount of data being transferred is about the size of a fairly large graphic; for example, a 30 second message will be about 65K. And, because it's got thirty seconds of time allowed for the transfer, it will actually transfer more slowly, and therefore use less bandwidth than a large graphic image download. In practice, we usually encode our RealAudio to use a 16 k bit-per-second rate, which is just a little over have of the bandwidth available at 28.8. So unless you're getting thousands of simultaneous hits, your service provider or web host shouldn't complain any more than they would if you had a lot of graphics in your pages.

9. Aren't there hidden royalty or license fees?

NOPE! So long as you don't use copyrighted background music or sound FX, (and, of course, you pay us for our recording), your RealAudio annoucement is yours to keep and use as you see fit, no matter how many people listen to it and buy your products.

10. Why is the sound so warbly?

RealAudio strips a lot of information out of the sound so it can play it back over a 28.8 modem. This does add artifacts to the sound, especially on speech. For the time being, the audio quality is certainly serviceable, and will get better as modem speeds continue to increase.

11. What do I get?

You get a RealAudio file that you can put out on your website. It will contain a professionally recorded announcement using the text you provide us, mixed with background music that's in the style you've selected. You'll also get our FREE report "How to make the most of internet audio announcements", which includes step-by-step instructions on exactly what you need to do to play the file from your website, and even includes tips on how to write great messages. With your permission, we'll even make minor changes to your message before recording it to make it even more effective!

12. What do I have to do?

First, think about what you want to say. If this is the first time you're ordering, a simple welcome message is an excellent way to start ; something like --- "Welcome to XYZ company. Thanks for visiting our website" is a friendly way to start. Another good message would be to point out details for your current product offering. Be sure to keep these message short, though --- as a rule of thumb, each text line will take about three to four seconds; so a fifteen second message shouldn't be more than about 5 lines long.

When you've got a good idea what your message will be, then click the order button on the left and fill out the form. On the form you can select your preferred narration style and background music. In about a week you'll receive your professionally produced, custom web announcement via email.

13. Can you do other sound file formats, like Shockwave, AIFF, or Microsoft WAVE files?

Of course! See the "Audio and A/V" page in our website to find out ALL of the sound file formats we currently support.

For more information, Email realhelp@realhelpcom.com,
or call us toll free at (888) REALHELP.