Where Is The Sound In Your Website?

Well, I’m sure that title may have brought at least a few folks who cringe at the thought (rightfully so in most cases!) of including audio on your website (the kind that plays automatically whether you like it or not).

But actually, it’s a sentence from a book that seems to perpetually be on my desk at my day job: Call To Action: Secret Formulas To Improve Online Results, by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg.

I was reminded of an intriguing section from that book while reading an article today on the Church Marketing Sucks website called Making Sense Without Sense. In that article, Brad Abarre writes about being on a treadmill at a gym and watching television without the benefit of the wireless headphones that the gym provides — in other words, only seeing the video but not hearing the audio.

Without audio, TV becomes in someways a web site on auto pilot. An array of moving images and graphics that come together to tell a story. I kept watching to see if I could put the story together without the sound. It didn’t always work, but when it did, I am sure the gods of advertainment rejoiced somewhere.

The principle I want to talk about in this article doesn’t relate entirely to what Brad is trying to say, but I did want to mention the way my thoughts progressed because the Church Marketing Sucks website is worth adding to your regular reading list. I don’t always agree with what they have to say, but their writing is certainly thought-provoking.

At any rate, Brad’s article did remind me of this passage from the Call To Action book:

To understand persuasion you must have a rudimentary understanding of the physiology of the human brain. At the front of the brain, right behind your forehead, is the prefrontal cortex, which is the center for planning, emotion, and judgement. Its job is to give the signal to the motor assocation cortex, located adjacent to it, to coordinate behaviors, and then initiate voluntary movement (take action). Until your marketing message has reached the prefrontal cortex, all you have done is take up space and make noise.

The shortcut into the human brain is the ear. The auditory cortex is right next door. Raw sound enters the auditory cortex, and spoken words, melodies, rhythm, laughter, and jingles are stored in the auditory association area. That’s why you can remember hundreds of songs you never intended to learn ("You deserve a break today ...").

To test the power of sound and auditory reception for yourself, try this. First watch your TV with the sound off, then listen to your TV with the picture off. You can prove to yourself in just seconds, that when it comes to conveying information, affecting emotions, and causing action, sound beats pictures hands down. Where is the sound in your website? It’s in the words, which we understand by “hearing” them in our minds.

The Eisenbergs go on to write:

So what does this mean for marketing your website? It means you will be most successful when you use words that cross from the ear almost directly to the prefrontal cortex, the decision part of the brain. The killer app in web marketing is not sight, it is sound, whether heard directly (audio) or mentally (ad copy). It is not the design of your website that sells. It is the content — the words.

Are there exceptions? Of course! But don’t bet your budget or your business on them. Choose your words carefully. Every word you use on your website is a drop of the magic potion.

To me, this says that church and ministry websites should pay at least as much attention to the content (the words on the page) as they do to the graphical design of the website. In the end, it is the content that will persuade. And that’s really what we’re trying to do with a church or ministry website — persuade site visitors to do something, whether that be desiring to meet a believer in our congregation (my preferred outcome), attending and participating in a service, contacting us, etc.

Posted by on 08/31/05 at 10:22 AM

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You may be interested in reading these articles which enumerate core principles of the strategy we advocate:

Effective Church Websites For Emerging Generations
Investigating the various ways in which a church's website can be targeted toward unbelievers in a church's local community.

A Strategy For Local Internet Outreach
How can the internet be used for evangelism and outreach while maintaining an environment of authentic Christian community?

Flawed Follow Up Or A Flawed Philosophy of Evangelism?
The ease with which we can “share the gospel” online can actually short-circuit the God-ordained process by which unbelievers are brought to faith.

Should We Include A Gospel Presentation On Our Websites?
Should conversion be our immediate goal in our internet evangelism efforts?

A Strategic Opportunity For The Church
A proposed strategy in which a church would use short video profiles of members of their congregation to entice unbelievers in their local area to consider the value of a local congregation’s ministry in their own lives.

2 John 12
Is there something incomplete about digital communication?

Fri, October 10, 2008 at 06:19 pm
Frank : savoring the start of a four-day weekend, looking forward to a great Time Out

Tue, October 07, 2008 at 08:13 pm
Frank : wishing that the spin doctors would have an ounce of honesty and integrity.

Sat, October 04, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Frank : winding down after a long Saturday's work on things of eternal value.

Sun, September 28, 2008 at 11:44 am
Frank @GregAtkinson my daughter is a goalkeeper - nothing quite like being a goalkeeper's parent!

Wed, September 24, 2008 at 09:55 pm
Frank : back home after a high school back-to-school night, evaluating high schools for next year

When the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association wanted to use the internet to promote their city festivals, they turned to Strategic Digital Outreach. Read more ....

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Web Development
Designwise Studios
DirectSteps
RockBeatsPaper
SparrowStyle
Turtle Interactive

Content Management
Expression Engine

Web Hosting
DreamHost

Email Management
Constant Contact

We work with several different organizations in exploring ways in which digital means can be used to reach an increasingly digital world. Some of these organizations are more traditional clients. Some are friends. All are our partners in the gospel (1 Corinthians 3:9). Invariably, we learn as much from them as they do from us. Here is a sampling:

David & Linda Arzouni
Assemblies of God missionaries to West Africa, based in Mali (the land of Timbuktu).

Assemblies of God
The Northern California and Nevada District, based in Sacramento, California.

India Prayer Drive
A 21-day prayer drive through the nation of India.

IreneDias.com
Although the suffering they face is severe, this is not a story of despair, but of an incredible faith and even more of an incredible God who sustains His followers with lavish grace, extravagant kindness, and unrelenting love.

Luis Palau Evangelistic Association
Proclaiming the Lord's Good News to the millions of people who have yet to respond to the Gospel.

Sacred Ink
Joyfully declaring the gospel to the tattoo subculture.

Santa Cruz Bible Church
Their evangelism department focuses on marketplace ministries.

ShareFest Santa Cruz County
Churches in Santa Cruz County, California join together to become a bridge from the church to the community through work projects designed to bless the community.

TimeOut Conference
Enabling a deeper relationship with God and more effective relationships with people.

Wake Up! Santa Cruz
Presenting the claims of Christ to the business community in Santa Cruz, California.

These are projects which we have initiated (either individually or as members of a team) in our efforts to use digital means to spread the gospel:

MissionEquip
MissionEquip.com was established to provide resources to missionaries and short-term missions teams traveling worldwide.

ChristianCruz
ChristianCruz.com is a localized portal for believers living in Santa Cruz County, California.

Prodigal God
ProdigalGod.com, a work in progress, is designed to provide biblical instruction to the wider body of Christ through the use of video teaching segments and written articles.

Christian Screen Savers
ChristianScreenSavers.com offers a selection of high-quality, inexpensive Christian screen savers which reflect biblical themes. Proceeds from the sale of these screen savers are used to support the work of Strategic Digital Outreach.

Blogs I Read

Adventures Of A Web Evangelist
The Appian Way
BetaChurch.org
BlogMinistry
BlogRodent
Boyink Interactive
Carpe' Digital
Christian Web Trends
Church Beauty
Church Communications Pro
Church Marketing Sucks
ChurchTechToday
Church Website & Blog Ideas
digital.leadnet.org
Digital Ministry
The Digital Sanctuary
e-vangelism.com
Effective Church Web Sites
Effective Web Ministry Notes
Equip Blog
Evotional
GodBit
Goodmanson
Gospelcon
Heal Your Church Website
If Jesus Had A Website
Leave It Behind
MicroExplosion
Outside The Box Ministry
Sacred Digital
So You Want A Church Website?
The Ultimate Issue
Web Evangelism Issues

Where Is The Sound In Your Website?

Blogs I Read

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