Numerous marketers have proclaimed that the hottest trend on the internet for 2006 is audio and video on websites. Forrester Research and AccuStream IMedia Research, ABC News, InternetNews.com, Entreprenaur.com and many more have published articles on how big it will be and that it is one of top Trends for 2006. So what is being said and what do you need to know about streaming audio and video to get it on your website?

A Few Things To Consider

The first determining factor in the above question is what are you going to do with it and how much video and audio streaming will you do on your site? The benefits are numerous and outweigh any objections about not doing it. Whether you are promoting your website, selling a product, promoting for others, using it to service your business or employee communications, or training or educating others it’s valuable.

Your budget costs will also determine what you need to learn about it. Do you need a quick training to put up a few short videos or do you need a more intense training to be able to do it all yourself (or your business to do it all themselves) for use with large audiences and multiple video/audio streams? Obtaining University/College credits and degrees is not cheap, and by no means fast. Likewise, some of the best books out there are already outdated as this industry moves so fast. So find experts currently using audio/video, and utilize seminars and teleseminars to learn it quickly.

What Are Your Options?

The first option is learn it quickly and cheaply and just start with audio. Start with some free mini-classes or a short 2-3 hour training session where you’ve learned enough to get audio up on your site. It’s best to learn how to do it, instead of paying monthly fees for audio software, or letting someone else do it for you, as there are plenty of downloadable software programs out there with the highest quality available. Many think it’s too complicated to learn to stream audio, but to the contrary. Everyone can learn to use audio on a website.

For those doing lots of video and audio you’ll want a more intense training to learn all of the aspects of production. Whether you decide to do it all yourself or outsource various aspects of a video production, the more you know the better off you are. You will need a broad background in audio/video streaming. You’ll want to work with someone already streaming and learn from them, then you’ll truly have very valuable information.