Stale website? Add a talking Avatar

The origins of the term avatar come from Neal Stephenson in 1992's Snow Crash who developed from the Sanskrit word avatara which is a concept similar to that of incarnation. However it was used for the on-screen representation of the player in 1985 by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer in the Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

Today the term simply means an animated, speaking, graphical image that represents a person.

You can see the avatar version of me throughout this lens.

By adding a speaking avatar to your website you will make it easier to connect and communicate with your visiting customers. As they visit your landing pages, your customers can look and listen as the avatar gets over your message quickly and easily.

This powerful sales and marketing tool is exactly what you need for your business in these difficult economic times.

Having an avatar on your website will:

* Increase sales and registrations

* Reduce your bounce rate

* Motivate your customers to stay longer on your site

* Make it easy to show customers what you offer

* Guide them to a buying decision

* Re-inforce the call to action ("click the red button to buy"

* Support your last minute offers

* Reflect holidays and special occasions like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day

* Make it easier for customers to opt-in to your email distribution list

* Support the written copy on your site

* Add a human element to your site and make visitors feel more welcome - just as they would if they were in a real store.

Other benefits include:

* Communicate with customers directly with impact - they just won't want to click off your page

* You can get a message across quickly - and change the message when you need to making your offers as up to date as possible

* You can influence visitors with a spoken to call to action - you don't have to rely on them reading what you would like them to do

* Stand out - you will definitely stand out from your competitors

* Save you money - have an avatar replace costly staff or business processes

* No programming skills required and it is compatible with all server technologies

* You can choose from a number of stock avatars or use an image of yourself - some providers have 2D and 3D options

* Customise your avatar to reflect the image you want for your business including age, skin, eyes, hair, lips, amount of make-up and clothing.

* You can also choose from characters like Father Christmas, Abraham Lincoln or even a dog

* Record your own voice or use built in text-to-speak in multiple languages and accents

* Change the background for your avatar so he/she can be in the office, on the beach or wherever you choose

* Build in lead collection, FAQs or even Artificial Intelligence chat

* Publish it - on your website to HTML page, flash movies, blog, eBay auctions, PowerPoint presentations, emails and much more.

Avatars are being used on a number of sites. I have just found an avatar in action on the O2 website - you can check Lucy out at: http://bit.ly/9bHOMH

Of course there are lots of sites out there where you can create your own avatar but sites like IMVU and Meez are really there for social networking or like weeworld are for games.

For a truly professional avatar you need to find sites like Sitepal.

Sitepal offers over 250 2D and 3D stock characters which can all be customised with changes to age, skin, eyes, hair, lips and clothing. You can use your own photo (of yourself or even of your dog!) or choose a photo from their library. Their latest technology means that you can even add human facial expressions to your character such as happy, sad, angry, embarrassed and surprised.

More info on Sitepal

SitePal, from Oddcast Inc., began in 2003 and is now used by over 10,000 clients in 95 countries. Clients use the avatar services for sales, marketing, customer service and training.

SitePal avatars can speak pre-recorded audio in any language. SitePal avatars can also speak audio based on typed-in or dynamic database driven text, using Text To Speech engines in 15 languages. 20% of Oddcast clients are from non English speaking countries and many other clients can take advantage of multi-lingual solutions.

Unlike other sites, there is a fee for using Sitepal and this starts from $9.95 per month - so I would not recommend it for personal use. However, for business use, I really think a Sitepal avatar will add a new dimension to your site - and you will reap the benefits.

You can make your avatar exactly the way that you want - and which is the best virtual employee for your company.

Avatars will improve traffic and conversions. Here are some top tips on getting the most from your avatar:

Avoid overuse - set your avatar to only speak once per visit unless it is clicked by the visitor. You can also add an audio control tab to the character

Use good audio - where possible use a professional voice recording service. If this is not possible use the simple record-by-phone feature in a room without background noise.

More info on Sitepal

Keep it fresh - refresh the look and message of the character to maintain impact. It is recommended that you update the character every quarter and let your character reflect seasonal greetings, special promotions and company announcements

Pick the correct avatar - choose a character that reflects your target market. Your character is a virtual spokesperson for your company so create one that your customers will respond to.

Be creative - use your avatar for all types of marketing from answering visitors' questions in real time to a Flash tutorial movie. Use your character in an HTML email to increase click through rates. All these will lead to increased traffic, well informed prospects and better sales conversions.

A research by Stanford University suggests interactive avatars can enhance the online experience in teaching. By adding personality and interactivity to text-based content students are more engaged and their learning is improved. From online training, school websites, classroom presentations, tutorials, a speaking avatar can remarkably improve results such as:

* Better engagement
* Improved comprehension
* Personalised communication