Save Time Typing – How
to Record
and
Email Your Voice Using Common Windows Tools
By Bill
Koelzer
We have all
experienced a case of “the misconstrued” email. Sometimes
what we mean to say just doesn’t come out right when it’s in black
and white. Clients occasionally need to hear empathy or urgency in
our voice to understand the complete message. One solution to this
is a phone call. BUT, what happens when you are up late at night or
very early in the morning? It could be rude to call – so follow
these steps to make a quick & easy sound recording:
1. Buy and Hook up a microphone (never buy one costing less than
$15 to $20)
(You can also use your microphone later, with your existing Windows
phone dialer, to call people without ever leaving the computer)
2. Go to your Windows Volume control. To bring forth your Volume
Control Window, go here:
Start>Programs>Accessories>Entertainment>Volume Control. Uncheck
the MUTE box.
3. Now you have to RECORD your message. So, to visually bring up
your sound recorder window, go here:
Start>Programs>Accessories>Entertainment>Sound Recorder. Leave your
sound recorder on the screen.
4. Get your mic plugged into your computer and have it in hand.
Most mics use a USB port.
5. Blow on the mic softly, tap it lightly, to make sure it is
live.
6. Take a deep breath and click on the Red ball on the sound
recorder to start recording.
7. Say what you say. Remember to modulate your voice up and down
so that your sunny personality shines through; if you are a dour,
sullen, brooding person, NEVER send a sound recording to anyone,
ever!
8. Note that even 30 seconds of recording can become a file that
takes a long time for your recipient to download unless they are on
broadband. So don’t dawdle. Talk faster than normal. When you are
done speaking, hit the rectangle shape on the sound recorder to
stop.
9. Play the recording back by clicking on the arrow that is shaped
much like this:
>
Then, if you are satisfied with the recording, Go to FILE on the
sound recorder and do a SAVE AS... (If you are not satisfied, repeat
steps 6, 7 and 8.)
10. Name it something...HiKristi, SurpriseHello-Mike, etc. and then
save it in a folder on your hard drive. Note, Before SAVING IT, you
might want to create a new Folder for all your sound files. That
makes them easy to find later. How about : “C:\Sounds
11. Open your email program and click on “Create Message” (in
Outlook Express) so that you are looking at an empty email message
box, the way it looks before you type anything into it.
12. At the top of that window, click on INSERT, then on the
dropdown menu, click on File Attachment. A window saying “File
Attachment” will open up.
13. Browse to the folder that you created in which to save sound
files, say it was “C:\sounds,” and find the sound document
that you just made. Highlight it, then double click on it. Or else
highlight it and click on the “Attach” button on that same window.
Now your voice message is attached and ready to send.
14. Address the email and write your message. Since this will be a
new experience for your recipients, be sure to tell them to turn up
their sound, then double click on the attachment that you have
included. Tell them that when they do, they will hear your voice.
15. Send that email as you usually do. When you are all done, go
back and mute your mic on the volume controls and exit both the
volume control and the sound recorder.
Easy, huh?
Now start surprising your clients and friends with something that
sets YOU apart from others. A tailor-made, upbeat, happy if not
joyous, sound recording.
 Bill
Koelzer is a Web marketing consultant to Web-proficient agents
nationwide. He is co-author, with Barbara Cox, Ph.D., of the
Prentice-Hall books, "Internet
Marketing in Real Estate" and
Internet Marketing. Koelzer is also webmaster of
Orange County
Real Estate - Search MLS, among the most-awarded known Realtor ®
sites. Contact info:
www.koelzer.com or e-mail him at
Bill@Koelzer.com
ALERT: New Email Virus on the Loose!
Have you been receiving odd looking emails asking you to visit a website with the 'Account and Password Information' attached? What about emails with the message saying "ok ok ok,,,,, here is it" with a zip file attached for you. Be on the alert and be aware. These are virus emails. Please delete them!
Symantec.com is an informative website that can keep you updated on new virus emails that are being delivered to your email box. New viruses continue to be created and most often will use a spoofed email address.
Warning About Email Spoofing:
Quite simply, a spoof email is one which has been doctored to look as though it has come from a particular sender (such as eBay, Advanced Access or other legitimate companies), when in reality it has come from someone completely different.
Things to look for in SPOOF Emails:
First, look for spelling and grammatical errors (many spoofs are written by non-English speaking persons, errors are common).
Second, if the email has a form to complete for any information (including your user name and password, bank details, credit card details, etc. etc.) then it is NOT from the genuine site. None of the genuine sites would do this.
Third, if we find that it requests us to confirm any login information (such as user name, password and any financial information like credit card details), it is most likely not a genuine email. If any site needs you to confirm details, simply type the known URL for that site into your browser, login and interact in that way alone, if there is any genuine need to verify any information, you will be asked to do so by some message when you are logged in.
Fourth, if the email advertises a competition, or tells you that you've been selected for some prize or accolade, don't believe it, and do NOT interact with anything within the email. You can confirm any of that by going to their genuine web site and logging in as described above.
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