Orlando, Fla. – Like TV in its initial decades, the Internet has dramatically evolved over its tenure, especially in recent years. Today, the Internet is a visual medium. Since the attention span of most people is limited, it is critical to have a website that captivates visitors. Building a new site that features a video spokesperson – and adding that element to an existing URL – can transform traffic into customers, and enhance credibility, Don Eagle believes.
Eagle is the founder and president of Tweople.com, an Orlando-based firm that incorporates video spokespeople into websites for businesses and organizations.
“The volume of people who get their information from the Internet continues to grow every year, so it is critical for companies to stand out from their competition,” Eagle said. “Understandably, there is an emphasis on getting traffic to a website, but surprisingly there often is not the same commitment to capturing the attention of those visitors and delivering an effective message.
“With everything that competes for a person’s attention – especially online – it is challenging to get visitors to stop and listen to what a website is promoting,” Eagle added. “Static websites with content and photos are no longer effective. Adding a video spokesperson to your site allows you to personalize your business and gives visitors an interesting perspective without having to click on pages and read the text.”
Tweople.com, which provides professional actors as spokespeople and requires no changes to a company’s existing website, is not the only company that offers website video spokespeople and presenters. Yet the firm is the only one that has exclusive software that is installed on a customer’s website so the customer can control the actions of the video spokesperson or presenter.
“They can turn them on or off, and they can schedule them to play in a certain order, certain times or dates and on what pages. We are the only one in our industry that does this,” Eagle explained. “Our digital media center gives our customers these capabilities, and it allows that website owner to add messages and control which speak without any other IT support or costs. Also, everything is hosted from our flash servers at no cost to the customer.”
The roots of Tweople.com can be traced to 2000, when Eagle’s company operated a group of neighborhood websites that connected residents through classifieds, discussions, organizations and area merchants. Video was incorporated to make the sites more personal, and then Eagle and his colleagues developed their own software to add video to the websites.
“We saw other companies charging a lot of money for something we knew we could offer at a fraction of the price with exceptional quality, so we started under the name YakkingHeads.com,” Eagle said. “Over time, prices for video spokespeople online decreased, and many competitors went out of business. Our price points were already reasonable, so we refined, created new software and added to our cast of actors and services.”
Tweople.com’s prices are affordable for businesses of all sizes. It offers a single website spokesperson made in Flash, HTML5, and as a YouTube Video for a full 30 seconds (up to 90 words) for $199. Other packages start as low as $79.
Eagle believes that his company’s exclusive software (which allows customers to control the spokesperson on screen) and the cast of professional actors differentiate Tweople.com from the multitude of competitors.
“Even though our actors’ day rates run from $600 to $1,200 a day, we contract them to complete multiple projects during their studio time,” Eagle said “In an hour, we usually shoot 10 to 30 different videos. This allows us to maintain the highest quality at the lowest price possible.
“In addition, our system that captures every detail of what the customer is expecting in terms of delivery, dress, emotion and direction ensures it is done right the first time,” he added. “Each shoot has a videographer, a teleprompter operator and a project manager to make sure all elements work together.”
For customers who do not want an actor to serve as a spokesperson, Tweople.com offers a “do it yourself” package that allows a company representative to appear on screen. Lawyers, real estate agents and car dealers are among the clients who frequently choose this option.
“Since consumers expect websites to have the same visual appeal as their TV, it is ideal for a business owner to speak to the customer directly on the site instead of just posting a standard bio and headshot,” Eagle said. “It’s all about personalization, and selling yourself and not just your product or service. It allows prospective customers to feel like they are hearing right from you.”
