One of the great ways of increasing the value of your audio interview is to have it transcribed.
That’s because people learn in different ways. I know a lot of my clients love to listen to the interviews that I have conducted with the various copywriting and marketing experts. But I also know that some are big readers. And some people like both.
They’ll hear something they like on the interview, perhaps when they’re on the road or out jogging, and want to make a note of it somehow later. So to help them out, I try to provide a transcript of the interview wherever possible.
Now transcription can be a very expensive service. I know some people charge as much as $100 an hour to transcribe an hour of audio. That’s over a buck and a half per minute.
I think the cheapest and quite possibly the best way to get your interviews transcribed is to go to post a job on a service provider site like Elance.com.
Elance is like E-bay for service providers. If you’ve got a job that needs to be done, you can post it on Elance, and within a couple of days, you’ll have a list of people who are willing to do the work for you, at various prices.
The lady who transcribes my interviews charges about $60 for every hour of audio interview I give her. I have shopped other providers but I find for sheer quality of output, she’s the best. She’s now been with me for about six years and so I consider her part of my team.
If you’re interested in creating high value products derived from conducting audio interviews, I recommend shopping around on Elance until you find a provider you feel comfortable working with.