How to Add Audio Stories to Images in WordPress (2023)

Do you want to boost engagement and build connections by adding audio stories to images on your WordPress site?

As a WordPress expert with over 5 years of experience, I highly recommend using audio-visual content. Backing up images with audio recordings like music, narration, or sound effects can bring your visuals to life.

In this comprehensive guide, we will provide foolproof instructions to add audio to images in WordPress seamlessly.

4 Benefits of Audio Stories and Why You Need Them

Before we dig into the step-by-step tutorial, let me highlight some of the top benefits of using audio stories:

1. Improved Engagement and Storytelling

Audio stories create a more intimate experience that evokes imagination and emotions in your readers. According to a Forbes study, over 50% people feel that audio content is more intimate and emotional than plain text.

2. Better Accessibility

Adding audio narration for images improves accessibility for people with vision impairment according to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This also helps with SEO.

3. Increased Listening Attention Span

Human attention span is much better for listening compared to reading. Based on a Microsoft study, the average attention span for audio content is over 20 minutes vs 8 seconds for reading.

4. Useful Applications

There are endless use cases like narrating photo essays, adding backstories to comics, creating audio books, annotating product screenshots in tutorials, and more. Audio really augments images powerfully.

Now that you know why audio image stories are impactful, let‘s see how to add them in WordPress:

Step-by-Step Guide to Add Audio Stories to WordPress Images

Here is an easy 5-step process to add audio recordings to images in your WordPress site:

Step 1: Install and Activate the Audio Story Images Plugin

The Audio Story Images plugin (over 30,000+ active installs) is the easiest way to add audio to images in WordPress. Simply:

1. Go to Plugins > Add New in your WP Admin
2. Search for "Audio Story Images"
3. Install and Activate the latest version

I recommend going with the 2023 release for speed and accessibility improvements.

Step 2: Upload Your Image and Audio Files

Once you activate the plugin, go to Media > Add New to upload:

• Image File: PNG, JPG, GIF (keep under 2MB for faster loading)
• Audio File: MP3, WAV, OGG (MP3 recommended for compatibility)

For audio, it‘s best to keep it under 5 MB with a length of 30-90 seconds. You can use free tools like Audacity to record or edit audio.

Step 3: Link the Audio to Image

Go to your media library in list view and find the "Audio Story" column. Click on Attach next to the image you want to add audio to.

Select your audio file in the popup to link them together.

Once connected, you will see the audio filename show up in the Audio Story column.

Step 4: Insert Audio Image into Post

Edit the page or post where you want to add your audio visual content block.

Click Add Media and select the image file you attached audio to earlier.

The plugin will automatically append a small volume control icon that plays the audio on click.

Step 5: Preview and Publish

With the image inserted, preview your WordPress page first. Give your audio story a test listen before publishing to spot any issues.

Here is an example of how the audio experience looks for your site visitors:

And that‘s it! By following these 5 simple steps you can start enhancing your images with audio narration quickly without any coding.

Next, let‘s do a brief comparison of the popular plugin choices:

WordPress Plugin Alternatives for Adding Audio to Images

There are a few free WordPress plugins that help add audio recordings to images:

As you can see, Audio Story Images plugin strikes the right balance of being easy yet powerful. It gets regular updates and has all the options needed.

I hope this detailed guide helped you learn how to add audio stories to your WordPress images smoothly! Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments.