Adding an audio message to your classroom blog or website can be a good
way to help deliver important messages to your students and their
parents. Posting an audio message, even if it covers the same content as a written message, can increase the chances that a visitor to your blog will
take notice of something important. Adding an audio message to your blog
or website is not difficult to do. Here are five free services that you can use to add
an audio message to your blog or website.

Vocaroo is a free service that allows
users to create audio recordings without the need to install any
software. You don’t even have to create an account to use Vocaroo. All
you need to provide is a microphone. I used the microphone built into
my MacBook to make the recording below. To create a recording just go
to Vocaroo.com, click record, grant Vocaroo access to your mic, and
start talking. After completing your recording, Vocaroo gives you the choice to publish it or to scrap it and try again. Vocaroo provides
the option to embed the recording anywhere. Vocaroo provides the
embed code for you. You can also download your recording, just look for
the download link at the bottom of the page (it’s small and easily
overlooked).

SoundCloud
is an online service for recording, hosting, and sharing audio tracks.
You can use SoundCloud to upload and share audio recordings that you
have stored on your computer. SoundCloud can also be used for directly
recording a spoken track. One of the really neat features of SoundCloud
is the option to comment on tracks as they are playing. To make a
comment just play the track, click on it, then type your comment in the
comment box. Your comment(s) will be attached to the spot in the track
that you clicked on while listening. June 2020 update: SoundCloud no longer offers a built-in recording option.

Audioboo is a free tool for
creating audio messages to share on the web. Using Audioboo you can
record messages on your mobile device using Audioboo’s free Android or
iPhone apps. You can also record messages directly on the Audioboo
website. Messages that you create can be shared by embedding your
recording into a blog or website. You can also share messages by posting
them to Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Update June 2020: I no longer recommend this service.

Audio Pal is a free service that allows you to quickly and easily record audio messages to post your blog or website. You can record your Audio Pal message by phone, through your computer’s microphone, or by uploading a recording. Messages are limited to sixty seconds so you must be succinct. After you’ve recorded your message, Audio Pal will play it back to you. If you like the recording, keep it. If you don’t like your recording, click re-record. When you have a recording with which you’re happy, enter your email address and an embed code will be sent to you almost immediately.

Record MP3 is
another free tool for recording audio messages. To record a message using Record
MP3 just grant the Flash recorder access to your computer, click record,
and start talking. When your recording is complete you will get a link
that you can post online or email to anyone you want to hear your
recording. Update June 2020: I no longer recommend Record MP3.