Sites and Sounds – Use Some Common Sense
May 28th, 2009 | By Dee | Category: Newbie Boot CampOne of the first unwritten rules many newbie webmasters immediately break is to over-complicate their pages with all of the nifty little tricks they find amongst the webmasters sites they surf. If a cool JavaScript is found, it immediately goes on their pages. If a Java mouseover effect is found, that mouseover winds up on their pages. In the end, their pages look like a jumbled conglomeration of misused effects. There is one element of media that has been misused almost every time I’ve seen it: sound.
Things seem to have gotten a bit better recently. A few years ago, many webmasters seemed to think that by playing a favorite BeeGees sound file in the background of their pages, site visitors would be impressed… perhaps sing along while reading and shopping. They were wrong.
I don’t see as much of that anymore, but I do hear a lot of pointless techno beats, annoying mouseover sounds, files and videos that play when the page loads, etc. The phrase ‘common sense’ seems to have been lost in many people’s vocabularies.
So what is the sound of common sense? Typically, my answer would be one simple word: Silence. That’s right, there’s nothing better than complete silence when trying to educate, inform and market to your site’s visitors. Noises are frequently nothing more than distractions on sites.
And consider something else. Many of your visitors may not be at home or surfing during the daytime. They may be at work where the sound from an audio or video file all of a sudden blaring on their computer speakers may not be a welcome addition to the office. Also, it may be late at night when everyone else in the house is asleep. I know that when I get surprised by auto-play sounds on a site, my first move is to the little X up in the corner of the browser – problem solved.
Am I suggesting to never use a sound on your site? Absolutely not. Sometimes, audio and video can enhance the experience – but only if used imaginatively and effectively. As a matter of fact, aural stimulation can be just as effective as visual – even more so, for some people. The key is to let your site visitor decide when he or she wants to listen to something other than silence.
If you’ve come up with podcast, sound file, video, etc., that you would like to implement into your site, then make sure it is not on autoplay so that your site visitor has control over whether they wish to listen/watch.
Again, I would never suggest that all sites remain silent, because I think there are some definite uses for audio and video. But used without a bit of common sense and restraint, it can cause the site to seem unprofessional – even annoying. Use a bit of good judgment and thoughtful reservation, and you should be fine.
We Recommend:
The Native Remedies Affiliate Program
The Native Remedies Affiliate Network is a Two-tier program with high conversion rates and top level commissions. You can Earn 25% commissions on each direct sale and 5% on second tier sales – so even affiliates that sign up via your site earn you commissions!
Commissions are lifetime! – so each time your customer buys again, you get commissions! Click now to learn more about the NativeRemedies/PetAlive Affiliate Program!
Become a Wholesale, Dropship or Distributor Customer!
As demand for NativeRemedies and Pet Alive natural health products & remedies have grown, so has the opportunity for distributors, wholesalers and drop shippers to partner with us. Whether you are a small or large retailer, alternative health provider, an individual with a broad network of associates or a large distributor, Native Remedies has a reseller program designed just for you!
Wholesale Purchase Program – For individual resellers, retail stores, health providers or others who purchase in bulk and who resell the products directly to consumers.
Drop Ship Purchase Program – For those who do not wish to order in bulk but who wish resell our products along with others and then have us drop ship the products for them. (No Dropship Fees!)
Distributor Purchase Program – For large distributors who typically wholesale our products to retail stores and health practitioners and who can meet the higher minimum order volumes.
MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate System
It’s no secret that 95% of all bloggers out there make pennies from affiliate marketing, while a select few who are privileged enough to be in the “inner circle” make thousands of dollars effortlessly. Ninja Affiliate is WordPress plugin developed to imbue lethal marketing powers into your WordPress blog and instantly double or triple your affiliate marketing commissions with almost no effort on your part.
Using Ninja Affiliate, you can automatically convert any keyword in your blog to an affiliate link instantly. You can also cloak your affiliate links, track them and manage them right from your WordPress text editor. AffiliateRugu uses and highly recommends Ninja Affiliate by MaxBlogPress!
