We’ve got six tips to consider as you plan your website navigation. Find out how you can make your website better for search engines and readers with our best practice tips.
Music and Video Controls – Don’t Auto Play!
How fast are you with the mouse, just visit some sites that embed music or auto-playing video and you will find out, as you rapidly click around trying to turn off the sound!
It is best when you use video or sound files to be courteous and to allow users to turn it off, turn it down, or even replay it. This is one reason why I do not like embedded background music that has no user controls. Typically a site that plays music onLoad is found to be annoying by most users. Sometimes it is an issue that the reader has their own music on, that they don’t like the music you have selected, that the music starts playing too loud, or even as they really review your site the music plays over and over forcing them to manually turn the sound off. Here’s one for you to check out that is a good example of why you should not have music embedded. It can be fatiguing to listen to the same clip over and over.
My tip for best practice is don’t embed background music in your website! If you do add sound files or videos be courteous and provide playback controls. Make sure to have the play, pause, and repeat buttons and consider not playing the video or sound on page load.
Talking People Cute But Not Professional
Several months ago you saw all over the Web that animated characters were the rage. Supposedly, according to the animated site owners, animated characters were said to increase sales. Here’s an example www.SitePal.com.
Personally I found these characters which typically start talking right when the page loads annoying and I simply cannot react quickly enough to turn them off. They appear cartoonish and do not give the professional polished look that I think is best for professional websites.
Video is the rage now and there are options if you want to include interaction on your page, but stay away from animated characters unless you are catering to a younger set that may consider avatars such as these animated talking heads cool.
Website Redesign Checklist
Are you thinking about redesigning your website? Read our short checklist of things that you should consider as you plan your website redesign.
1. Set a realistic budget first. Cheap is not always the right approach.
2. Consider if you will use Flash or not. If you use Flash, use it as enhancement not the platform for your site as you will have trouble with search engine placement if you site is all Flash.
3. Now’s the time to integrate video! Create your videos in .mov format and have your web designer turn them into speedy Flash applications. Don’t forget to load your .mov videos onto YouTube and Google Video for greater exposure.
4. Review your content and get a “real writer” to upgrade and create new content for your website. Engaging and keyword dense content will really help your website with search engines.
5. Make sure that your site is the best it can be for search engines. Use the Meta tag fields, h1 and h2 tags and do not use images where you can use text.
Make sure that you don’t lose organic placement when you redesign your website, build on what you have don’t lose what you have.