Website Welcome Messages

Have you ever visited a website that you sit there and think, 'where the hell do I go next?'. I've certainly been on the receiving end from time to time. You can sometimes arrive at a website homepage that doesn't give an absolutely explicit instruction on where to go next, or give you much in the way of help if you're trying to find something specific. 

One good feature to have is an audio message on your homepage, to literally welcome visitors to the site. As websites are effectively virtual shop windows for any business, it's just like greeting them in person when they walk in. It's by no means a necessity, but I feel it's a nice addition and makes your website a more welcoming, user-friendly place to be.

Click here for a recent client example. 

Why should I have audio on my website?

Website welcome messages can be also be very useful if you have quite an elaborate site, with links and articles all over the place. Usually, people will log on to your website with some sort of specific purpose, so by helping them find what they want, they'll more than likely be a happier potential client!

Having audio (and video) on websites is far more commonplace in this day and age of what we now call Web 2.0. Gone are the days where we all have just static, image-less, fully text-based sites; the end user requires far more to keep them interested and entertained. Like an advert, you only have a limited amount of time when a person lands on your page to hook their interest and keep them there. You want them to arrive and realise that your site is the one with the answers to their questions. Hopefully by then, they'll be enticed enough to pick up the phone or email you to obtain more information, and ultimately, give you the job. 

How much of a difference will it really make? 

We're living in a far more interactive, multimedia based world. Consumers now expect to see multimedia features on the sites they visit; so by utilising these technologies in a creative way, your site visitors will have a far better chance of finding what they want, which will put you ahead of your competition.

My own preference lies with multimedia, in its many forms. I like to see a website which I know is updated regularly; when it looks almost 'alive'. Yet you will still see many sites that don't keep it updated regularly, and it shows the last update of several week or months ago. This to me makes it look very stale and unkempt. More people are thankfully adopting Web 2.0 features; for instance the integration of things like Twitter, (a social networking tool), blogs, audio and video clips and vibrant graphics & animation. It's all intended to keep the viewer interested in what the main core of a website is; its content. As they say, "content is king". That couldn't be more true, and the best thing to do in my opinion, is have the content varied in its many forms.