There’s a tremendous amount of attention paid to the visual side of websites. After, they are things that you look for visually, and get information from visually as well. However, there’s a gigantic difference between a website that uses audio properly, and one that doesn’t. Audio can, indeed, be the deciding factor whether your website services its ultimate purpose or not.
So if you want to have that stellar audio element inside your web design, there are several tips that you can follow, including within the realms of podcasting, streaming services, audio faux pas, the loudness wars, and even how to work with recording equipment itself.
Podcasting Tips
Lots of successful websites (or companies or brands) are successful because of a podcast they put out. Primarily, these are going to be news or music podcasts, but there an infinite number of variations on those themes that are available for consumption. But before you can podcast yourself, you have to get the right podcasting tools. And there is a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to creating compelling audio and then presenting it in a fairly competitive sphere.
Using Streaming Services
And in terms of ease of use, it makes more sense to be able to stream audio elements than have to download them and play them from separate applications or utilities. So there are a great set of tools for this purpose. If you set up a Soundcloud account, you’ll have free access to a number of audio streaming tools that you can use to embed your audio elements in a very aesthetic and usable way into your web framework.
Avoiding Common Audio Faux Pas
There are a few things that you can do with audio that might seem like a good idea at the time. Especially if you’ve never incorporated any sound into your sites before, you might think that any sort of auto play feature will benefit the user experience. Just – don’t – do it. Most people don’t want any sort of streaming audio to happen unless they specifically ask for it. This includes background music. Always give people the option to begin playing sound, rather than forcing it.
Researching the Loudness Wars
Don’t create loud audio to go in your site! If you research the loudness wars, you’ll see there’s been an awful trend in the audio industry (which bleeds into the web industry) to make things as loud as possible. This is the sign of an amateur. Don’t use over-compressed audio. Ever!
Tinkering With Recording Equipment
If you get to do the audio recordings yourself that you’re going to put into your web design, but some thought and time into it. Tinker around with different kinds of gear, and see how to do your own processing to get your desired effects and end goals happening.