Almost all of us know that most people nowadays are always in the need of the internet even for important activities, such as ordering online transportation, shopping, tracking delivery services, or searching products. Yes, almost everything is online. Therefore, it is possible that in the future, the number of business owners will increase, because with online activities, it helps in growing and expanding businesses in so many ways. For that reason, almost all businesses now use a website as one of the ways to grow and expand the businesses.
That being said, having a website alone doesn’t guarantee instant success, since of course, there are components in building a website that some people tend to overlook, which, as a result, can direct a business straight into failures in the future. One of the components that should be looked at is its web design. If we use the right design and content on a website, it would help increase more traffic without so much hassle, because having a good website design can be seen from many aspects, not only from the quality and the uniqueness of the design, but also from how the design would help in the usability and the SEO process of the website. There are always new trends in web design coming in the future; one of them is the use of ambient video backgrounds on a website.
People have been discussing whether it is necessary or not if we use ambient video and what it would bring to the website; making it more polished and beautiful, or creating upcoming disasters for that in the future? This article will reveal the pros and cons of using ambient video on a website’s background. If you are a business owner, keep reading this and find out what you need to know about ambient video background.
Before we discuss about its pros and cons, first let us tell you a little bit about ambient video background. Ambient video is used for the background of a homepage so that it would catch people’s attention, imagination and interest without intruding their initial purpose of visiting the website. It usually appears on the homepage in a form of a video showing objects, people, or other stuff related to the business. In short, using ambient video would beautify your website, because ambient video can capture visitors’ imagination in a way that can help them understand more about the website, see its uniqueness, as well as value its beauty. However, despite all that, there are also some points you need to understand that make ambient video not advisable for some cases. So, we are going to tell you some positive and negative points that ambient video has.
The plus side of using ambient video background
- Ambient videos can help convey messages that words alone can’t do it enough. There are things that we can’t just say it well in words, and those things are only better if we show it to people, instead of “telling” it. This way, you can demonstrate some aspects and concepts that might be too difficult to say in words.
- Videos make it easier for visitors to get to know your business better than using written content. It’s simple; most people hate reading. Unless the written content is incredibly creative and unique, they usually wouldn’t bother reading all of them. They are likely to skip some parts and get to the point. With videos, it would be easier and more convenient for them to learn about your company and what you offer.
- You can be more creative in personalising information on videos. Unlike videos, you need to be careful with using word choices, but if you create videos, you can be as expressive and creative as you want. You can also encourage more interaction with your visitors by using creative facial expressions, tonal variations, combined with marketing strategies.
- Videos can spark people’s interest. Apparently, what people look for first when visiting a website is the website’s informative and attractive content. However, while it’s easier for people to miss out on important information if it is written, it is unlikely for them to miss out on those described in a video.
The downside of using ambient video background
- You need a lot of preparations to create ambient video background. There are many things to consider before preparing for ambient video, even though you already know what content to include in a video, because you need to set appropriate settings before proceeding to the next steps.
- The use of videos is not ideal for search engines. Search engines are important for you if you want to increase your website’s online visibility. Therefore, in order for you to create a good website, you need to think like “how search engines think”. Unlike us humans who like visuals more than text, search engine like Google prefer text than videos. Google reads text and determine how you are going to be visible on search engines; therefore, the use of videos is not really in the options. Maybe you could use video transcripts as the alternative, but this requires more work.
- Editing and uploading videos is not time-efficient. Since it is going to be shown on your homepage, you have to do your best in providing high quality videos not only in terms of its appearance, but also the quality in the content; therefore, this might take a lot of time to edit and upload it, which is time consuming, especially if you need it fast.
- Some browsers are not compatible with videos. Some browsers might have a problem with loading or previewing your videos due to its compatibility issues. This can cause some errors, which can disturb your website’s appearance.
Conclusion
Despite all the downsides in using ambient video background, you can still look for the possibilities in dealing with it, because as time goes by, people will always look for solutions to fix the problems. Hopefully, the upcoming trends in the future can solve this problem. However, if you are still inclined to use ambient video background, make sure you have all the time to make, edit and upload the videos. Remember, don’t rush things, but you shouldn’t also procrastinate. Plan the timing and the content first before making a video, and you should be sure of what you need for your website. If you have strategic plans, you might not be worried about time.