Thread: Got an opinion? I need one!

I'm working on one of my websites and need opinions.

I put a talking character on my home page.

Cons: She doesn't quite fit into the design, and the talking could be annoying to some.

Pros: She could be a useful sales tool, could keep people on my site or drive them deeper into it, and some (auditory) people who might miss a text announcement will hear what she has to say.

So....on a scale of 1-10, how annoying/ugly do you find her? Do you think she can be a useful sales tool? Would you keep her or dump her if you were me?

My first priority is making the sales, pretty design is secondary.

Belly Dance by Lauren and the Hips Afire Bellydancers

(please don't critique my text, it's not fully edited and I know it. I also know my gallery page is messy and needs work, but I'm tabled-out at the moment!)

I personally dont think shes annoying. However, I think you could get the same benefits from an autoplay video of your self saying the exact same thing on your front page. That might fit your theme a little better, and people would also get to see how well spoken and articulate you are.

I think you would be better served by having an "Announcements" or 'News" box where she is. I find those site pals extremely annoying and not very professional. However, the rest of the site looks awesome!

About a 4. I think her outfit is cute though. ;) Very festive! Not sure if she adds much to the overall effect but I think your site is looking lovely! I agree, a video clip of you might be better. :)

Loose her. I found her distracting.

The talking didn't annoy me as much as I expected, although I didn't think the sound quality was all that great (could be my speakers tho). I think it would be just as effective without the graphic though, as I found it a bit distracting to look at (kept trying to work out if the words synched with the lip movements!)

ETA what amber_moon said!

I hate websites that make noise. However, I love the design otherwise and that photo of you is awesome.

About a 9 on the Annoying Scale. Sorry, Lauren! I really don't like those things anyway.

I'm with the rest regarding the distracting and annoying factor. Plus, she takes much too long to load up. The info that she gives would be better as a news box, or some such deal. Generally, the less animation and scrolling text on a web page the better (hence why all gorgeous animated or flash splash pages have a "skip intro" button that kicks you straight to the relatively animation-free website).

I am with everyone else, sorry Lauren. I find her to be very annoying and I automatically hit the mute button on my laptop.

me too. put the info into text, with colors to emphasize them if you want to. (you're better off doing so anyways even if you keep her, because so many people mute their computers or don't have sound, so won't hear the announcements)
but i deeply loathe websites that make sounds, because generally either i'm listening to music already, and i often have loads of tabs open, so imagine the horror if all those websites had sound...

I think the cartoon character detracts from the otherwise elegant, professional look of your site. Also, she draws attention to herself, drawing it AWAY from the other important content you have on your home page.

In my site redesign, one thing that's getting purged is the sprinkling of dancer cartoons throughout the site. I'm going to keep them in my fun & frolic section because they fit the mood of that section, but otherwise the cartoon look and feel just seems incompatible with the mood of elegance and beauty that I want my site to convey.

I love your site design but the character just draws my attention away from your photos and text. I think your site would be much more professional without her.

The funky head and eye movements were distracting for me.

The design is beautiful, and that photo of you is fantastic! I'd skip the animation -- as others have said, it's distracting. Maybe a friendly headshot of you above similar text, same placement, would have a similar focusing effect but blend in better?

I honestly hate those things. I don't like websites to make sounds and I don't think it fits in with your site design. I mute it immediately, so you would better reach someone like me with a text box :)

I have to agree with everyone... I don't really like it.

It reminds me a lot of the websites I played with when I was 13 does not seem professional.

Thank you all! I appreciate your honesty. I'll play around with something else for that space then.

It is a bit distracting

I didn't find her annoying at all, although I might have if she had talked longer. I do agree, however, that a little vid of yourself would be better!

IMO it's not as professional as the rest of your site and the first thing that went through my mind was "Mrs. Claus on a bellydance page?"

I vote for a video of yourself.

Originally Posted by Michelle75

IMO it's not as professional as the rest of your site and the first thing that went through my mind was "Mrs. Claus on a bellydance page?"

I vote for a video of yourself.

..l;, I dressed her in her holiday outfit!

My daughter also suggested a video of me. I'm not sure I know how to embed one in the page that will autoplay, but I'm sure I can figure it out. It would still be making noise, though and lots of us don't seem to like that.

For now, I'm thinking just a sort of attractive box where I can change out the text seasonally, or some kind of simple animated text effect that blends into the layout... I'll leave her there for now while I figure it out.

I really liked your site, but she was a 9 for me too. I don't like talking sites. A video of you dancing would grab me more.

I don't like any video/audio on a site that starts up without me specifically requesting it, and will usually avoid sites with those features like the plague. Not only do I find it annoying, but there are still a lot of people who have old computers and/or non-high speed internet, and video/audio on autoplay leads to frustratingly long load times IMO. My upstairs POS computer is a windows 98 machine, and video/audio will often crash the whole thing, which drives me nuts if all I'm trying to do is look at the home page of a site.

i'd totally vote more on a video of you, preferably dancing, with maybe a 'talking/intro' moment if you really want.
make it a Youtube video, they're easy to imbed, and don't autorun (so no noise annoyance for those who don't want it), and we can lower the volume or pause other side activities before clicking the video to play.

you never really know how a marketing scheme will go until you test on potential customers.

So I would say leave it there for a little while and see what the realworld results are....I have noticed that lots of things which annoy bellydancers seem to work really well from a bottom-line $$ perspective.

From a practical standpoint, I did find the sound quality to a smidge staticky though; occasionally I had to pause to figure out what was just said. I don't think the site needs a clip of you yourself talking. Maybe a different person doing the same narration as a voiceover of a videoclip where you're dancing away might be nice though.

I didn't find it annoying because I knew there would be a talking character, and I was looking to see/hear it.
But I do believe it would be so much better if you videotaped yourself, and have your voice over nice and clear.

You website is very nice, and your pictures are gorgeous. I love the costume on you on your main page, and yes, the talking character distracted me from it.

I can see why a lot of people would not like websites with music / sounds - I am guilty of having music on my site, but I just can't give it up (yet).

OK, the talking character is gone. I kind of agree with Lotus that she might have been a good marketing ploy in spite of being slightly irritating, but I decided not to risk people slamming their browser window shut before they even see my site.

Now I'm using an animation thingy. Is this better?

Belly Dance by Lauren and the Hips Afire Bellydancers

It is somewhat less annoying to me, but I admit I won't read it. My mind is so used to tuning out those moving banners that even when I was trying to pay attention to it to give an opinion I kept losing focus on it.

It seems a little busy, but some folks may like it :)

Much better! Pretty pictures of you, not too much text, silent, fits well into the look of the site, easily tuned out if desired. I like it.

I like your clips page a lot, too. I just watched your Eshta and Fakkarouni again and tapped straight into the joy of what we do. Thank you, Lauren.