Video and other multimedia and interactive content can take your website to a whole new level, make it a true experience, and bring you much closer to your visitors.

Video makes a visit to your website so much more like a visit to your business.

Your visitors can learn much from the pictures and text on your site. An audio-visual message, however, gives your visitors so much more.

While I like to think I base all my purchasing decisions on cold, hard facts, I know that the twinkle in a seller's eye and the warmth in a voice have sold me more stuff than I care to admit.

What kind of audio/video presence is right for you?

Approximately one-half of United States Internet users have broadband (cable, DSL, or faster) connections to the Web. The other half does not. In addition, approximately 10% of website visitors turn off Javascript in their browsers and that a slightly smaller percentage turn off scripting and Flash.

So with disclaimers fit for a bottle of patent medicine, we begin our discussion of multimedia, dynamic, and interactive website content.

Know your audience. Which half of the Web-using public do most of your customers belong to? Do they turn off Flash and/or scripting?

Of multimedia formats, slideshows witout audio require the least system resources, followed by audio clips. Audio "slide shows" require more resources and videos require the most.

With the addition of motion effects such as pan, zoom, spin, sweep, and fade, a slideshow or virtual panorama really can bring your images to life and will reach a larger audience than a video of the same duration.

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