1. “If there is automatically playing music and videos, it will get a users attention”

Unfortunately not. All this does is aggravating users who are startled by an unknown (and unwanted) audio source. This will obliviously lead to users closing your web browser just to stop the annoying voice. In a recent piece of research by Full On Design in regard to what people like and dislike about websites, one respondent said when asked about automatically playing sales pitches:

I hate it when some annoying sales crap comes up, as it interrupts my music or podcasts [...] normally I would instantly close the website which is to blame.
Anonymous Respondent

2. “If I use a big red font all in uppercase, they will notice & remember it”

No, this technique just makes your website aesthetically displeasing, which will just make it look like you’re an idiot.

3. “I need everything on one page…that way users have less clicking to do”

The “less clicking” has a point here, users are lazy creatures the more they have to click and type the more unwilling to take in your message they will become. You can try this for yourself, try not using your keyboard while surfing the web, you will be surprised how little you actually end up using it.

However loads of text on a single page will lead to “information overload”. In the study cited above, we also found that most users tend to read headings before deciding whether to read an entire web page, in some cases the user stopped reading after three 150 word paragraphs (Hint: Use images, shorter paragraphs and headings to break up content into more bite size chunks).

4. “I need to put ads everywhere to make money”

Unfortunately not true. In this web 2.0 generation users have become essentially blind to blatant advertising, in some cases users actively block adverts. Users are in fact more likely to click inline adverts (Where an advert is placed into the content), for example I could write an article being very positive about a service available and receive a small payment from that company.

5. “Buying traffic is a great way to increase sales”

This is very dependent on the type of traffic you’re receiving. If your purchasing traffic and users return or buy your product then its money well spent. If a user visits then leaves then you have essentially just flushed your money down the drain. Here is what an expert said on the topic:

For many years a large number of small websites purchased traffic in the hope that an increase in traffic would increase sales. In reality very few websites saw a return on the investment they made.
Dan, XDnet.co.uk

Unfortunately, lots of webmasters still have these outdated ideologies. Luckily though, they tend not to rank well.

Below are some examples of good and bad calls to action.

Facebook

Only 2 calls to action, but the login button fit in seamlessly with the layout (not taking attention away from the sign up, especially for new users). The page also only gives the information required to know what Facebook does, sign up in 1 click and login.

Note: the “Sign Up” button is the only green button on the page (it stands out like a sore thumb).

MySpace

6 Calls to action (too many), the user is somewhat overloaded with information. The tabs are inconsistent and link to unnecessary information.

Amazon

No clear login or sign up button (Seriously Amazon, you make it look like I am logged in but I’m not). However there is only 1 clear call to action (Search).

eBay

3 calls to action, essentially “Search”, “Register” and “login”.

Useful Links

Your Web Site Needs a Clear Call to Action
10 techniques for an effective ‘call to action’
Call To Action Buttons – Does Size Matter?
Web Design – Have You Forgotten the Call to Action?