Probably most of you don’t use MySpace as your primary blog, but any blogger can learn from the MySpace don’ts.

Don’t set up sounds that play whenever someone visits your site. This includes funny noises, YouTube clips and that song “Wonderland,” no matter how much you might love it. A lot of people surf the web when they’re supposed to be doing something else: at office jobs, in class, etc. When we’re pretending to create a spreadsheet, having Jack Johnson suddenly blare out of the speakers blows our cover. This also goes for your band’s website, by the way. I’ll click your songs when I’m ready to play them, you don’t need to have them lurking in wait for me. If a site has sound, I don’t revisit it.

Don’t use a tiled background. Even if it’s cute/hot/scary. In fact, any patterned backdrop makes the text hard to read. Even if you’ve got the text boxed on a plain background, the pattern is distracting. And usually ugly.

Don’t overcrowd your main page. This is the thing I hate most about MySpace, all those boxes. When people come to your site, give them one coherent reason to stay (i.e. your entry of the day, or an interesting blurb about you or the site), and links to anything else you want them to see. I don’t care who your favorite bands are if I don’t yet know who you are.