Monday
Dec072009
Why using a lot of "flash" on a website can work against you.
At A.C.T. we work with a lot of artists and often on their websites. Artists, being visual and all that, are attracted to "flash" types of features (all the groovy moving graphics and graceful, flowing functionality). Personally, I think flash on web sites is overused (or used poorly) and usually gets in the way of what you have a website for, which is to market you and your work (not show off the website designer's skills).
Why does using it work against you? In the past, using a lot of flash on a website was considered SEO suicide. That just means that all the flash on websites was invisible to the search engines and not good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These days it's getting better, search engines and SEOs have continued to work on ways to help flash webpages be more recongnizable to the search engines. But it's early in that game, which means a lot of added cost to you if you really must have it. And if you must, just consider that part of the site invisible (as far as SEO is concerned) and make sure you have your critical info and anything important you want to say as part of a regular (html) web page.
A.C.T.'s Web Marketing Mentor helps you unravel the mystery and confusion of websites and both online and print marketing so you can make informed decisions, save money, and get back to doing what you love - making art.
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Robin Sagara
Reader Comments (2)
Spot On. It's not just SEO either, flash sites are *usually* designed in a way that leads to only one URL being used for an entire portfolio of artworks. That eliminates the possibility of direct links to a particular artwork - that's a bad move, especially in an age where art lovers are sharing links on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and Email.
Good point about flash sites often designed in a way that leads to only one URL. I mean, why make it hard for people to buy your art, write about it, or share it! Their attention spans are notoriously short these days. Better to get them right to what they want.