Writing articles and publishing them on article web sites is a great way to bring attention to your web site. And sometimes these same articles will quickly rank on search engine results pages. This gives you another opportunity for visitors to find your site. These articles should have keywords or search phrases in them that visitors use to find information on your website topic. For example, if you have a website on aquariums. You would want your article to have phrases in it about aquariums or fish. These keywords should be considered in all three ways I discuss to get web site traffic.

Keep in mind, one article will not get the amount of targeted web traffic you are looking for. You will need to write and submit several articles focusing on the topic or niche of your web site. Most article web sites do not allow you to put links to any web sites in the body of the article. However, they do allow a bio box about the author to be used and a link can be placed in this text that points to your web site. Before publishing any articles, review each article web site’s policies.

Social media sites like Squidoo or Hubpages are sites where the members create and provide most of the content for the site. These types of sites allow you to directly link to your web site. So, you can create a page on the site that discusses the topic that your web site is about. You can include links to your web site allowing the visitor to the social media site to follow the link or click through to your site. This then brings targeted web traffic to your web site because the visitor wants more information on the topic of your web site. As with all 3 of these web site traffic ideas, these social media sites want good content and not one big advertisement. Being spammy and not providing any useful content may get your page deleted. And there goes all your hard work.

Blogging and Microblogging are similar and are both ways to get targeted web traffic. Blogging can be done by having your own blog web site or using a community blogging website. WordPress has both types. I believe it is better to have your own blog so you are in control of the blog contents. Blogging is a platform that encourages the question “What’s on your mind?” to be answered. This type of site allows you to put in your own content, create links to your sites or other sites, similar to social media sites. Updating your blog weekly is a must. The search engines love new content. These updates can be short. Microblogging are sites that encourage very short entries, some only a couple of lines. One of these sites is Twitter. If blogging asks, “what’s on your mind?”, microblogging asks, “what’s on your mind right now?”As with blogging, you can link to your web site with microblogs, but be sure to provide good, informative content.
Using all three of these traffic generating ideas together will help bring in a steady stream of traffic. All of these ideas should be done on a consistent basis to keep the flow of targeted web traffic going to your site. Although I have only listed a few resources, there are almost unlimited resources that can be used to get web site traffic.

Majority of the companies that concentrate in web site design review will analyze the subsequent features of your website; the total site business, the home page of the website, titles of the page, messaging, content modification, proficient image and the search engine openness of the web site.

The most important focus of having a website assessment is to find out how you can develop your web site. A web design analysis company knows how to amplify the utility of a web site. The company will analyze and then examine how sharply the message of your web site is attracting the visitors.

A practiced team with professional analysis skill can take your business to the next level with promotion of your web site. Custom web site design services help and assure the accomplishment of a web site. Several web site design analysis companies will even provide a free assessment of your web site. This is a remarkable offer that assures you to take your business even further more that you have imagined.

There are almost 80 million web sites present on the Internet. It means that the contest on the Internet is some times abundant and severe. Your web site should obtain a place over the contest by having your web site analyzed. Lots of people have seen amplification in their business after following the advices from a web site design company.

While introducing a web site place your best idea ahead. Have your web site analyzed by a team of professionals who are paying attention and devoted to build your web site an ultimate success.

Basic Reasons of Business Web Page Design:

To be successful your business web page design may not need to be any more than a uncomplicated four-page Web site.

Design your business web page as an online booklet.

Use very easy, reasonably priced shared hosting.

Flash or graphics in your business web page design is not always necessary for the growth of your business. Reason is things like flash or graphics expands the loading time and they are not picked up by search engines always.

Ensure you have an active email address that suits to your company Web site domain. As an example,  www.abcd.com, emailaddress@abcd.com.

Trademark is also the key so all matters of your web page design should match.
You must be capable to access Web Mail. When thinking who will host your business web page design, ensure that you must obtain the access to the connected email account through the web. This is proper way you can confirm your email from any computer just as if you were sitting in your office.

Web pages for business are designed as a symbol of your brand. Do not litter your web page with pointless graphics; fancy videos, Flash or anything else that will sluggish the web experience. You must be sure that all features of your business web page design are corresponding including a matching email address that is reachable by Web Mail. Less is more with business web page design – as an advice your web page should looks like simple and professional.

Business web page design is a vital contemplation when you are beginning your business online. There are several features and styles available but these can create confusion. You should always remember though is, despite of the style you select, your business web page must be designed for the wide promotion of your brand.

To know more information about web design Kindly visit web design London . You can get complete information about website design.

As you are in creating process of web designing it is very important to be sure that your web site is simple to navigate. If you don’t have much experience in designing a web site or you don’t have any then your option is to search for some examples of high professional web site designing. Your goal of web designing should be a high ranking on the top three engine searches at Yahoo, Google and MSN. Web designers are mostly educated in three categories of web designing. One of these categories is graphic design in print mode some design firms offer. The next category is the web designers that prefer 3 D animation and sound and they are considered as multimedia artists that are more sophisticated. The last category includes people that are web developers who are interested in technical stuffs about web designing and web applications.

If you want your business to grow one of crucial things of driving your web site through the traffic of internet on the high level is to pay attention on your business keywords and the search terms. If you consider these things and there is nothing difficult in that your business will blossom. Besides your web site needs to be well trafficking it is very important to make your visitors stay as much longer as they find your web site interesting.

One of problems that many people have is on the first designing step when they have to decide what the purpose of web site is. It is very important to have that idea very crystal because lately changes are very complicated. Depending on your web site goals you choose your targeting audience and try to be very informative to them.

Let’s discuss about some important differences between web designing and web hosting. Make these differences clear to you as the difference between building and making the web site. It will help you to find the best web developer that will accomplish all your wishes. Whether you want to build a new web site, redesign the old one or add some new brands, knowing these rules will help you to achieve the best appointments for you.

Web site designing process is not an easy task but if you would be patient and take these steps with a lot of attention you are going to increase your web site business.

If you are in business today you do need a web site. It may be only to provide a “lookup” presence – equivalent to a (nearly obsolete) phone book listing. But there is no longer any doubt that without a web site you have no credibility as a current, active, enterprise. At a minimum, you need a one page web site that provides contact information and a summary of what you do or sell.

Where you go from there, in terms of web site development, depends on the rest of your answer to the question: “Why do you have a web site?”.

A few of the most common reasons are:

To generate leads.
To get sales.
To save on printing costs.
To provide customer support.
To reduce nuisance phone calls.
To qualify leads.
To provide/establish credentials.
To educate.
To satisfy your ego.

Leads
If generating leads is the top priority for your web site then Search Engine Optimization has to be your #1 overriding factor when designing the web site and creating the content. You cannot get leads from a web site that gets no traffic, no matter how beautiful the design or how perfect your grammar.

Sales
Contrary to first impressions this is not the same as, or even a necessary follow on, to leads. Many companies will never be able to make a sale directly from their web site. Some products or services just do not lend themselves to a “self service” model. By the same token, you may not need to generate leads with this web site – even though you are making sales. You may be generating your leads in another way and just handling the sales transactions online.

If you are selling on your web site, then you must concentrate on making that experience the best it can be for your visitor. Every page, the design, the function, and all of the content is there solely to assist in the sale.

Saving on Printing
Catalogues, brochures, portfolios, instruction sheets, etc., can be very costly to print and to distribute. They also have the annoying habit of being out of date the instant they are printed. Your main reason for a web site may be to save time and money by providing materials (that would have otherwise been printed) to your visitors. If this is your priority then the organization of your web site and the ease of finding and printing off the materials will be most important.

Customer Support
This can be as simple as providing driving instructions and business hours to your place of business, and as complicated as a fully automated help desk. Providing (at least some) service to your clients 24/7, is a task that your web site can do at very little cost when compared to hiring people to be available around the clock. To be effective you need to put yourself in your client’s shoes and ask yourself what are they going to want – that you can provide easily – on your web site? Better yet – ask your clients!

Reducing Nuisances
Providing customer support on-line (as above) can help reduce the number of calls your staff many need to field. But it may be that your company is strictly wholesale – and you currently get a lot of unwanted phone calls or emails from the public. If done correctly your web site could identify you more strongly as wholesales only – or better yet direct your nuisance leads to a company that wants them! You may even be able to work out a referral deal for the leads you send their way.

Qualify Leads
Perhaps your challenge is not too few leads but too many leads that go nowhere. Your web site could be put to work qualifying your leads for you. A questionnaire, a test, or a “referred by” form could be used to your advantage. Or some well written text that describes what you do not do – or who you do not serve will satisfy this requirement.

Provide/Establish Credentials
Many service oriented companies and professionals live or die based on their credentials. Often these credentials are complicated and lengthy and need to be added to, or updated frequently. A web site is the ideal place to expound (ad nauseaum if need be) on your experience, training, affiliations, certifications, memberships, published work, samples, past projects, research, etc.

Educate
It may be that providing information is your best bet to business success (at Back2Front we sure think so). Or maybe you are an educator by trade and providing some for free is your best way to sell more for a fee. Either way, a web site based on education will likely grow over time, and could end up being a very large web site – so plan for this in advance. Consistency in style, naming, and presentation, as well as a good navigation system will be necessary for success in this type of web site.

Satisfy Your Ego
I put ego on the list because its better to acknowledge and prioritize it than to pretend it doesn’t exist. Let’s face it, if you are the owner of the company, it is your baby and you are justifiably proud of it! Your company is a reflection of you, and your web site is a reflection of your company. So of course you want it to be impressive, beautiful, unique… as awesome as you are! OK, feel better now? Just prioritize the needs of your ego appropriately with your other goals and make sure your ego does not get in the way of the success of your web site. For example: if lead generation was your highest priority – then you would decide not to include that impressive, animated, flash, intro-page that prevents the search engines from indexing your site properly, no matter how much your ego wanted it.

There is usually more than one reason for having a web site, and therefore the web site may have to satisfy more than one set of requirements. Identifying your reasons and then placing them in order of importance will help you prioritize when resolving conflicts between requirements.

Knowing why you have a web site in the first place will go a long way to helping you decide what kind of web site you need, or whether or not the web site you already have is good for your business.

For more information visit: www.back2front.ca

By Candace Carter, Back2Front – The Web Site People, 2009

A leading web site design company in Delhi is rich in innovative designing matching client requirements with essence of knowledge, experience and talent in such a manner that allow us to produce eye catching cutting edge web pages in web designing. Web design companies Delhi create web designing service standing on the core foundations of passion, creativity and vision. A professional web design company in Delhi is fully dedicated to applying diverse talents to produce astonishing imagery, meaningful content and user-friendly ecommerce applications and user friendly web designing.

Making money through web site designing is very much possible. Lots of people make money through web site designing. Not only the web designers earn through the ever increasing demand of web site designing, they can also earn through the uniqueness of their ideas. While designing a web site you need to know the exact requirements. A web site needed by a doctor will be definitely different than a web site which offers you sports guidance and training books.

Make sure that the web designing company equips your website with all the attractions for the customers and makes the site easily accessible to them. Usually, basic services offered in designing of a website are ensured in place. For instance, flash technology in these days has become integral part of a dynamic web. Almost all the sites now have flash incorporated in place of statistic banners to attract more customers to your sites. The company must design a website that is well equipped with shopping cart software, credit card processing and a merchant account in order to make shopping of your products smoother for the customers through your site.

Developed countries from all over the world are resorting to outsource web services that guarantee better service and price. It is the skilled workforce that makes a difference to this booming industry. There are numerous outsourcing companies available online that claims to offer state of the art web services at very nominal prices. But before hiring web designing or development company it is advisable to conduct research and refer to the past testimonials of satisfied customers.

There are many steps involved if you want to design a very proper web site. If you want to have a perfect web site which suits your purpose, you need to be really careful about its design. First of all you need to know the target market exactly. You need to know the needs of your business online. The use of web site if clear to the web designer, there are better chances of designing an effective web site. Incorporate state of the art technology in your web site. Taking all these steps will help you in designing a web site which will be helpful in expanding your business. These keys can guide you towards a successful web design.

Read About <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.seoflicks.ayushveda.com/”>Internet Marketing</a> Also Read About <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.seoflicks.ayushveda.com/web-designing-service.htm”>Web Designing Company</a> and <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link']);” href=”http://www.seoflicks.ayushveda.com/web-designing-service.htm”>Website Design Services</a>

Advertising through your own site can be delicate, depending on what image it sends to your global audience. One web site can easily break or increase your business so try to send a web site image which tells that you are a professional.

It is very important to appoint a balance between the design of the web site and its content. In this way you will have very profitable web site, your targeting audience is going to be very satisfied. The aim of web design is that web site’s appearance be very pleasant for seeing, and its structure to be easy to navigate through. The content explains the web site and it should reply to its subject.

One of the first things that must be done with the content is to divide it into the potential categories and than to classify it by the scale of the importance. In this way the structure of your web site won’t look clumsy with putting too many facts and pictures and that is why it is necessary to have a structure of web site like this.

The next crucial thing is the web site navigation. It is very important to make your web site navigate in an easy way because your visitors will appreciate it a lot. Not loosing their patient and have them to stay is your the most important guideline while making the web site. Your visitor will stay much longer to browse through the web site you have made if you afford them an easy navigation and fast down loads. Try not to put too many images, especially avoid some that are out of the web site content because these things make your web site navigate more slowly.

And what is about the design of the web site? Consider that as the most relevant part of your web site. It is recommended to always have it in some sort of balance. Design of the web site must reply to the products you are selling or to the services you are offering. Images that don’t describe the purpose of your web site are totally unwanted because that won’t make your business increase and that is for sure. Besides the images that will make your downloads slowly, inharmonious colours will also make your web site worse.

It is important to always keep in mind the fact that your web site must look attractive, user friendly, with fast downloads. The attractive and user friendly web site will bring you more visitors and fast downloads will keep them from loosing their patient and make them visit your web site again.

Today’s web site designing doesn’t demand to spend lot of time on designing your own templates therefore you can now choose from many templates designs and save your time. The most important steps in web site designing are planning and organizing. The web site form is the main trump of web design and it is needed a lot of time to bring it to its perfection.

Don’t expect that your web site is going to celebrate a great success only just you have spend a lot of time and lost a lot of energy on its designing. This is important but it must be done as it is appropriate to make web site design that brings you a profit. The best way to make a perfect web site design is to follow web site standards. This will protect you from its redesigning as the web site backbone keeps its quality and so there won’t be some extra costs and you will have a less work to accomplish. Read this article carefully as for sure it can help you explaining some key things in your web site designing.

No matter if you are designing a simple web site it still needs a few design tweaks to make it elegant. If you only have basic knowledge in HTML and so on in graphic design work, don’t look for web designer’s help. Only if you are going to build in any way complicated web site design than don’t let yourself so much temptation and look for a professional to do it for you. HTML language is used for every web site building and its creation. Page editor is an extraordinary feature that can help you in your web site updating without need to be subjected to web design company.

Many web designers don’t have a least experience in internet marketing except their knowledge in web design services. Web designers must be informed about search engine optimization (SEO) tips. They must pay attention on SEO tips from the beginning of web site building process because web site ranking is based on these tips.

Every web site design depends and is created toward the client’s own taste and preference.

I recently interviewed a new client who was looking to add the functionality of a database to their existing web site. Their current webmaster had completed a business logo and designed the initial interface for the site. The clients asked their webmaster for a quote to add the functionality to the site and he returned a price that far exceeded the clients’ budget.

Long story made short, we found a great application that already exists that would meet the clients’ needs for substantially less than custom development. The client advised the previous webmaster that they were moving services. Do you think they got to keep their original web site? Nope. We had to start over again, which unfortunately meant that this customer had to pay for extra design time that they had effectively already paid for.

Here are some important tips for you to remember and some questions to ask your web site design or development company.

Web Design Source Code

When you hire a web designer or a developer they are going to produce a web site or web based application that your business is going to be dependant on. In fact, a web application may be your whole business. This is absolutely the case where a business is 100% online and depends on the process built into their web site. E-commerce stores are a perfect example of a whole business online.

Web designers create web pages with a compilation of images and hyper-text markup language (HTML). The HTML is a text based standard language that most every web designer in the world knows. The HTML is what is used to hold the structure of your web site together. It keeps the pretty pictures and text all in the right places. Your web browser interprets that HTML and shows you the web site images and text.

Your web designer will start your design by “drawing” your web site in a graphics program. Macromedia Fireworks and Photoshop are two tools that are very often used by professionals. Your designer will draw the site using shapes, colors, images and fonts that are all piled up in layers to create the final “look and feel” for your new web site design. The designers will then slice up the images and use the resulting smaller images to build your working website using HTML to hold it all together.

Here is the key. You need the original art file that was used to design your web site in Macromedia Fireworks or Photoshop or whatever software your designer uses. If you don’t get the source file, your next web designer will have to start your design from scratch if you want artwork changes. This is no walk in the park if the original images that were used are not available. Macromedia Fireworks source files have the extension .PNG (yourWebsite.PNG). Photoshop files have the extension .PSD (yourWebsite.PSD).

Another design issue that you may run into in the future is fonts. If your designer uses fancy fonts that are not installed by default on your computer or your future designers computer, you will have to substitute different fonts. In some cases, choosing a new font is not a big issue. However, if you could image that the font used in the logo for Coca-Cola® became unavailable because Coke® changed designers it would most likely cause them real damage. They need the font used in their logo or corporate branding and so do you!

Questions to ask your web designer

1) When you are finished designing my web site will you provide me with the source files used in the design of my new web site?

2) Will you transfer the ownership (copyright) of these source files to me or my company? Or at least give me perpetual license to continue using them and to make revisions?

3) Will you provide me with the names and files for all non-windows fonts used in the design of my new web site? At the very least, because there may be real copyright issues with transferring the fonts, you need to know the names of the fonts and where you can buy copies of them for your project archive.

Web Application Source Code

Web developers create programs that work as applications on the internet. They create code that is compiled, usually in real-time, at the web server. The code will, for example, connect to a database and extract a set of data. The data will then be compiled into an HTML table (so that it is readable) and then sent from the web server to your web browser as pure HTML. You will not be able to “view source” and read the scripting language because it never leaves the web server. If you “view source” from the web browser, you will only see the HTML.

Some of the code that your developer writes will be protected by copyright. Your developer may also buy code in the form of server components, use code blocks for functionality from other programmers or purchase complete application in order to finish your program. You need to ensure that the developer tells you that you can continue to use the software that they develop for your business for an unlimited period of time, and that if there are any licensing restrictions or reoccurring licensing costs that they are disclosed to you before you start the project. Find out if you will be bound forever to a hosting or server plan for you application.

Here are some questions you may want to ask your web developer

1) Will you transfer an unlimited a perpetual license to me or my company to use the application that you develop for me?

2) Will you disclose any licensing restrictions to me regarding the application?

3) Will you write code using common standards or languages that I will be able to move to another hosting provider or eventually to my own server?

4) Can I move my application to another server in the future if it is necessary?

Use of Encryption

So your web developer says “yes” to the last four questions and you think, “great, I’m home free, let’s get started”. Then two years later you decide it’s time to move your web application to your own servers because your e-commerce store is screaming busy and the cost of bandwidth and hosting is killing your profits.

You start the process to move your application to your new server and call up your webmaster for help, but he has gone to University in the states and “isn’t doing that anymore”. You think to yourself, “I guess I should have used a more established company…” So you find a new webmaster. Incidentally, I am often told by new clients that I am their second, third and sometimes even fourth web developer. So we go to move the web site, but wait, something is wrong… portions of the source code are encrypted. Even the government couldn’t decrypt it. We have to rewrite those blocks of code and the client has to pay… again.

If your web sites source HTML or application scripting language is encrypted then it may have to be rewritten or you will have no way to add functionality, or to fix bugs, without involving the original developer who holds the key to the encryption. They are quite clever, aren’t they?

There are some good reasons to encrypt some portions of the source code, even on in a web application. Most web applications will contain, in the source code, the database, username and password within one of the files. This is a great example of a code block that should be encrypted before it is placed into a shared hosting environment.

If your web developer is going to encrypt portions of the source code, make sure you get a copy of the unencrypted source code for your project archive. In this manner you will be able to work with a new developer.

Questions to ask your web developer regarding encryption

1) Will you be encrypting any or all of the source code in the application you are developing for me?

2) Will you provide me with a copy of the original source code prior to being encrypted?

Technologies

There are a number of technologies used in the development of web sites and web applications they include Pre-Hypertext Processor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Active Sever Pages dot Net (ASP.NET), and Cold Fusion to name a few. All of these scripting languages facilitate connecting web sites to databases and accessing functionality on the web server such as sending mail or uploading files. All of these technologies are widely used, widely available and there is a great number of developers that know these languages. There are some lesser known programming and scripting languages that may be able to do a lot of the same things as the more widely used languages. The pitfall is that you may have a more difficult time finding a programmer that knows the language.

Some web scripting or programming languages like Microsoft’s® Active Server Page or Active Server Page dot Net technologies are developed specifically for use on the Mircrosoft operating systems. These technologies are difficult, if not impossible, to run on a Linux operating system. When your programmer selects a language to develop your web application with, he may be marrying you to a long term relationship with a particular operating systems and software vendor. This is okay as long as you recognize the long term ramifications of these choices, some of which may be greater costs to you in the future.

Questions to ask your web developer regarding programming languages

1) Is the technology you use tied to one particular operating system or can I host my web site on my choice of servers with my choice of operating system? More specifically, can I host my application on a Microsoft web server and a Linux server?

Transferability

Make sure that you are able to move your web site to a server with comparable standards in the future should you wish to do so. Moving a web site to a new server is not necessarily due to a break down in the relationship with your web designer. You may be forced to move if your existing server can no longer handle your traffic bandwidth. If your costs become too high in a shared hosting environment you may find it more economical to setup your own web server and host your own application.

If you do choose to host your own application this is where the cost ramifications of your earlier choices will hit your pocket book. For example if your site was developed using PHP, an open-source scripting language for websites, then the cost of your new server will likely not include any software licensing because the operating system (Linux) is free. If on the other hand your site is developed using .ASP or .ASP.NET, you are going to have to buy expensive server licenses from the big guy.

Can You Use Your Site Into the Future?

If you commission a web designer or developer to complete a project for you make sure that you have an agreement in place that clearly specifies that you can continue to use the project and the related source files when it is completed. Check the service agreement that you have signed with your web company. Of course if there is no documentation then you will not know if you own you web site or web-based application.

In Summary

There are some good reasons for web designers and developers to protect their rights and to ensure their future earning potential. As the client or purchaser of web design services you need to understand where you stand with regard to choices that will be made on your behalf regarding your web site or web based application.

http://www.eKzact.com sign up for our Free newsletter on-line Call 1-866-WEBB-123… or email info@ekzact.com

© eKzact Solutions Inc. 2005

Of course, they do work in terms of visuals. If you visit a Flash web site you will see it. Just because a visitor can see the web site doesn’t automatically mean that the web site is working for your business.

What is Flash?

Flash is technology developed by Macromedia, a leader in web development tools. Flash movies are a compilation of many images, elements and text that is then compiled into a nice, tight little digital file that then gets put on the internet. Some designers build entire web sites using this technology. Graphic designers quite like the technology because it gives them a great opportunity to show how talented they are by developing interactive, moving, and quite honestly some very entertaining web sites. Remember though that the purpose for your business web site is to communicate with your existing and prospective clients, not to show everyone what a talented designer you hired.

What is Flash Good For?

Flash is great as an add-on element for some graphic components of a business web site. Recently the ability for web masters to compile digital audio and video into flash movies has been simplified and using flash to stream a video is a great example of a perfect use for Flash in a business web site.

Another example of where Flash is well used and well received is on web sites that are about presentation and not information. For example a rock band, kids web sites with little games, a photo gallery, a movie clip are all places where Flash is particularly well suited.

Does Flash have a place on the internet? Absolutely it does, but as a web site purchaser though, you have to ask yourself the question, “does Flash have a place on my business web site?”

Can Everyone See Flash

The short answer is no. Although widely available and a component of most web browsers when they are installed, not everyone has flash installed with their web browser. If a visitor who does not have a flash plug-in on their PC visits a site that requires the Flash plug-in, their web browser will prompt them to install it. PC and web savvy visitors will likely go ahead and do it, but some users (like my mother) panic if a pop-up window asks a question and they walk away, or surf away, thinking they just infected their PC with the latest doomsday virus. All of that said, a large percentage of people can see Flash without too much anxiety.

Things to Consider

The Intro Flash Splash

Flash is commonly used for “splash” pages or “entry pages” into web sites. We have all seen them, the animated movie or commercial that leads us into a more traditional marketing web site. Have you ever wondered why the Flash designer almost always places a “skip intro” link on this page? I believe it’s because they know that if they don’t allow people to skip the Flash splash screen that they are going to lose the visitor. Remember that most internet surfers are impatient and they are usually looking for information, not another commercial. Get people to your main web page and do it fast.

The trend of using ‘splash’ pages has declined in the past couple of years as the internet has matured. It is my belief, and widely shared, that if your web site is about good information, then an entry screen is just a road block to your visitors.

The Search Engine

Search engines send out automated robots called “spiders” that crawl through the internet and create massive databases of web pages. People then search for web pages based on key words that are embedded in to the web page in hidden tags as well as in the text that is on the web page itself. If it is important to you that people find your web site then it is important to you to create well written text and links on your web pages that the search engines can find, read and follow. Search engines can not see the text in a Flash page. Search engines can not see hyper-links on flash pages and therefore can not follow the links. Your web page will not seem very important to most search engines because to a search engine your web site will consist of one page and the only relevant information that the search engine will see is your meta-tags if they exist.

Having said all of that, there are arguably ways to get a Flash site indexed and catalogued by a search engine. It simply is not the easiest thing to do and you will likely require a Search Engine Optimization specialist to assist you.

Reciprocal Linking

If you are kind enough to put links on your web site for other web sites then you are providing them with a “vote of confidence” in terms of search engine rankings. The more web sites that link to a web site, in the eyes of the search engine, makes the linked web site more important. Taking that a step further, the more important the web site that links to you the higher the potential ranking your site will get. Likewise sites that provide you with a reciprocal link are in effect giving you their “vote of confidence” and in turn making your web site more important.

Remember what I said earlier? Search engines can not see hyper-links when they are embedded into flash. So although the links are appreciated they will not contribute to the search engines perception of how valuable your web site may be to the world and as a result all those “votes of confidence” are going to waste.

Make sure that people who provide you with a link from their web site to your is not embedded into a flash page. Links should be in pure HTML or Hyper-Text MarkUp Language. If you provide links to other web sites on your site, the same applies to you, use HTML.

Don’t Break my Back Button

Web-browsers all have a back button. As software users, and more specifically as web surfers, we use the back button as a matter of course. It is a good practice as a web developer to not ‘break the back button’. Unfortunately because of the nature of Flash, the back button doesn’t work for backward navigation in the flash web site.

Create a Bookmark if You Can

People like to bookmark pages on the internet so that they can quickly return to them later on. Web surfers do not always bookmark the index page, or the main page, of a web site. For example if you site has a nifty currency converter or a great mortgage calculator on it, people may simply want to bookmark just that page. You can not bookmark an internal page within a Flash site. You can only bookmark the main page. Try it. Visit a 100% Flash web site, surf around a bit, then try to bookmark the page you are looking at. It doesn’t work, because you literally haven’t changed pages from when you first arrived at the site, you have simply “played the animation” which made it appear as though you went to different pages.

Cost

The cost to develop a traditional marketing web site using standard design graphic, HTML and text is in most cases less expensive than using Flash. If you designer proposes to use Flash, ask the question, “how much would it cost to do the same thing without flash?”.

Making Revisions and Updates

If you have your web site built 100% in Flash, you have subscribed to a certain skill-set in your designer. If you want to make revisions you will always need to use someone who can work within Flash. The same theory applies if your web site is images, HTML and text. The distinct difference is that there are far more web masters that work with the later than in Flash. It also typically will take longer to make revisions to Flash sites and as a result your cost of maintenance can be quite steep.

The Source Files

Flash source files are the heart of a flash movie, element or web site. The file will be names something like mywebsite.FLA. This is the native un-compiled source file for a Flash file. Once the designer is ready to deploy the Flash to the web server the file is compiled into a different format. The compiled file in our example would be called mywebsite.SWF.

So to clarify, the original artwork and design is worked on in the .FLA format and the final file that goes on the web server is .SWF.

I see it time and time again where the designer does not provide the client with the source file for their flash elements or web site. They protect the .FLA files, and guess what, you have to go to them for updates and revisions. It does not matter how talented your new web master or designer is, if you do not have the source file with the .FLA extension for your Flash site you will not be able to update it. You should ask your designer to provide you with this source file if you decide to use Flash elements on your web site.

A Final Note On Flash

Please do not interpret my remarks here as me being “anti-flash” the fact is, it really is a great media technology. If you have the budget and want to develop your web site using 100% pure flash, there are some things you can do to mitigate some of the pitfalls that I have described here.

Use a javascript to detect the browser capabilities of the visitor and ensure that they have Flash plug-in to support the Flash on your site. If the result of this simple test is ‘no they do not support Flash’ then the right thing to do is direct them to an alternative HTML based web site with your content. So, although you can overcome the missing Flash plug-in you have to have two web sites designed (the Flash one and the HTML one).

In Summary

Flash is a great design tool to add elements to your website to ‘spice it up’.

Flash is great for delivering rich media like audio and video.

Use the theory, add flash to your web page, don’t add your web page to flash and you will deliver a great experience to your visitors.

If your web site is about delivering information, make the information first and the design second. Web sites that provide great content do not need to wiggle, giggle, blink, click and buzz.