Are You Selling to Search Engines or People?
The other day I was meeting with a client about their web site. They had found out the happy news that their Flash elements could (maybe) be searched! Sooo, I had to climb on my soapbox gently remind them that Flash - while it’s “cool” - may not be the best idea.
Then I read this from a web developer news site: Adobe, Google and Yahoo Join Forces To Make Flash More Searchable
“Previously, search engines had a hard time peering inside Flash files to accurately read and catalog the content within. This created a barrier for Flash adoption among content producers, many of whom were nervous that search engines wouldn’t be able to see much of what they put inside a Flash movie. Adobe especially is hoping this new agreement will erase that barrier.”
(I can practically hear all the “creative” agencies jumping up and down - “See, See, Flash/Splash is great! Now there’s NO reason not to do that whiz-bang entry page with no text!” Aaargh and yaarggh.)
So? Does this make Flash any less time-consuming (wasting) or annoying for the human being looking for you online? I mean, c’mon. And, who among us doesn’t know how to find that teen-tiny dim little “skip this ad” in the upper-right corner of the NYT pages after the first time? I don’t even notice who is advertising now - I’m so quick to click on skip.
P.S. People don’t care about your carefully crafted keywords and Google Adwords strategies. They want to know what you’re going to do for them…and make it snappy!
Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, emarketing, keywords, SEO, web development, Flash
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July 2nd, 2008 at 10:37 am
There’s another really good reason not to go Flash-happy - the skyrocketing use of iPhones for mobile browsing. Flash doesn’t work on them.
Yes, they’re a little bit of the overall market, but growing.
Flash used well is great, but when it starts dominating, it’s a problem. That said, it’s great news that if you use Flash well - for example, for some kind of interactive product demo - it will be searchable.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
John,
I agree that Flash (done well) is great for something like a product demo. The problems comes when people think that’s ALL they need to do to get customers to buy their stuff. And, it’s a lazy way for a creative agency to “wow” an unsuspecting client who doesn’t grok web marketing.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:40 am
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