Bean counters no longer frown on Flash and other rich media.
It’s a gas, gas, gas.
Flash can make a website subtle and graceful, but it can also make a website invisible to Google and difficult to revise. It can lead a viewer through an elegantly crafted presentation, but it can also prevent site visitors from entering anywhere other than the home page.
When to use Flash is a complex question. Some effects can only be achieved in Flash. It is the best animation tool for the web. Unfortunately, the decision to use Flash can come with some costly tradeoffs.
Search engines don’t easily see Flash content. Google claims that they are making some progress indexing content inside Flash elements, which will eventually help the SEO problem, but the revision problem remains. To make the most of SEO efforts, the content of a website should be different every time Google visits the site, commonly every 3-7 days. That could keep a Flash developer busy full time.
Web marketers can also be frustrated by Flash. All-Flash websites commonly have one URL for the entire site, which means site visitors can’t be directed to a specific sub-page in the site. That means there isn’t a unique landing page for each email or ad, making it impossible to track response metrics.
Revise the content, not the animation.
Dialogs combined with Flash is a powerful duo. Dialogs can push content to Flash elements, which makes revisions to Flash as easy as Dialogs. With a blend of Flash and HTML content, the user experience can be rich, but Google can index important content. A Dialogs-powered site can include as much Flash as you want.
Be seen by everyone.
You may have the coolest mobile device around, but you still can’t see Flash. With Dialogs as the foundation for your next website, Flash elements can be replaced with mobile-friendly content on-the-fly. You edit content in one place, and all browsers, including mobile ones, will see your message.
You don’t have to be rich to benefit from rich media.
Flash, time-wasters, interactive video - these are the things that make websites fun and memorable. Incorporating them into an easy-to-maintain environment won’t break the bank. Let us show you how to get the most from your most complex content.
