Yes, technically speaking, you can do some pretty neat stuff with Flash, but there are three major drawbacks: they’re difficult to manage, they can potentially destroy your search engine optimization, and they can be incompatible on some mobile devices.

Let’s start with management. Flash just isn’t as portable and flexible as other methods of coding. From a programming perspective, integrating a full-flash website with a user-friendly content management system can be challenging and arduous (aka expensive). Major changes to your design, depending on its complexity, could cost you a pretty penny, not to mention the inconvenience. Simply put, it just isn’t as practical to build a site in Flash, especially if the client wants to manage it on their own.

Then there’s the search engine problem. This is probably the most dangerous drawback to a full-flash site. Unlike  HTML or other methods of coding, Flash doesn’t render text or coding in a way that is easily accessible by search engines. Because of this, search engines can’t pull information from your site necessary to rank it. You might as well not have a website if you’re hoping to get traffic from search engines.

The final drawback is compatibility. In order to view Flash in your browser, you must have Flash installed. It is pretty standard these days, but there’s still the off chance your visitor doesn’t have it, or is running a very old version. More importantly, some mobile devices don’t even support flash. This could have a negative impact on your business if visitors find issue with your site.

So, pretty much what I’m saying is don’t get too excited about Flash. That’s really all that it is. Something flashy to be used in moderation. There are better, more efficient ways to create a dynamic site, like using jQuery, which will keep your site easy to maintain and search engine optimized. There are many examples of jQuery on this site, which include scrolling elements, tooltips, overlays, and galleries.

In the end, if you mention to your designer that you want a Flash website and (s)he raises no concern, you may want to reconsider whether they have your best interests in mind.

I get requests all the time for search engine optimization and it usually starts like this: “I want to be the first website to appear on Google for the word ‘awesome.’ Can you do SEO on my site and put my website there?”

Answer: Yes and no.

Performing search engine optimization (or SEO as it’s often called) doesn’t guarantee any specific placement on any search engine. Search engines like Google and Yahoo! use a highly complex and secretive algorithm to determine which sites are best suited for that top spot — and in some cases, dollar signs play a factor.

So what is SEO and what does it do?

Search engine optimization means exactly what it says: optimizing your website for search engines by adhering to common standards and practices that will make your site more easily, accurately, and thoroughly indexed.

Most SEO practices include adding META tags (little pieces of coding) that pass keywords and descriptions to search engines. SEO might also include making sure you have all the appropriate keys and values used in your   coding. In addition, SEO involves building a standards compliant site map, clearing out dead links, selecting relevant keywords, spreading those keywords around your site, and finally, submitting your website to the search engines to be indexed.

In the end, the most you can hope for is that your site has made full use of your important keywords. For the example above, this would mean making sure that the word “awesome” appears in as many relevant places as possible — both on the front end and in the coding.

Without paying for Adwords or some other form of Internet marketing, there’s no way to guarantee that place at the top — or even the top ten — but if you can make your site more search engine friendly, then you will certainly have a leg up on the hundreds, if not thousands or millions, of sites who haven’t.

So, be confused no longer, Hip Web Design is here to help you search engine optimize your site so that your website can look as attractive as possible to search engines everywhere. Get your quote today!