Colom Newbie

I don't know how long it was but I know it wasn't short. I spent close to two hours trying to explain to a local client why she wasn't getting the kind of web traffic she wanted. She spent a considerable amount of money working her website to perfection. On many levels, it was probably perfectly pretty...with flash and all. You can go upstairs, downstairs, sideways, explore the bathroom, etc in the website. Pretty. Very pretty.

Then came the explaining of why aren't people from all corners of the earth visiting her website?

The search engine? They don't see anything at all, I explained. When they crawl to the website, all they see are placements of objects. In this case 'flash' objects. If your website is made primarily of images, the search engine spiders don't SEE the images and don't give two hoots how pretty the website is, therefore, it collects no data from the website.

The same thing goes for flash websites. The spiders of search engines see blank. Nothing.

What you're doing is limiting your audience!! You're throwing money away if you want an international platform for your website. if you've spent money on your website, why not use it to its full potential. Put information in there that the search engine spiders can SEE so that they can put you in somewhere in the database.

The kind of money a website owner could be losing or risk losing when they put up a completely flash-heavy or image-heavy website is bordering on ridiculous. The only way to promote your website when it's 'pretty' is locally by handing out brochures, leaflets, putting up banners, buntings or handing out business cards to each person you meet. Maybe you can add a couple of financially-draining marketing tactics to it...which includes advertising on TV, radio or even websites.

All of that requires BIG MONEY. And it's outdated too. When was the last time you actually voluntarily clicked on a banner advertisement, anyway? (As opposed to the website owner either begging you or asking you or forcing you to go to an advertiser's website?)

The fact remains that the World Wide Web is a web of words...not images, nor flash. The best way to attract visitors from all over the world is by using words.

I hear your argument that 'people are really lazy these days and they don't read the content, anyway'. Oh, you would be surprised. Suffice to say, I think a lot of them don't read the stuff they see on the Internet but that's only because the words were not written well or the headline wasn't PULLING enough or the words just floated past the reader's head. But bottom line is, if you put effort into putting reader-worthy content and spider-worthy articles into your website, sooner or later, someone's going to take notice!

Not only will you get the attention of the search engines, you're also potentially gearing your website up for getting referrals. Getting referrals is the most enriching experience you will ever find in the business world. The first time I got a referral, I celebrated by getting totally wasted because I went delirious.

The first time I discovered that I topped Google for my favorite keyword, I whooped so loud I scared my kids.

So, if you asked me, based on my ten years of experience marketing on the internet, I'd say go with words, not the images or the flash. It's a complete waste of money unless you DON'T want good traffic and your main aim is to impress the socks off of the people who come in.

THEN I can't argue with the flash and image option because it's hard to impress with words. Not a lot of people can do that naturally...not even I can. I think a lot of world-class writers would admit that impressing people with what they write takes a lot of mental muscle.

Nevertheless, it's my personal opinion that we should, at least, make an effort at it.