AnJoe Lite:Web Designers’ log

When Macromedia Flash (Now Adobe Flash) was first introduced, I thought I was going to wet my pants. Adding animation and sound to the website?  Now that’s great! Flash allowed us to add more content on a limited space, in an organized and visually enticing manner.  For me, it was revolutionary.  With this great power, so did the vultures who craved it.  Advertisers harnessed this awesome power to dark side and began annoying the hell out of online community. Don’t worry. I’m not blaming everything on advertisers. I’ve worked on their side of the business before and I can understand why they do it.

So, here is a question many businesses may ask or designers may ask. Should we go with Flash site or static (HTML) site or even both?

Consider these questions before you move down the path.

What kind of business do I own?

Are you in restaurant business? Should you have Flash website? My personal opinion is yes and to go further, have both.  Restaurant business is highly competitive industry. These days, when people want to try new food they will do their research online. Most people I’ve talked to, if the website doesn’t look good to them, 90% of the time, they will not visit the place.

Is your business geared towards entertainment such as paintball, bowling or night clubs? My opinion is yes and mix it with static content.  Animation coupled with proper background music enhances user experience. If you want people to entertain themselves by coming to your establishments, would you want them to have the same experience when they are researching? One thing to be careful is not to go overboard with animation.  Many people are looking for slightly animated, fun website with easy access to information they need.

Is your business more B2B such as commercial finance, software or hardware or insurance? In my opinion, I would go with static format.  These businesses require right balance of aesthetics and contents.  Animation can be incorporated in a subtle manner but not to full extent.

Who are my target audience?

If you are targeting hard core programmers as audience, avoid or use very little flash.  They don’t have patience for long loading flash websites.  This is why, I say if you are covering wide range of audience, give users option to select between Flash or HTML site. 

When your target audiences are kids to teens, flash would benefit you.  They attention span is even shorter than us and you want to grab their attention.  Flash is a great attention grabber.

What is my budget?

Designers will charge more for flash website then normal HTML sites.  Flash takes planning, both artistic and logical skills and most importantly time.  Mixing the two types of content might even be cheaper in some cases.  And don’t forget about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  Compared to HTML, flash is harder to optimize for SEO.

So have I offered you some insight on this matter? No? Yes? Drop me an email. json@anjoedesign.com

Having a website isn’t luxury anymore. I personally think that as a business owner, having a website is a must! I’ve listed some reasons for investing in a website.

1. Virtual face of your business: How many people do you think will do their research on future purchase manually these days? When I say manually, I mean reading a newspaper or a book or even perhaps traveling to competing stores to find out prices.  Probably not much.  Most people WILL do initial research online.  Market your business online thorugh your website as if you would market yourself when you meet new prospective clients. You wouldn’t meet your prospective clients in baggy jeans and unkempt hair would you?
2. Cheap marketing tool: When you have a “Well made” website, your audiance becomes world wide.  Even if people accidentally stops by your site, that’s an advertisement.  Now I say “Well Made” website and you might think it will cost arm and a leg to make something like it.  This isn’t necessarily true.  Depending on the size of your business, you could get a great deal on template based website or even customized website. How can you find one? Ofcourse you would probably go online to do your research would you? (refer to my first reason)  Also, ask around your friends and family, there are many aspiring web designers out there with great skills.
3. Distribution medium: Take advantage of digital format.  Have people visit your website to download your product brochure, coupons or menu. 
4. Available free services: There are numerous quality business service website available for you to use and guess what? They are free.  Take Google local business for example. Create an account and have your business appear in google map.  Yahoo and MSN offers similar service.  If you are a resturant owner, there are city guide services available where you can advertise your place. 

Owning a business and having a website for that business go hand in hand.  If you do not have a website yet for your business, please reconsider your options.  Here are some numbers you may want to think of.

Owning URL and registering for hosting: 2yrs/100GB space/1000GB transfer ~ Approx. $140
Customized website design: $1000 to $1500 or more.
Template website design: Depends on the site. Hosting companies such as godaddy.com offers cheap and affordable ways of easily publishing your website.

Again, it may seem like large amount of investment but the value it will return is priceless.