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Internet 101: Flash vs. HTML
I continue to be amazed at the dollars people will throw at a website (especially a flash based website) with absolutely no idea what they’ve asked for and what they are getting. Or the disparity between the two.
Perhaps that is the reason those blog-in-a-box sites actually make money. If you don’t know what you want, and really don’t know what you can get, those flash sites catch your eye (and hook your pocketbook) because they are such great eye candy.
And you think ”. . . everyone who sees them will ooh, and ahh and want whatever it is I’ve got. . .”
Maybe they will.
Those people who see them.
And that’s the problem isn’t it? Google doesn’t index movies. The videos on YouTube and Vimeo are tagged with searchable information that will allow viewers to find you in the gazillion websites out there competing with you.
That gorgeous flash website you’ve got? Does it have meta tags? titles? keywords? Text? Spend the next ten minutes reading hard core SEO articles and then figure out how your site is ever going to have a visitor that didn’t type in (one letter at a time) your url.
Ain’t happening, baby.
And all that business you expect to get off the net?
Ditto, it ain’t happening either.
You like flash? I love flash. By all means use pieces of it. But just like a site that is all text, no color, no pictures, no nothing, it isn’t going to get the job done for you.
But at least the text site that is boring will get indexed in the search engines; readers will be able to find it and actually visit.
. . . the flash site? Say it with me, it ain’t happening.
I don’t want to be a Rock Star!
You’re kidding, right? You don’t want to be a Rock Star?
I had an interesting talk with a client, who gave me a whole new appreciation of English as we know it.
I don’t want to be a RockStar! I don’t want ‘fans’ ~~ I’m not a celebrity, and I don’t want to be.
As I explained to my slightly testy guy, I realized that I’ve adopted a vernacular meaningful to me (and other people in my life) but not necessarily to the people I want as clients.
I told him that “Blogging Like a RockStar” doesn’t include sex, drugs or rock’n'roll. It is a phrase I’ve adopted that means one blogs like a professional, blogs and gets ‘buzz’; blogs and creates ‘google-juice. I consider it just more Web 2.0 jargon, as is the “Fan Page” on Facebook.
Ironically, FaceBook, in naming its company pages ‘Fan Pages’ has furthered that impression of performance-related media – that of a celebrity, or . . . RockStar and not an ordinary (or extraordinary) business page .
They (FaceBook) needed to name them something, and that’s what they picked. It is unfortunate, because by design it is a methodology designed for businesses in order for them to grow and nurture their own community within Facebook. They’re moving away from that name, but it is what we’ve got, and millions of FB users know what it is and what to expect from it.
So, I bid you, Blog like a RockStar! and get those Fan Pages at Facebook! Become a star in your own right, whether you’re rockin’ or not.
As always,
Rock On!
Your blog represents . . . You
Your blog is the most personal thing you will ever show the world.
Present anyway you want, most of the people who see it will never see you. If your blog’s job is to promote you and generate revenue, then you are going to meet people. Via phone, email, or in person.
And, any way you look at it, if your blog is your paycheck, you want to present the very best, most professional image possible, as well as showing off the edge you have on the work you do (and that includes displaying some “edginess” in your presentation). So, are you going to buy one of those canned websites that everyone else in your profession has? Google “mortgage broker”, or “real estate agent”; you’ll get a thousand iterations of the same brand because sales people know they have to have a web presence, but they don’t have the knowledge, or time to hone their skills, so they load their credit card information into a self-replicating web-site purchase engine, get their log-on and password and put in their contact details, and maybe their photo, and sit back and wait for the business to roll in.
Come on, do you really think that will work webmagic for you?
I know it is easy and I also know it isn’t always cheap. But even if it was cheap and easy, would it be in anyone’s best interest? Probably Not. Making a splash on the internet, really creating buzz for your business, giving your pages GoogleJuice? For that you do need time, along with the knowledge of not only what you need but how to get it, some money, but probably not as much as you’d think to launch a blog and make it powerful enough to create webmagic, managed social networking for the best viral marketing campaign you can create. And don’t forget,while you’re doing all that, you need to create fresh content for your blog readers, as their numbers grow.
So you need on the short list, Linked In, Facebook, Twitter.
You need to start publishing those articles to e-zines, and you need to make sure you feed is available in at 57 variations for everyone out there because you never know what they’ll want. Well not 57, but sufficient choices. an RSS feed, an email option, do you want to also use Atom? Decisions, decisions, but hurry, cos those articles are still waiting . . . .