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Free website builders (and their use of Flash)

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Free website builders using Flash tend to get me ranting a bit, so apologies in advance. Hopefully though, once you’ve read it, you will be able to understand why, and I hope it will help you to make a more informed decision about how you set up your first website.

A lot of website builders still use Flash to create the website. When the internet was starting out, Flash was a fantastically cool new thing which meant you could make things whizz about your screen. As the internet has developed, Flash has basically stayed where it was, and is now incredibly outdated.

But it’s Free!

Firstly, I do understand why you may choose to create your site using a free website builder. I also find however, that most people don’t realise the consequences until they have spent hours and hours of work on their site. It is only a few weeks or months after launching the website that you discover that Google can’t find it, or won’t list it higher than the 10th page, and you don’t know what to do to fix that.

If you are a small, one person business just starting out, the prices for having a website made professionally can appear to be daunting. This is even more so when you are starting up a “hobby” business alongside your day job. Because of this, I understand why using a free website builder looks to be the cheapest and best option. If however, you are based only online as so many small businesses are, and you can’t be found on Google, it’s going to be quite hard to grow the business.

There is also a problem with setting up your own website, and then going to an SEO Specialist for their help. Website builders have limitations: more so when they are free! It may be that there are a number of things that someone like me would normally do to help SEO, but can’t on your site.

Google is blind to Free website builders using Flash

Google is blind to Flash websites

Why shouldn’t I use Flash?

There are a number of reasons why you shouldn’t have a website built in Flash. Some would argue there is no reason to use Flash anywhere on your website.

  1. Google can’t read Flash websites. Once you know this, you really shouldn’t need to be given any other reason not use a free website builder that creates a site in Flash!

  2. Flash is not accessibility friendly. There are lots of “rules” about accessibility on the web, and one is that your site has to have a certain level of accessibility. For example: if a blind person came across your website that was written in Flash, it would appear to have nothing on it as a speech reader cannot see any content. The fact that most flash sites have something constantly moving on the screen, is also contravening accessibility rules.
  3. Phones can’t read Flash. Viewing websites on phones and tablets is growing in popularity every year. By having a site built in Flash, you are missing out on all these potential customers.
  4. You can’t bookmark individual pages.
  5. Flash is slow to load. The average person will wait between 5 – 7 seconds for a site to load. If it doesn’t load in that time, they hit the back button to find someone else.

Okay, so I just won’t use a free website builder that uses Flash

Flash of course isn’t the only issue with free website builders. As mentioned earlier there are usually a lot of limitations on what you can do when setting up like this. Another thing to consider is how long it will take you to set the site up. How much your time is worth – and how much money you could make if that time was spent doing what your business actually does rather than trying to work out how to build a website?

Search Engine Optimisation

Something else to consider if setting up your own site, is do you have the skills to implement effective Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)? The reason I say this is because without SEO, your site may as well not exist according to Google – unless you get very lucky! Depending on the sector you are in, your potential customer will rarely click onto the second page of Google to find what they are looking for, and some don’t even scroll past “the fold” of their screen. So getting your site right to the top for your chosen key-phrases is really important.

If you have any questions or worries about your site, please feel free to email me on becki@webok.co.uk or call us on 023 9316 2393 to discuss what we may be able to do to help you.

The post Free website builders (and their use of Flash) appeared first on Web of Knowledge Blog.


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