The NFL draft starts tonight on the NFL channel, which I don’t get at home, so I needed to find a sports bar or restaurant I could go to this evening to watch and have dinner. After some fruitless searching on google, I was reduced to calling several establishments by phone in order to find a place to watch the draft.
Imagine if just one bar or restaurant in the metro had blogged in the last couple weeks about the fact that they would be playing the draft this weekend. They would have won my business, and anyone else out there searching for the same thing (assuming their site was search engine optimized, of course).
I have yet to find a business that wouldn’t benefit from blogging. Perhaps posting personal anecdotes and articles isn’t feasible for some companies, but at the least, posting about events and specials will help with search ranking and website conversion (think “News” or “Events” section on your website).
You need to have a blog for your business. Typically, it will be built in to your website, or will be your website. Search will only be more and more integral to discovering new customers, and one of the best ways to be competitive in search is to start blogging now.
Considering a Flash Website? I’d Think Twice.
While Flash will continue to be relevant for online games and small animation graphics for websites, recent developments online make it pretty clear that relying on Flash for important tasks like your site navigation – or worse, your entire site – is a short-term solution that will even now give many of your visitors troubles.
The downfall of Flash as a safe technology to use on your website began with the release (and quick growth to nearly half the mobile market) of the iPhone. Apple doesn’t support flash now – and never will – on any of its mobile devices, including the new iPad that’s now sold a million units in it’s first month on the market.
This means that choosing to rely on Flash on your website immediately eliminates half of mobile users and all iPad users (a growing trend in browsing the internet from home) from being able to use your website. In an age where more and more web traffic comes from mobile devices, your business simply can’t afford to ignore a significant portion of the visitors you’ve put so much effort into attracting to your website.
Just this week, we’ve seen Facebook start the transition away from flash in the videos they serve. Youtube has already made the switch to serving their videos with HTML5 (the better alternative to flash video on websites, it’s viewable on iPhones/iPads), and Hulu is currently working on converting their library of shows as we speak.
Be leary of the web designer that wants to incorporate Flash into your website. Many Flash designers have years of experience that they are reticent to let go, but times they are a changing. These days, almost all of the movement and “eye candy” that used to require Flash can now be done simply with code. And that’s how you’ll want it done on your website. Say hi to your mobile fans for us!