RE: FN-FORUM: Sitecheck - Updating my website - using CSS

date posted 13th March 2008 22:33

John Deaville wrote:
> Why are so many photographic portfolios built in flash - what has =
always
> been termed as poor in terms of google ratings, because when you are =
at=20
> the top of your game, you don=B9t need google, you get an agent, they =
deal=20
> with the ad agencies and get you work, and the ad agencies can then=20
> access your website, if it does not visually cut the mustard, you =
don=B9t=20
> get the job.=20

We're saying the same thing in different ways. As we have both said, if =
you
don't need Google traffic, then Accessibility is not going to be =
important
to you - fair enough.=20

This opens up the ability to have a more visually dynamic Flash-based =
site,
at the cost of SEO performance, as testified that not one of the top 20
sites in Google for "uk photographer" are Flash-based (1 uses a Flash
banner).

> I've been doing it for years and, with respect,I am not talking about
> wedding photography - do you think photographers like Rankin and=20
> agencies like Saatchi want ordinary Joe Bloggs enquiring into their=20
> work - I think not.

What was confusing was your statement "the vast majority of pro
photographers [..] probably don=B9t give a toss about google". This may =
be
true for agency and "big name" photographers, but your average freelance
photographer (handling weddings, events, etc) relies on enquiries from =
the
public, hence SEO is vital to their business.

I quite agree that more visually dynamic sites can be built using Flash
(although this is not always exploited enough to justify it over a DHTML
equivalent). However, your message implied that SEO is not relevant to =
"the
vast majority of pro photographers", which just isn't true based on =
those I
have worked with.

Good luck with the re-design; I've had great success with
www.BrowserShots.org, it's probably overkill to buy a PC just to check a
single site.

Cheers, Ben

--
Ben Johnson, Neogic Web Solutions
// design =95 development =95 managed hosting

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