My brother-in-law, owner of a thriving new ice cream truck business and in the market for a website we’re developing, sent me a link to non-local competitor: Sweet Pete’s Ice Cream.

This website, and many others, welcome visitors with an animated introduction. These are most always made with the program Flash, and are called “Flash Intros” across the industry.

A Flash intro is appealing to small business owners and their websites because of the image and feel it portrays, but as a consumer and web developer – get rid of your Flash intro.

As a Consumer

At my home, each time I visit your website, and it has a Flash intro, I am forced to sit through it. There is usually a button that says, “Skip The Intro” – but by the time I find this and click it, the intro is usually done. A Flash intro usually is a large file size and takes time to load.

On the go and from my iPhone, it does not render Flash, and this website is not viewable because to get to the informational pages, I need to click through the Flash intro. From my portable device, most often I’m looking for your address and/or phone number.

As a Web Developer

Your home page is the most important to search engines like Google and Bing. A Flash file most always contains text that these search engines cannot read. A Flash intro is terrible for Search Engine Optimization.

Flash intros usually add hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to your budget. Chisholm and Harper call them “old hat” and making changes to Flash intros is surprisingly difficult and time consuming.

Brooklyn Web Design

At Opuscule, we listen to your business needs and make recommendations based on our years of experience creating websites that are user AND search engine friendly. If your small business is not pleased with its online presence, contact our skilled New York Web Design team for a free estimate.