Loading ...Flash has been around for a while now. This technology provides amazing capabilities
to visually enhance the hotel website. There is nothing wrong in using Flash to
improve the visual aspect of the hotel website: Flash animation, Flash photo
gallery, Flash interactive maps, etc. Unfortunately many web designers are
pushing all-Flash websites and some hoteliers are “buying into” Flash as the
next best thing after sliced bread.
HeBS has created some of the most visually appealing hotel
websites in North America—see a list of our award winning websites, including the
Best Travel Website of the Year 2006 WebAward.
And yet we have never created an all-Flash website and strongly advise our clients against building an all-Flash website, and here is why:
- Flash is still not fully indexable by the search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo, MSN
cannot read well the all-Flash websites). The website search engine rankings and
PageRank on Google will go downhill as soon as you launch an all Flash website. - Flash is not trackable by any website analytical tool and you will be in the dark as
to what is happening on the site. Though some analytical tool vendors claim they track Flash sites, only Omniture has a new patent-pending
Flash-tracking functionality that is yet to be deployed. - Google Landing Page Algorithm: since last year Google uses the so called “Landing Page
Algorithm” when determining the pricing of your PPC campaigns. An all Flash page
that cannot be indexed by Google will inevitably be considered by Google as a
“low quality” landing page which means that you will be paying higher CPC (see
below). - Best practices –none of the serious players in the hospitality space use all Flash
websites and there is a good reason for that.
HeBS recommends:
- Build the website as a Flash/HTML hybrid (Flash Imagery embedded in an HTML platform)
- All body copy must be in HTML text format
- Consider redesigning the whole website using display resolution of at least 1024×768
pixels (80% of Internet users use 1024 x 768 or higher displays) - Speak to a HeBS website optimization expert to discuss how to turn your hotel website
into an award-winning one.
Note:
Google PageRank and Landing Page Algorithm
Google’s pricing for AdWords includes a new component that looks at the content and
quality hence PageRank of the landing pages, the so called “Landing Page
Algorithm” first introduced in December 2005 and recently updated in June 2006.
Before the landing page algorithm was introduced, Google used the click through rate
(CTR) as a way to determine the quality of an ad and how good the overall
experience for the visitor was. A CTR below 1% was considered the minimum by
Google. Unfortunately, some advertisers who provide a poor user experience on
the landing page can write a high quality ad—or a misleading one—to promote it,
resulting in an ad with a high CTR but poor user experience.
The main criteria used by the landing page algorithm targets the overall user
experience on the landing page, but specifically the PageRank and actual indexable
content on the landing page as well as how it relates to the ad itself.
Advertisers with “low quality” landing pages (low PageRank, non-indexable content and
keyword-poor copy, etc.) can be penalized, meaning they may have their ads
disabled and be forced to pay up to $10 a click in order to keep their ads
running.
Comments? We welcome your questions and feedback.
