What is Flash?

Flash is a software platform from Adobe that provides an opportunity for a website to have more interactive elements than are possible with just plain old HTML.

Examples of Flash

Flash has some valid, appropriate uses - but it is also utilized in ways that don't make much sense. These are some places where you have likely come across Flash applications on websites:

• Interactive clickable maps
• Streaming Internet videos
• Image Slideshows

The examples cited above are fairly valid uses for Flash. Where Flash really shouldn't be used are areas like the following:

• Splash Pages - A splash page is an introductory page for a website that contains little in the way of information. It may contain animation and a button that says "click here". Splash pages were popular about 8 years ago. If your website has a splash page, get rid of it. The goal of a website is to get the site visitor the information they need as quickly as possible. A splash page adds another, unnecessary step that gets between the website visitor and their goal. Not only will your Denver small business website be aggravating for visitors if it has a splash page, it will also look extremely outdated as the practice of using splash pages for websites is no longer popular.


• Website Development - Often times entire websites are developed using Flash. For most Denver small businesses in most industries, this is a big mistake. Search engines have a very difficult time indexing Flash based websites. Flash websites often stray very far from conventional norms. From a pure marketing standpoint, building your Denver small business website with Flash is a very bad idea.


• Website Navigation - It may seem like a minor point, but if your menus are made of Flash, there is a strong possibility that search engines are having a difficult time indexing your website. Search engines use the navigation menus to travel from page to page in a site, and if they can't read your menus, it may leave much of your website out of the index because it can't find the pages.

The Case Against Flash

Flash is also under fire throuhgout the tech industry - including from players like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Not to mention security experts:

• Apple's CEO refers to Flash as a "resource hog" that is full of "security holes" - and the IPhone doesn't support Flash
• One of the world's foremost security experts advises against installing Flash to keep your website safe ("The main thing is not to install flash")
• Google and other companies are moving towards HTML 5 to stream video data instead of Flash

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

I have a lot of experience with Flash. I've used it quite a bit - mostly for video related applications - but also for slideshows and maps.

I believe that Flash still has a lot of useful applications on websites - but use it sparingly. If you're considering using Flash on your website, use it where it makes sense - especially where there are no other alternatives. That includes slideshows, videos, maps, and related uses.

If your Denver website has a Flash splash page or was developed entirely in Flash, you might want to make sure that your website pages are in the search engine indexes. You may also wish to consider moving away from Flash and building a new website. Search engines have difficulties indexing Flash, the IPhone doesn't support Flash, and companies (like Google) are looking for ways around Flash with new technologies.

Jeffrey Lurie over at ConversationMarketing.com recently referenced a report from Forrester which concluded that a YouTube video is 50 times more likely to hit page 1 of the search engine results than a normal web page that is optimized for HTML. This finding applies to keywords where Google actually provides video results.

The actual content of the Forrester Report on Video Rankings provides some great tips on how to optimize your YouTube Videos. I encourage you to follow the link to find out more. In a nutshell, be sure to include appropriate, descriptive keywords when naming and describing the video on YouTube. It can also help to have a Video Sitemap on your website.

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

Denver small business owners should be investigating video and reviewing the above links. You need to have videos on the most popular video platform (YouTube). You can embed these videos where appropriate on your website. With the tips above, it is possible that you can even achieve solid rankings on YouTube for popular search terms, much easier than you can through optimizing your Denver small business website with good content. Online video is a great way to promote your small business.

A recent report by comScore (referenced in TechCrunch) revealed some very surprising data from January 2010. Video views dropped from December 2009 to January 2010. The TechCrunch poster mentioned - and I'm sure rightfully so - that video views in February are bound to increase over January due to the Olympics. A safe assumption.

Why Would Video Views Drop?

It would seem logical to assume that video views would continue to increase month over month as more consumers hopped online - and more video is also being streamed to mobile devices. Apparently - at least for one month - this is not the case. Despite the momentary lapse in January, video views have more than doubled year over year. Video ads can still be used as an effective way to get your marketing message across.

Where do People Watch Video?

Perhaps the most intriguing portion of this comScore study was the data for where people go to actually watch videos. Google (YouTube) was the leader - no one else comes close. Google's YouTube received about 40% of total video views. The second most popular destination Hulu had a mere 3% of total video views. Microsoft Sites came in at just 1.5%.

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

For the Denver small business owner, this momentary lapse in video views is nothing to be worried about. You can still very effectively market your business with video. If you do hope for a video to go viral, or you want subscribers to your videos - you need to get your videos on YouTube. YouTube has by far the most viewers and the most active user community. You can even set up your own video channel on YouTube where consumers can view your videos, subscribe to your channel, and automatically receive updates.

As a Denver Small Business, you want to get the most for your advertising dollars. You also want to reach Denver metro consumers in the most effective manner possible. A logical question to ask is - "Why not advertise in the Denver Post?". Historically, local newspapers have been one of the primary places for small businesses to advertise. That has obviously changed.

The World Has Gone Digital

Classified ads were one of the economic engines that drove newspapers. People used to look for employment, cars, used goods - just about everything was in the newspaper classifieds. Unfortunately for newspapers, websites like craigslist, ebay, monster.com, hotjobs.com.... offer a more user friendly way to view these classifieds online. Lost revenue from classified ads has been a major blow to local newspapers. The Rocky Mountain News is no more, and the parent company of the Denver Post, Affiliated Media, filed for bankruptcy in January.

Should You Advertise in the Denver Post Online?

I generally view advertising on major media platforms like television or newspapers as being best for branding. However, even small businesses can have some success with highly targeted campaigns.

According to a recent study featured in Website Magazine by comScore on behalf of the Newspaper Association of America, 57 percent of survey respondents said that the local newspaper website was the top online source for local information. That's great, but the most interesting quote from the study to the Denver small busines owner looking to advertise online was this:

Respondents trusted newspaper advertisers much more that television advertisers or portal advertisers. The study looks promising for advertising in local newspaper websites (like Denverpost.com - but you also have to keep in mind that the study was apparently commissioned by the Newspaper Association of America, and the results certainly were friendly to that organization.

Despite that, for businesses that already have a strong online presence with the major search engine platforms, advertising in DenverPost.com may make sense.

How to Advertise in the Denver Post Online

If you're considering advertising in the Denver Post Online, one of the first places you should start looking at is their online advertising section. Here are some highlights according to their marketing materials for advertisers:

• 250,000 unique online visitors per day on average
• Banner Advertising Available - home page or section
• Sidebar Advertising Available - home page or section
• Expandable Banners
• Sliding Billboards
• Talking Spokesperson
• Video
• Much More

The advertising vehicles at DenverPost.com are pretty much endless. Unfortunately rates aren't provided

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

Denver small business owners need to investigate search engine advertising first. Once they have fully explore online ad platforms like Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter, then it may be time to consider other forms of advertising - like advertising with the online version of the Denver Post.

While newspapers were extremely slow to react to online competition, it now appears that they are trying extremely hard to have a sustainable online presence. The online ad offerings at the DenverPost were much more extensive than I had anticipated. The 250,000 unique visitor count each day (assuming it is close to accurate) represents a lot of local traffic. The Denver small business owner who is able to deliver a targeted message to this group could get a big boost in lead generation.

I stumbled upon a recent post over at Small Business Search Marketing recently. The post cited a study by Hitwise which indicates that one word searches jumped by 17% in 2009. Keep in mind, these are one word searches that people actually clicked on.

One word search phrases like "olympics" are on the rise.
(Screenshot from a Google Search on 2/26/10)

What are one word search terms?

A one word search term is when someone goes into a search engine and types just one word - say "shoes". You usually don't want to bid on one word search phrases because the person doing the searching is searching on very general phrases and is usually very early in the buying process.

Let's say you're running an online ad campaign for your Denver based running shoe store. You want highly qualified traffic to click on your ads and be delivered to your website. You'll want to bid on terms like "Brooks Beast" or "Asics GT-2140". You don't want to bid on terms like "shoes" - people that type in shoes could be looking for anything from snowboots to sandals. You don't want to waste money on their clicks.

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

When you're putting together an online advertising campaign for your small business, you'll want to bid on very specific keywords using exact match or phrase match. You may use broad match for longer keyword phrases. Only in very rare instances would you bid on a one word keyword phrase.