How Flash can kill the traffic to your Website

Posted by AKZMeDesigns in Blog      No comments

Oct
9

I always warn new clients who say they want Flash intros and Flash site, and just this weekend I went to 3 small business and local candidate sites on my Ipad2 and got NOTHING!!!!!!

This made me wonder are web designers out there letting their clients know that Flash is not compatible with a host of mobile devices including Apple and Blackberry products?  Or are clients ignoring or just not sure on how this could impact the amount of visitors to their websites. If your website is Flash or even if just your intro page is flash, when visitors attempt go on to your site from a mobile device they will see nothing but a download Flash link. This devices include all Apple mobile product, IPad, Iphone, Itouch, most Blackberry phones (including the new OS7 devices), other smart phones. On the bright side flash does work pretty well on Droid phones and tablets, although I had some issues scrolling down using the Droid X

So now I’m sure you are wondering how many people really use these mobile devices? Is it that bad if I only miss a few users? Well, in 2010 TechCrunch.com reported in that US Mobile users grew 110%  from the year before, and 65% of that growth Apple devices (IPad, IPhone, ITouch). And GeekWire recently reported by 2015 about 40% of the world population will be accessing the web on a mobile device.  So if your site is all flash or has flash components you are losing a much larger share of your web traffic than you though, simply because they can’t view  your site.

To further prove the point I did a little test on my I Pad2 and Blackberry Storm 2

Flash site on Blackberry Storm 2

Flash site on IPad2

Flash site after clicking the “Click the Download” link

The Flash error up close

Now don’t get me wrong I love Flash and 4-5 years ago I was all all for developing the best and brightest Flash sites, but after seeing these pictures it further stressed to me why in today’s day and age sites should not use Flash, until it is compatible with more mobile platforms.

But all is not a lost there are some cases where Flash can still be utilized; such as small areas on pages (banner, video clip,etc.) On these pages visitors will not be able to see the Flash video but at least they can still access the page. And you can still use flash in cases where your business has enough capital to get both a regular www. site and a m. mobile site  (separate site the automatically loads on mobile devices instead of your regular website).  For example, I visited www.Wix.com (the leading provider of free Flash websites) on my Ipdad and found that even they have a non-Flash site specifically for mobile devises m.wix.com. That tells you something  when even a sites who’s business is Flash are giving into the non-Flash movement.

Related articles:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

http://www.bnet.com….8-simple-tips-to-make-your-website-mobile-friendly