December 4, 2007 – 9:34 pm
My search for a graphic designer has been a bit heart wrenching. So many talented designers. So many beautiful websites. And so many hidden inside a “black box” of Flash.
When you build a website in Flash, you have to take special care to design it in such a way that content inside of the Flash file is duplicated in a layer below the Flash, so that search engine spiders can read it. Otherwise, your site may be completely empty as far as Google is concerned. Not a pretty picture for SEO.
I understand that designers want to show off their creative chops with their own websites, but from a business standpoint, they’re really shooting themselves in the foot with their online marketing if the search engines can’t find their sites.
And as an SEO, I wouldn’t hire a web designer who doesn’t understand the very basics of designing for search engines.
December 4, 2007 – 5:44 pm
Aaron sent me this article about Spirit Airlines using the acronym MILF to promote a sale on tickets to Florida. If you don’t know what “MILF” means, well, you’re going to have to look elsewhere for a definition—this is a family blog.
So what’s the deal? Did they not know what they were doing. I suspect that they did. And it may not have been such a bad tactic. Before today I think I’d heard of Spirit airlines a few times but they definitely weren’t “in my consciousness” so to speak.
Now they’re in the news, and they’re probably getting more than a few links because of their latest bout of newsmaking. So there you go–instead of linkbait, call it MILFbait! If you want to attract attention and links, controversy is one way. And honestly I don’t think this is such a big deal.
If their target market is young people, then they’re basically signalling to young folks that they’re “hip to it” or whatever. It’s not like my grandfather would go to the site and be horrified; he wouldn’t have a clue what a MILF was and he’s move right along (assuming he used his computer for more than solitaire).
November 17, 2007 – 1:49 pm
This is my new blog about SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media, PPC, and general commentary on online and web marketing.
