Posts In Web Design & Development

Google's Latest Announcement: Improved Flash Search & Indexing!

Hi,

Google never ceases to surprise its audience. And with its latest announcement, website owners have a reason to be happy about!

On June 18th, Google announced its all new feature of indexing Adobe's Flash files.

Adobe's Flash files are immensely popular on the web. However, indexing Flash files has always been a problem with Google search crawlers. In fact, Flash files were completely impermeable by Google crawlers in the beginning but with time the crawling ability has improved considerably. And the latest tweak has been the all new external resource loading ability of Google's Flash indexing capability!

What does this actually mean?

This means Google can index external content that loads within an SWF file, and further associate it with that file, so that it will appear in search results. Google can now index external content loaded by Flash files including text, HTML, XML or Flash content itself. In fact the Flash files that is indexed will also be combined with the externally loaded content and the documents from where it origins from.

This move would mean an immense improvement in the quality of search results. Often Flash files contain relevant content but are left out or rather not indexed well in search results because of their mode of existence. However, now the content in external resources would also appear in the results as per the users' queries

Exactly an year before, in June '08 Google had developed a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files. And that was when Adobe has also made an announcement about its optimized Flash Player technology that would better the ongoing efforts of Google to improve the quality of search results.

This is a great news for website designers & developers and website owners who have always wanted to create visual allurement through Flash but have stopped short considering their search engine possibilities.

Maneet Puri
India Web Developer

Attracting International Audiences To Your Website!

Hi,

Having a website on the World Wide Web places your business presence on a global scale. But do you really get through to your international audiences? Often it happens that websites just sit there wearing a so called 'international' look and feel but never really get 'international' audiences.

Now why is that?
Well... Having a well designed website on the internet is not enough. You need to make diligent efforts to match it to the international standards. Here are some tips...

High Ecumenical Content
The content of your website should have a global appeal i.e. it should be relative and make sense to people across the world. Instead of being influenced by the trends popular in your country, try to relate to other global trends. This will make international audiences relate to your content and embrace your web presence.

Use Global Images
Again, the imagery on your website should have a international feel to it. Trust me... it is very easy to make out an amateurish design element from a professional one. Browse through other popular website and see the kind of images and graphics they have used. Get inspired and instead of making your website look like a toast to your country, make it look like a globe trotter!

Create a Catchy Slogan
The slogan of your website is the depiction of your brand. Therefore, make sure it has an international sound to it. It should immediately inform your audiences that you are an international player and cater to clients from across the world.

Include Testimonials
Third party appreciation is any day better than self marketing. And it is even better when the appreciation comes from an internationally esteemed name. Include testimonials from prominent industry experts who have been your clients.

Multilingual Websites
If you really want to cater to customers from across the world, it is better to talk to them in their own language. Having multilingual websites ensure that you get special traffic from places where they don't understand your language.

Go ahead and try these tips and be ready for some international guests knocking at your door!

Maneet Puri
A Professional Web Developer

Blogging Breaks – Is It Good For Your Blog Health

Hi,

It is said that occasional breaks do good to enhance the productivity of monotonous tasks. But whoever said that, certainly wasn't talking about blogging.

Being a blogger myself.. I know how difficult it is to resist the temptation of taking a break from all this and go vacation somewhere. And I know pretty many bloggers who actually take these occasional breaks. But do you know what is happening to your blog (and your website if you have it linked together) while you are lazing away to glory?

A break from blogging means a break from all the profits and benefits that you gain from blogging as well. And if you blog for business purposes this will be counted under the 'loss- making' things. Here are some things that would go wrong when you are away.

Decreased Organic Traffic
No updates on your blog means when search engine crawlers come, they don't find anything new. As a result they don't index anything. This further shows on your poor ranking on search results. Just like frequent content updates scores you brownie points with the search engines, lack of updates tumble you down in the search results.

Less Requests for RSS Feeds
Obviously so, if there are no updates happening on your blog no one would request for your RSS feeds. After all, what is the use of having RSS streams of there is nothing that will flash out.

Decrease in the number of Repeat Visitors
People visit your blog for content... good content. And if you don't have anything new to offer them, they would have no reason to come back. So while you are away for a week and the last post on your blog was the ones you posted before that, the traffic to your blog would decline considerably. Trust me... no matter how loyal a following you have, no one would revisit stale content.

Increased Spam
When you blog is not updated, spammers think that your blog isn't moderated and they overload it with spammy comments.

Now you know what can happen when you decide to take a break from blogging. If you do need to go out and would not be able to make posting for a while, make sure you write posts well in advance so that readers don't feel that you are away.

So Keep Blogging.....

Maneet Puri
Professional Web Developer