Blogging for Blogging's Sake

I just want to jump back a couple of blog posts first of all to thank Matt for my Globehead experience, it was truly memorable – possibly the most annoying flash site ever and yet I feel strangely fond of it now.

So back to today and my musings…I have read lots of other blogs recently about the phenomenon of blogging itself and whether you should blog for blog’s sake, or not?

I’ve since actually spent a few days thinking about whether you should blog only when you have something to say or whether you should think of something to say to blog. What a dilemma!

A lot of the time people blog for SEO purposes but I think the most interesting blogs really are those that are written to express an opinion or thought about something. Writing something for the sake of it usually sounds contrived and unnatural – unless you are an exceptionally gifted writer I suppose. For the rest of us minions it is surely better to wait and write naturally or just write nothing at all.

Luckily I don’t have to worry too much about this blog as Matt is brilliant at posting interesting little snippets – mostly useless – but loads of fun!! And now you can even watch him work (or not) by watching our webcam.

So while I haven’t got anything to say I’ll just sign off and leave you with Big Bro.

We got Big Bro'd

http://www.icebluemd.co.uk/webcam/default.aspx

ascii converter

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nice and ASCII

cool image converter from http://asciiconvert.com/
try it out.

here's my face too... isnt it lovely?

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Big up for brushes

Big up to www.noupe.com

Who via StumbleUpon provided me with some very nice Photoshop brushes.
Some odd some very cool indeed.
Just a few clicks in the right place produced the image here.


Get loads of them from...
http://www.noupe.com

Just for Kate

Hope you like it.


P.S did you see Globehead?......... just be patient.

Flash versus SEO

One of our web designers Matt asked me to write a post about Flash versus SEO and he basically wanted me to fight the corner for Flash as he thinks there should be more of it about on the world wide web. I said I’d see what I could do knowing that it would be a hard job but thinking that some thorough research may throw up some arguments supporting the Flash team…….Sadly this hasn’t really been the case, sorry Matt!

All my research has done is reinforce my initial belief that Flash is bad for SEO. Bad as in avoid it at all costs unless you are a huge brand (huge like in the realms of Coca Cola or Nike) and then you don’t need to really worry about writing your content for SEO purposes. Everyone else should avoid Flash like the plague. Don’t listen to your creative web designers who like to make things look pretty, it doesn’t matter how pretty your website looks if it can’t be found.

Now I realise that this is a subject pretty much discussed to death, over and over at the very least, but I promised to look into it some more so here we are. And it is still a subject worthy of attention as some camps claim that Flash can now be indexed by search engines (news and comments on this welcome) and it still creates a chasm between web designers and SEO consultants - who let’s face it are two very different kettles of fish. As different as chalk and cheese, like “lipstick on a pig” (the most used phrase in our office since Hannah thought it was a good concept for a marketing campaign following the recent coining by Mr. Obama).

But back to Flash versus SEO, I accept that Flash can be useful for “progressive enhancement” and there are ways to get your site indexed still when using Flash but I still stick to the opinion that less is more – I personally can’t stand waiting for Flash to load and I am definitely one of those users that immediately hits the back button before a site even loads if it is built entirely in Flash (they shouldn’t even be allowed to exist they’re soooo annoying).

So not a strong defence I realise but a little Flash here and there, a banner or two I would argue for as it makes daily life on the internet a little more pleasant. And more to the point does exactly what it is supposed to do – it “progressively enhances” a website built to web standards. That way if a browser doesn’t support Flash a website’s functionality and the availability of it’s content won’t be compromised. So no problems or annoyance.

So that’s my conclusion – use Flash on well built websites when necessary to show videos or for animation to illustrate something already in text form or use sparingly for design enhancement, beyond that that I can’t find an argument for Flash if SEO is required – I hope that’s a fair comment Matt? (please feel free to respond, just don’t be too horrible to me)!

Doh!

I must apologise and point out my own incompetence at blogging as I have been logging in as Duncan Bloor who isn't a newbie to Ice Blue at all as I made out in my first post, he is in fact our SEO expert - sorry Duncan! I now have my own blog log in as you'll see below so onwards and upwards, and just to clarify the last three posts were by me and any comments welcome.

I'll be back soon........

Web Design versus Content

There is an on going debate about the need for good web copy versus good web design and there are two very different schools of thought. In fact there are probably several different schools of thought but to simplify things here the two main trains of thought are as follows.

1. Web design is less important than content as copy sells.
2. Web design is the most important factor to create a good website.

I would say that both factors are equally as important, for SEO as well and the overall user experience.

If you are hoping that visitors find your website through a search engine then it must have well written, content rich copy. If visitors are finding your site because they are already aware of your brand name SEO factors may be less important and logo, branding and design elements of your site may take priority over content.

Having said that we live in a very visual culture saturated with television, videos, magazines and other daily forms of visual media so we are used to identifying with images. We even communicate visually through signs without words – road signs, door signs, airport signs, etc – signs that cross cultural and language boundaries. Therefore I would say design is extremely important in all areas of our life including the internet.

Remember the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”? The graphics and design of your website should be used to put your chosen message across to reinforce the needs of your audience. But the design should not be used as a stand-alone statement or become style over substance, it should instead work in conjunction with and enhance your content which after all actually gives the audience the information they require.

Once a visitor arrives at your site you have a few seconds to keep them there or loose them so your website needs to combine appealing design with clear, scannable copy and simple navigation. (Navigation is not the place to get creative, but that’s a whole other post I expect). In fact the internet favours simplicity so good design should also embody simplicity to keep your visitors on your well designed site. It is equally important to make your keywords very visible as when people arrive via a search engine they will automatically scan for the keywords they used to find you in the first place, and this is where the use of headlines and bullet points (as discussed in the last post “Top Tips for Writing Copy for the Web”) comes in.
Headlines can be used effectively with images and extra keywords can be included in heading tags. It is also worth remembering that design isn’t just about appealing graphics it’s about form and that includes the use of text. Your content needs to be sized appropriately and laid out in a manner pleasing to the eye and easy to read. Back again to laying out text similarly to a newspaper with short paragraphs, headlines and images to break up the text.

So my conclusion is that design and content are equally as important and must work together hand in hand to work successfully. You can’t separate the two as the design must facilitate the flow of the well written content and enable people to move effortlessly around your website whilst reinforcing the message of your brand and together they must enhance the overall user experience of your website.