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There are some common mistakes in web designing that both amateurs and professionals commit. For the former, it is out of being new in the business and for the latter it is more of being too familiar with the playing field. That is why it is best that every now and then you get to have a checklist that you can use to tell you whether or not you have crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s.

1st downside. When you do not make sure that you get what your money’s worth is the first of the many common mistakes that people commit not just in web designing or online marketing but also in any form of business. Always make sure that you know what you get for a certain price because you might just end up paying more for less or paying less for lesser.

2nd downside. If you site does not have any means to be ranked because it lacks search terms that people use in looking for sites, then you have a problem. Always make sure that you have a place in your site intended for keywords, descriptions and contents, title tags, and the likes.

3rd downside. One problem that most sites encounter is compatibility. Make sure that your site renders well in any browser that people use. Being incompatible in some browsers could decrease your visibility and your ranking.

4th downside. Difficulty to access because of the use of outdated computer equipment or slow internet connection is always a bother. Once viewers notice that your website is difficult to access, they forget your site readily. This affects your chances of getting good feedback from prospect customers.

5th downside. Having an unreliable web hosting service is a very big problem, especially if customer supports are not readily available and downtime lasts for long periods of time.

6th downside. Slow upload because of heavy graphics turn off customers. They may be nice to look at but not everybody or every Internet connection type can appreciate such heavy designs. Cut low on flash animations and stick to simpler methods. Always put fast access on top of your priority list at all times.

7th downside. Almost all people who ask to have a website made does not understand the difference between license to use and property rights. If not discussed with the web designer properly, the property rights of a website are owned by the website designer while the license to use is owned by the one paid for the website to be made. If you intend to have full ownership of the website, then you have to make it clear with the developer so that things can be properly set.

8th downside. When customers and web developers do not communicate, some after effects of the website design might not be too good on the side of the customer. Customers ask website designers to make their website because customers are not so good when it comes to computer terms. Thus, always have a discussion with the web developer so that he/she could give you advice as to what design is suited for your taste and how much it would cost you to get your desired results. Some web designers cut back on price without telling the customer and this price cut back might be the reason why some of the desired results of the customers are not achieved.

Using Flash in web pages is very tempting. It may look good for your site but in terms of usefulness, Flash really does not do much in helping your website in any means possible. If you are still not convinced, here are the top reasons as to why you should avoid using Flash for your online business.

It does not help in increasing the page rank of your online store. Search engine can’t syndicate any Flash content in your website. Thus, it would be a waste to use Flash files in your site if you could use other formats that could be useful not just in providing for your sit but also help in your search engine optimization.

It makes some website functions lose their usability. There are some web page basic functions that become problematic to use with Flash. An example would be the back button becoming disabled, the highlighting of certain text in the site becomes impossible, increasing font size becomes unworkable and even the bookmarking becomes disabled.

It makes the webpage less accessible. Flash has a lot of versions and not all computers have the necessary Flash version installed. This is the reason why there are a lot of Flash content in a website that are left unopened. Also, it makes the website difficult to access.

It is often disabled by some people. Thus, it only defeats the purpose of using Flash in the first place. not all people are very keen in allowing or seeing Flash based advertisements. Thus, I most users just disable Flash, what’s the need of using it in the first place?

It requires more tools to incorporate updates. Fresh content is a necessity in any ecommerce business. however, if a website uses pure Flash and Flash navigation, a Flash designer is need in order to incorporate updates. This can be very tedious especially if the one who knows how to operate the Flash designer is not around. Urgent fresh content could not be uploaded just because updating it in a Flash designer is impossible. If these updates can be uploaded in a much easier way, then it could have been much better.

It breaks search engine previews. There are search engines that give a short preview of what a certain site is all about in the list of search results. The preview is a helpful way in making viewers understand more the sites that come out in the results without having to open and close one site and then another. But if a site runs on Flash or it has some Flash content, it may not show any short information to serve as its preview since search engines do not include Flash as part of the preview.

These are but some of the many reasons as to why using Flash is discouraged. If you think the risks are worth taking, then it is your call.