Splash Pages

Bad or Good?

[monolift]

The sites my company makes very often have a flash and html version. Because of this, some kind of splash page is necessary to give a choice.

Is it bad to create a simple splash page with little content?

What are some of the concerns to consider?

[skibum]

Ditch them, whatever it takes. They are bad for SE's. One question to ask is do people really want an option to view a flash version and if so does the whole homepage need to be used to present this option?

Maybe a regular HTML page could be the main homepage with a button or somthing to allow people to go to the Flash version.

Just personal preference, but when I go to a site, I'm looking for information, never looking for Flash and don't want to have to make a choice between a quick loading page of info and a Flash movie.

[EliteWeb]

I got rid of all my splash pages, now the search engines thinks my sites are more sexy, couz the front page is already taken off ;)

[martinibuster]

If I wanted to watch tv I'd watch... Your web site?

Sounds like client education time.

[Lisa]

BAD BAD BAD!

[caine]

Splash, nobody likes to be splashed.

Skibum's idea is by far the most appealing, their are some very good flash sites out their, but SEO wise they are a waste of time, so a simple link from a HTML index, and site, should allow joe surfer to choose whether he wants the flashy lights, and will probably be fully aware of the speeds he/she gets concerning flash sites.

[JanetKP]

Until I installed SurfStats and was able to better interpret the visitor logs, I thought my splash page was just fabulous!!

The newly revealed stats showed that too high a percentage of visitors left before the splash page even finished.

So three weeks ago I removed the splash page --- and my sales have improved noticeably.

[cjtripnewton]

One of our clients insisted on a splash page, so we built them one and put it at www.domainname.com/start.html. They put it on all their print marketing materials. They're happy. Of course, it took a little explaining first, and I still don't think the CEO realizes that almost noone ever sees it.

[caine]

cj,

thats a clever move.