Why Using Flash on Your Law Firm’s Website is B-A-D

Avoid using Flash on your law firm website!

Building a new website or thinking about doing a website redesign? If you think that you need something to spice up your website and make it stand out from other law firms, you might be considering using Flash to enhance its appearance. The web programming tool allows you to build a highly graphics-intensive website, with flashy transition effects and apparently slick production value. However, it has many downsides, and if you intend to use your website as a part of your marketing efforts, the visual pop it gets from Flash may be offset by a number of negatives, including:

• Slow load times
• Poor SEO and search ranking performance
• Security issues
• Less focus on content
• Inconsistent mobile/tablet experience

Many prominent early adopters of Flash have since refitted their websites for HTML-only solutions, including MTV, the reigning king of cool. The slick visuals offered by Flash were seemingly a good fit for the pop culture brand, but visitors soon rebelled against the site’s slow and inconsistent navigation, autoplaying of videos and overemphasis on shiny things.

Visitors to law firm websites don’t need visual distractions

Whether you specialize in divorce law or property law, you want to present yourself as a serious attorney. Your focus should be on what you have to say, your credentials and details of your law firm’s practice, not on ephemera like animations and transition effects, especially if these things contribute to slow load times and inconsistent user experience.

SEO should be your number one priority

Because of the difficulties involved in indexing Flash code, all-Flash websites often get bumped to the bottom of the SERP rankings, below simple, easily-navigable HTML sites. For this reason, and this reason alone, you should forgo a Flash-based website.

Even if your nephew says he can make a “cool” site for your business or even if an acquaintance suggests you use Flash to make it pop, you should think twice. While Flash may look flashy, sometimes a solid foundation is what you need to bring in customers.