Davies Rourke has a new website

While perusing the Idaho agency sites this evening, I noticed that Davies Rourke has launched a new version of their website. I'm ashamed to say that I don't know how long its been up, but there is one glaring point that sticks out time and time again...

The entire site has been done in Flash. And while it makes for pretty pictures and sexy graphics, it is the farthest thing from search engine friendly. A little peek behind the curtain (viewing the HTML code) reveals that they don't even have a text description or keywords for their site.

Okay, so now its my turn to rant...

Davies Rourke, and other agencies that continue down this train of thought are going to continue to fall further behind as the advertising/marketing industry evolves, and the online push continues, as it no doubt will. By building these same Flash-only sites over and over, you're missing the point that people spend as much, if not more time searching than they do browsing.

Put another way -- I'm John Smith, who's been running my own business for a while now. We've had moderate success, but feel that the time is right to seek out a little professional help to build the company's brand, polish the message, etc. Do I have time to flip through the phone book and make a number of calls? No. I've got a business to run. So what do I have time to do? Spend a few minutes while I'm sitting in front of my computer and run a couple of searches to see what I can find. Idaho ad agency, idaho marketing agency, idaho branding agency. Am I going to find Davies Rourke and their fancy Flash site? Nope.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- as an agency, in many cases you are being evaluated before you even know it. If you don't make it as easy as possible for clients to find you, you've lost. Add to it the fact that, from a potential client's point of view, if you're not willing to demonstrate your full capabilities on your own site, why should I put my trust, and the money behind it, into letting you do similar work for me.

Okay, I'm done with the ranting for the time being. I have to give credit to the folks over at Davies Rourke for taking the time, and making the effort to put out an updated website. I just think that it could have been so much more.

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