A dash of Flash on your website can mean cash in your pocket later

Your website needs to say who you are and what you can do for your customers in an instant. When prospective customers browse the Web, they need to be reeled in by a visual, interactive experience. Your website needs to tell them that you take technology seriously, and that the "face" you put on the Internet reflects you as a mortgage professional: sophisticated and knowledgeable.

But you also have a very limited amount of time to grab their attention to convey those messages, which is where the concept of Flash animation comes into play. Flash animation gives you the opportunity to wow visitors to your website and inform at the same time.

For years Flash was hamstrung by the size of Flash files – which resulted in much slower downloads – and the fact that you needed a special software program on your computer to see and hear Flash files.

Further, using Flash animation on a website has been regarded by many web gurus as ostentatious, a waste of bandwidth and time, something that kept the web visitor from getting to the important parts of the site. And not too many years ago, the use of digital pictures on the Web was discouraged because producing them was too complicated, they added too much download time and a were poor substitute for good old text.

Those web gurus have spent so much time convincing their customers and themselves that Flash is bad and not enough time figuring out how to make it good. In fact, there are many benefits of adding a dash of Flash to your website:

• Flash is an unparalleled way to enhance visitor experience, and to provide elements such as animation, sound and interactivity that just cannot be easily achieved with an HTML website.
• Flash design software provides designers with a great deal of control over the final product, and enables the creation of features and environments that are difficult or impossible to reproduce in a static web site.
• All the major web browsers now ship with a flash plug-in already installed, and so a growing number of computers are equipped to view these files. No more hiding behind the excuse that many visitors won't be able to experience Flash.
• And Flash websites today can be built and optimized to have small file sizes and fast download times.

And while many website providers may charge thousands of dollars to incorporate a Flash intro on your website, it's included with every Mortgage XSite for no additional charge. In fact, with the new version of Mortgage XSites you can create a custom Flash site intro with your own text, photos, logos and design elements. XSite's custom Flash intro builder is a free feature update for all Mortgage XSites' owners.

Not taking advantage of Flash on your agent website is like not using digital pictures because the file size and download time is too big and the technology for creating and storing them too complicated. Would you buy that if a web design company told you that today, as opposed to five years ago? If not, you shouldn't accept old, discarded excuses for not having a Flash enhanced website. Most web browsers today have the ability to view Flash, and if your website isn't giving it to them, you could be missing out on some major cash.