Please Keep Your Text Out of My Graphics
December 30, 2008
I have noticed an interesting trend in web design that is ill-suited for search engine optimization - I keep seeing sites where the web designer has chosen to create an image out of text. Not just a fancy title or a snazzy 'buy now' button (even we have one of those). I am talking full blown paragraphs sitting right inside an image. Sigh...
It might look really nice, and they probably didn’t want to bother coding it all, so maybe they took a short-cut and slapped it up there. The problem with this is that search engines can’t read text inside an image (at least not yet).
To all of you who do this - your site might look awesome, but search engines may have no idea what it is all about if all of your text is inside images. Beware of inexperienced web designers who are looking for an easy way out. Yes, they might be inexpensive (and sometimes that's all you can afford), but in the end you get what you pay for.
We always design our sites to be search-engine friendly right from the beginning in order to start your transition into search engine optimization. No one wants to hear that they need to re-do major elements of their site AFTER it goes live. And honestly, we don't enjoy having to break that kind of news to anyone.
Graphics email vs. text
In addition to the problem with putting text in graphics for SEO, there is also a somewhat different problem with having an entirely image-based email.
Targeted email marketing works best if the email is set up properly to not be seen as spam by mail servers. Emails that have no text and that are just one big picture are far more likely to be flagged as spam by servers that sit between you and your intended recipients (read this as low delivery rates).
These types of emails may look nice, but there are ways to retain the graphic element while adding in text for a more effective email. No one wants to waste time with a campaign that is only going to be thrown into a spam filter or that gets your IP or domain black listed.
If you are using a service other than Get You Found Online Marketing for your targeted email marketing campaign, be sure to ask if they are setting up some of the text in code to avoid the spam factor.
