A few reasons flash is not preferred. First of all, flash can slow down the browser. If a customer clicks on it, and their browser takes some time to load the flash, they could go away. People expect fast results when browsing the Internet...flash can be a discouragement, especially if the flash isn't something they were looking for in the first place.
More importantly, flash is not indexed by search engines. Search engines use HTML code to determine what is on a webpage, how important it is, how relevant it is, and how often the web page is updated. All of those things lead to the website getting indexed higher resulting in more page hits. Flash is completly unreadable to a search engine. It has to rely on typically static content to determine what the site is about and what people to direct there. Want an example? Go to your website, then click in the browser's menu "View" -> "Source" This will bring up the code to your website as the search engine see's it. It will probably not make much sense to you, but look for keywords that stand out. (hint, there aren't any).
To save you the effort, here it is, and I've highlighted in red keywords that help the serach engines determine what is on your site. Again, don't worry about all the technical jargon... just see if you can spot keywords that would let someone know what is on that web page:
<html>
<head>
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="./v1site_images/favicon.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon">
<link rel="icon" href="./v1site_images/favicon.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon">
<title></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="keywords" content="">
<meta name="description" content="">
<script type="text/javascript" src="flashobject.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function setSize(){
var win_w;
var win_h;
var max_h = 700;
var max_w = 1000;
var browser = navigator.appName;
if (browser == "Microsoft Internet Explorer"){ //IE and Opera
win_w = document.body.offsetWidth;
win_h = document.body.offsetHeight;
if (win_w > max_w){
window.document.getElementById("website").width = "100%";
} else {
window.document.getElementById("website").width = "1000";
}
if (win_h > max_h){
window.document.getElementById("website").height = "100%";
} else {
window.document.getElementById("website").height = "700";
}
} else { //Netscape and Mozilla
win_w = window.innerWidth;
win_h = window.innerHeight;
if (win_w > max_w){
window.document.website.width = "100%";
} else {
window.document.website.width = "1000";
}
if (win_h > max_h){
window.document.website.height = "100%";
} else {
window.document.website.height = "700";
}
}
}
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject/swfobject.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="swfaddress/swfaddress.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="swfobject/swfmacmousewheel.js"></script>
</head>
<body scroll="auto" onLoad="javascript:setSize( );" onResize="javascript:setSize(0 );" bgcolor="#ffffff" link="#ffffff" vlink="#ffffff" alink="#ffffff" topmargin="0" bottommargin="0" marginheight="0" leftmargin="0" rightmargin="0" marginwidth="0" >
<div id="flashcontent">
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
// <![CDATA[
var fo = new FlashObject("projectone.swf", "website", "100%", "100%", "8", "#ffffff");
fo.useExpressInstall('swfobject/expressinstall.swf');
fo.addVariable("btnColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("btnBgColor", "d1d1d1");
fo.addVariable("bgColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("logoBoxColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("imgBorderColor", "cccccc");
fo.addVariable("subBtnColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("subBtnBg", "8b8b8b");
fo.addVariable("accentColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("mainColor", "cccccc");
fo.addVariable("frameColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("txtColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("jukeboxColor", "8b8b8b");
fo.addVariable("slideCtrlColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("logoColor", "575757");
fo.addVariable("logo2Color", "5D453D");
fo.addVariable("logo3Color", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("gradientColor", "");
fo.addVariable("logoAccentColor", "");
fo.addVariable("loadingLoColor", "8b8b8b");
fo.addVariable("loadingHiColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("imageBackColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("imageTextColor", "8b8b8b");
fo.addVariable("shopColor", "8b8b8b");
fo.addVariable("graphicColor", "d1d1d1");
fo.addVariable("accentTxtColor", "ffffff");
fo.addVariable("bgType", "");
fo.addVariable("MenuType", "horizontal");
fo.addVariable("menuPosition", "TL");
fo.addVariable("logoPosition", "TR");
fo.addVariable("thumbPosition", "");
fo.addVariable("JukeboxPosition", "");
fo.addVariable("logoJustification", "left");
fo.addVariable("ScaleSite", "1");
fo.addVariable("borderType", "simple");
fo.addVariable("use_backgrounds", "yes");
fo.addVariable("Background", "yes");
fo.addVariable("MenuType", "horizontal");
fo.addVariable("ColorShift", "0");
fo.addVariable("ColorShiftInterface", "0");
fo.addVariable("ColorShiftLogo", "0");
fo.addVariable("ImageWidth", "1600");
fo.addVariable("ImageHeight", "1063");
fo.addVariable("BorderSpacing", "0");
fo.addVariable("ButtonSpacing", "16");
fo.addVariable("SubButtonSpacing", "1");
fo.addVariable("initColor", "");
fo.addVariable("initColorChanging", "");
fo.addVariable("initColorR", "0");
fo.addVariable("initColorG", "0");
fo.addVariable("initColorB", "0");
fo.addVariable("siteV", "v1");
fo.addVariable("dir", ".");
fo.addVariable("address", "www.joshualeephoto.com/index2.php");
fo.addVariable("MetaTitle", "");
fo.addVariable("UseTilt", "0");
fo.addVariable("ShowThumbs", "0");
fo.addVariable("BgType", "");
fo.addParam("allowScriptAccess", "always");
fo.addParam("scale", "noscale");
fo.addParam("menu", "false");
fo.addParam("allowfullscreen", "true");
fo.write("flashcontent");
if( fo.write('flashcontent') )
{
var macmousewheel = new SWFMacMouseWheel( fo );
}
// ]]>
</script>
</body>
</html>
Now go to a popular photography website...
www.kenrockwell.com is one that comes to mind quick.... Now, click on "View" -> "Source" for that web site... Here is just the first few lines of the code from his site with keywords highlighted in red:
<html>
<head>
<title>KenRockwell.com</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="index/favicon.ico">
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS"
href="http://www.kenrockwell.com/rss-daily.php" />
<style>
A {text-decoration : none; color : #777777;}
A:Active {text-decoration : none; color : #FF0000;}
A:Hover {text-decoration : none; color : #FF0000;}
</style>
<style type="text/css">
body {font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;}
</style>
</head>
<body leftmargin="0" onLoad="">
<table width="600" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td>
<form action="
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<p align="center" style="clear:left;"><b><font size="+4">Ken Rockwell </font></b><a href="/rss-daily.php">RSS</a>
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="
paypal@kenrockwell.com">
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="tax" value="0">
<input type="image" src="
https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but21.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</p>
</form>
<p align="center"><a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm"><b>Recommended Cameras</b></a> <b> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/00-new-today.htm">What's New</a> <a href="
http://kenrockwell.com/deals.htm">Deals</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech.htm">Taking Better Pictures</a></b></p>
<p align="center"><b><a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/gallery.htm">Gallery</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/about.htm">About</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/donate.htm">Help me help you</a> <span style="clear:left;"><a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/index/languages.htm">Languages</a></span> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/contact.htm">Contact</a></b></p>
<p align="center"><b><a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/index.htm">Nikon</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/index.htm">Canon</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/index.htm">Leica</a> <a href="/contax/g-system.htm">
Contax G</a> <a href="
http://kenrockwell.com/konica/index.htm">Konica</a> <a href="
http://kenrockwell.com/zeiss/index.htm">Zeiss</a></b></p>
<p align="center"><b><a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/mamiya/index.htm">Mamiya</a> <a href="/olympus/index.htm">
Olympus</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/pentax/index.htm">Pentax</a> <a href="/minolta/index.htm">
Minolta</a> <a href="/schneider/index.htm">
Schneider</a> </b><a href="
How to Take Better Pictures>
<p align="center"><b><a href="
http://kenrockwell.com/voigtlander/index.htm">Voigtländer</a> </b><b><a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/books.htm">Books</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/links.htm">Links</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/cars/index.htm">Cars</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/hdtv/index.htm">HDTV</a> <a href="
http://www.kenrockwell.com/workshop.htm">Workshops</a></b></p>
If you were a search engine...and someone was seraching for "Photography" where would you take them?
I wonder if they make an SEO book for dummies? I would really like play around with that! Thanks again for all the input! 
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