There was a time when internet content was dry and banal. Plain text and simple graphics, simple and utilitarian, not terribly enticing. Of course, it had its own excitement at the time, the novelty and the sudden availability of vast amounts of information, but there's no question that leaving those days behind was a positive step. For the internet to thrive, it needed to be welcoming, engaging and interactive enough to fully involve the ordinary user, with that ordinary user very much the driving force behind progress.

Nowadays, we expect to find more on a site. We're all used to finding videos, animation, interactive elements and games appearing as integral parts of websites, and the technology behind these enhancements goes by the name of Flash. Even if you've no computing expertise, you might have come across the name from time to time, in notices that your computer's Flash Player has been updated (or still needs to be). The Flash Player is simply a small piece of software that works automatically alongside your browser ensuring that those elements all work smoothly, all give you the interactivity that the website designer wanted you to have.

When any new technology reaches a certain degree of saturation, expectations come to be affected. This has of course been true of Flash: what was once a fun trick has long since been so widespread as to be the expected norm. This can mean something very important for your business - if your target audience anticipates that they will find interactive content on your website and fail to do so, they will most likely take their business elsewhere.

It's not enough to have effective information or competitive prices; if you don't have potential customers' attention in the first place, they won't take the time to delve deeper into what your company has to offer. It's like deciding what to wear on a first date - making a good visual impression encourages your date to want to find out more about you, it makes them more receptive to what you'll say and do.

So, it's clear enough that Flash content can make websites more appealing and effective in a wide range of situations. However, you'll surely have to consider the costs of making the necessary improvements to your site. After all, introducing complex technologies will require specialists to be brought in from outside, and a good deal of time and money to be spent on putting the requisite content and code together. Won't it?

Happily, no. With the right tools (and perhaps the benefit of a short training course) it's easy to create attractive and engaging Flash content yourself - and you don't really need anything in your toolbox other than Adobe Flash Professional CS5. There's no need to be daunted by the thought of inserting code into your website, as the software takes care of that, providing a range of simple solutions for creating the interactive content that you need.

For instance, if your company has a video detailing its work and the services you provide, Flash Professional makes it easy to embed that video and a stylish player directly into a webpage. You can also be confident that the Flash content you create will work in all browsers and on mobiles - so your website will reach as many potential customers as possible.

If you have more expertise (or more training, or more time), then Flash Professional can advance with you; the software adapts to any skill level, providing a range of solutions in just a few clicks for novices or those in a hurry, and an unlimited capacity for developing Flash objects for those who want it. And at whichever end of the skill spectrum you or your staff belong, Flash Professional can transform your websites, and dramatically enhance the appeal of your business.