MVI believes that there is SEO use of Flash that will improve the site and the performance with the client and still be searchable by the major search engines bots. By adding RIA functionality for the critical elements of the site, such as shopping carts and product visualization, while leaving HTML in place for standard page navigation and presentation, you can leverage the best elements of each technology. RIA's should be intuitive and meet the expectations. They need to provide feedback when an action takes place and visually communicate as much as possible. When users add an item to their cart, it is important to show that the item has been added by using a visual cue. If users narrow their search criteria, and on-screen results are repopulated, it is important to explain that the results are being refreshed. Using animations in a friendly way can significantly enhance your users' overall experiences.

When adopting RIA technology, think of ways you can integrate elements into what you have today. The adoption of RIA technology can be incremental in deployment. Using this approach, it's easier to build a path that allows for a less jarring experience for clients. HTML and RIA technology can co-exist and can work in harmony to create an expected and responsive environment. When new functionality is added to clients' sites, it's also important to add in instructions, tutorials and examples to show how to interact with the site. Missing instructions mean that many users won't proceed and can create frustration and increased drop-off rates. Finally, it's critical that you respect the laws of design and interaction with your RIA's. Although RIA's allow you to build all sorts of fancy boxes, buttons and sliders for interaction, it's important to adhere to expected conventions and not try to reinvent the wheel. If an icon looks like a box it must behave like a box. The same goes for keyboard shortcuts - you must respect the commands that users are familiar with today in the desktop world. By respecting these behaviors, the RIA's you create for clients will be easily usable and understood by both first-time novices and repeat power-users.

Before you start developing technology of the project, it's important to build the business case for your client and outline the core user needs. Take a look at your client's business objectives and how an investment in RIA's can help them generate more revenue or better serve their own clients. The next step is to look at your client's users and understand who they are, what they are looking to accomplish and how they can achieve their tasks. Are they looking to help their users sift through volumes of information about a specific product or service. Are they looking to add structure to a complex, multi-step process. Are they looking to integrate visualization into their site to help users get a better sense of their products. Each of these objectives dictates a slightly different development path. In addition, it's important to look at the best user experience for the application. If your client has a heavy focus on acquisition and new lead development, then any application must be designed with a "first-time user" profile in mind. In contrast, if your client's focus is in delivering support and service content, it is typically a better fit for a "productivity user" profile, with the integration of key features and functionality to support power-users.